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The Volkswagen T1

The cult-car puzzle

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Enjoy nostalgia at home

A red-white paint job and cute round contours:
no other car embodies freedom, spirit of adventure and joy of life as well as the Volkswagen T1.
Now Ravensburger lets you take this nostalgia home. With the 3D puzzle, you can build your own T1.

Snazzy symbol of the economic miracle

There has rarely been a time as car-crazy as Germany in the 1950s. Everyone’s dream of prosperity in the post-war, economic miracle era included an own house and a snazzy car was also a must-have.

Taking a drive on Sunday, with the kids in the back seat and a picnic basket full of sandwiches – that was considered modern and the picnic blanket was sometimes even spread out right next to the freeway.

Bestseller: Launch of the Volkswagen T1

In addition to the VW Bug, the car that really got the ball rolling for this pioneering spirit was the VW Bus – a practical little van, a good four meters long and 75 km/h fast. Initially designed as a transport vehicle for the post office, movers and handymen, only seven years later the VW Bus was available as a leisure vehicle with panorama windows.

By 1968, this first Bus generation – today known as the T1 – sold more than 1.8 million units. Special feature: the divided front windshield.

Hippie bus and legendary surfer van

As the Germans prospered, their spirit of adventure and travelling also grew. Whether they headed for the mountains, Italy or the beach: travelling and sleeping in the car was the latest trend and as of 1960, the camping bus was the ultimate innovation. When the hippie movement reached its peak in the 1967 “Summer of Love”, the T1 was there too – colorfully painted in flower-power style; the perfect vehicle for individualists, revolutionaries and adventurers. Whether travelling throughout Europe to get to the Orient and India or on the road along the coasts and beaches of California: real hippies drove a VW Bus.

The VW Bus: the cult is still going strong!

The T1 is now 70 years old and has left its mark on music and culture: Pete Townshend, guitarist of the legendary band Band The WHO, is not the only person who fell in love with a VW Bus and wrote a song about it. Screenplay author Michael Arndt also describes life in a sunny yellow VW Bus in his prize-winning road movie "Little Miss Sunshine". And we wouldn’t want to forget the Pixar film "Cars", starring a T1 by the name of Fillmore. Without a doubt: even as an vintage car, the VW Bus still has plenty of style!