The Volkswagen Transporter, initially the Type 2, is a range of light commercial vehicles, built as vans, pickups, and cab-and-chassis variants, introduced in 1950 by the German automaker Volkswagen as their second mass-production light motor vehicle series, and inspired by an idea and request from then-Netherlands-VW-importer Ben Pon.
Known officially (depending on body type) as the Transporter, Kombi or Microbus - or informally as the Volkswagen Station Wagon (US), Bus (also US), Camper (UK) or Bulli (Germany), it was initially given the factory designation 'Type 2', as it followed - and was for decades based on - the original 'Volkswagen' ("People's Car"), which became the VW factory's 'Type 1' after the post-war reboot, and mostly known, in many languages, as the "Beetle".
The Volkswagen Transporter has been built in many variants. It may be best known for its panel vans, but it was also built as a small bus or minivan, with choices of up to 23 windows and either hinged or sliding side doors. From the first generation, both regular and crew-cab, as well as long- and short-bed pickups, were made, and multiple firms sprang up to manufacture varying designs of camper vans, based on VW's Transporter models, to this day.
For the first 40 years, all VW Type 2 variants were forward control, with a VW-Beetle-derived flat-four engine in the rear, and all riding on the same (initial thirty years – T1 and T2), or similar (T3), 2.40 m (94 in) wheelbase as the Type 1 Beetle. As a result, all forward-control Type 2 pickups were either of standard-cab, long-bed or crew-cab, short-bed configuration, and because of the relatively high bed floor (above the rear, flat engine), most pickups came with drop sides in addition to the tailgate. In 1979, the third-generation Type 2 introduced an all-new, more square and boxy body, and in the 1980s also introduced a raised four-wheel-drive bus variant.
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