My 1945 Kubelwagen

[steve 82]

Hi,

Thought I would introduce my Kubel on this forum, as it seems to be the most appropriate.

The vehicle was produced in March 1945 (according to the VW museum in Wolfsburg), ended up in the British occupation area, and was eventually sold as scrap at a British Army auction in the early 1950`s. Sadly, in common with many other wartime Greman vehicles, I have been unable to ascertain more of its wartime history.

It was subsequently purchased along with several others by a movie industry special effects / vehicle company called Babtys in London and was used in many of the British-produced war movies (including `it happened here`, `The Dirty Dozen` and several others) produced up until the 1980`s.

When Babtys sold its stock maybe 20 years ago, the vehicle was then purchased by another movie worker and was restored to a reasonably high standard for the time.

Finally, I came into the vehicle about 4 years ago, and after a near total rebuild of the mechanics and, with a lot of help from my friends, I now have an increasingly driveable Kubel, which requires only final detailing to bring it up to original 1945 spec.

Hope you enjoy the pics and happy to answer any queries.

Cheers

Steve W

[tarnmilitaria]

kubel

Very nice!!

[minijack]

hi Steve , your kubel is superb ,, great job!! But I think that your air cleaner and yours fronts headlights were for the early type of kubel ,no??,'45 model have a cyclon cleaner and littles headlights with external cable , it's just details,but your car is wonderfull!
best regards
jerome

[Yannis]

a beauty!!

[Theodor]

A great car!

[jotuntroll]

Super kubel, and super restauration.
I have a -43 kubel, but I need to restore it.

[philip turland]

Yes, excellent

i am restoring a 44 at the moment

the chaps over on vw166 forum would be very interested in this restoration

http://www.vw166.com/forum/index.php...146a55327463ec

decent blokes over there

in fact anyone with a kubel I would encourage to join that forum.....

regards

philip

[dc9]

Steve,

Beautiful Kubel! I collected and restored many awesome VWs including a 55 and 56 KG (the 55 was pre-production), 67 21-Window Deluxe Bus, etc., but never did manage to find the right Kubel or Schwimmwagen. I finally sold them all off, but, your pictures are certainly inspiring...

Eric

[Grossfuss]

1945 Kubelwagen

Hi,
A beautiful car!
Just to correct one small textual error - the film hire company was Bapty & Co and the last time I had any dealings with them (to buy a Panzerschreck - sadly long gone!) they were based in Harrow Road, London.
The company was originally owned by a wonderfully eccentric old boy - Mark Dineley, who lived at The Priory in Berwick St. John in Wiltshire. He owned a world-class collection of firearms as well as housing various vehicles around the village.
In an "After the Battle" article on the "It Happened Here" film there's a shot of a BMW R35 which I owned for a short time in the 1970's but it later went to Steve Lamonby.
Bapty's also provided the Krauss-Maffei half-track that starred in the final sequences of "The Dirty Dozen", which film resulted in damage to the front axle!
This half-track was later seen trundling over "Arnhem" bridge in "A Bridge too Far". I believe another larger half-track of theirs later went to Kevin Wheatcroft after restoration by Steve Lamonby, who achieved fame for his Tigers in "Saving Private Ryan" - a talented fellow.
Sorry to go on, the memories statred flowing!
Back to the point in question - you're a lucky man!
All the best,
Grossfuss

[standfast]

Very nice

My Kubelwagen dated December 1942 will be fully completed in first week of March 2010. The kubel will be painted in Africa tan as we are starting a new unit - the DAK 3rd recon unit.

Excellent job to your kubelwagen

[CIANO]

Hi,

That's the car of my dreams.
Beautiful! and nice work on the restauration.

A couple of months ago, I saw one selling at 35,000 EUR

cheers

[yewstave]

Great job, the kubel looks the dogs.

[AndyC]

Nice done


Andy

[Troy101]

great job Steve, I'm just finishing a WC-56 Dodge command car but I have a soft spot for German vehicles, gotta get one some day!

[jh-ss44]

A 1945 , holly molly ! never owned one but, have been around a few. the own I remember most was a " mint" 1942. it came from a guy in germany who just restores german vehicals. fantastic job.
yours looks killer too. wish I had it. But it would be my daily driver.
thanks for sharing ! jeff