This is the Wombat, at first glance it looks like a scaled down Humvee but in actual fact it’s more of a dune buggy – with modified Volkswagen underpinnings, a low curb weight, and a lightweight fiberglass body.
Only around 300 or so examples of the Wombat were ever made and the company has long since ceased production. The surviving examples now offer a unique alternative to folks looking at unusual off-roaders like the Meyers Manx, VW Thing, or Baja Bug.
This is the Wombat, at first glance it looks like a scaled down Humvee but in actual fact it’s more of a dune buggy – with modified Volkswagen underpinnings, a low curb weight, and a lightweight fiberglass body.
The Wombat Car Company
The Wombat Car Company was founded in 1997 by Karl Kanthak to build a unique kit car that combined the best traits of the Humvee and of fiberglass-bodied dune buggies. The American military operations in the Middle East a little earlier in the 1990s and popularized the Humvee, officially known as the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV or Humvee), and many Americans wanted one of their own.
The high cost and low practicality of the Humvee resulted in plenty of demand for alternatives, and that’s where Karl and the Wombat Car Company come into the picture.
Anyone wanting something akin to a mini-Humvee in their driveway had two options – they could order a kit from Karl and build it themselves on a VW Beetle platform, or they could order a complete turnkey car in the color of their choice with a number of additional options – including a higher-output engine.
In the years since, over 300 examples of the Wombat and its earlier sibling the Humbug have been built, making them a common sight at kit car shows. Wombat owners like to joke that the vehicle requires two people to refuel – you need one to pump the gas and another to answer all the questions.
Many surprisingly capable off road vehicles have been made using the VW Beetle platform, starting with the WWII-era Volkswagen Kübelwagen that was essentially the Wehrmacht’s answer to the Willys Jeep.
Inside, the cabin is fitted with SCAT Procar bucket seats, a rear bench, and black vinyl trim. A roll cage, gray carpeting, and front lap belts are joined by practical touches like an under-seat lockbox and a Pioneer stereo.
The Beetle became a common donor car for the kit car industry due to the fact that so many millions of them were made after the war, their prices were low, and the body could be removed leaving a platform-type chassis with the drivetrain and running gear still in place.
Some kits were replicas designed looked like Ferraris, or successful racing cars like the Ford GT40, and some were based on the styling of early Bugattis. One of the most famous, and most enduring Beetle-based kit cars is the Meyers Manx. The original dune buggy developed by Bruce Meyers that founded an entirely new automotive genre, won countless off road races, and spawned untold numbers of copycats and imitations.
In some respects the Wombat is part Kübelwagen and part Manx, it’s a simple, practical, and inexpensive vehicle that’s surprisingly good off road thanks to its low weight and the fact that the weight of the engine and transmission is over the driven wheels.
Wombats have been used for a wide variety of things over the years since the design debuted. Some daily drive them, some use them for fun on weekends in the summer, and others tow them behind their RVs so they have an “around town” car when they need it
The Wombat Shown Here
This Wombat is finished in orange over black vinyl and was bought by the seller on Bring a Trailer in February of 2024. Underneath, the Beetle-based chassis has been extensively modified. The front axle beam was replaced with an A-arm-style suspension and rack-and-pinion steering, while the rear received 3×3” boxed trailing arms.
Fox adjustable coilovers with remote reservoirs, suspension limit straps, and front disc brakes round out the upgrades. It rides on 15 inch chrome steel wheels wrapped in Toyo Open Country all-terrain tires, with a matching spare mounted on a swing-out rear carrier.
Inside, the cabin is fitted with SCAT Procar bucket seats, a rear bench, and black vinyl trim. A roll cage, gray carpeting, and front lap belts are joined by practical touches like an under-seat lockbox and a Pioneer stereo. The driver faces an aftermarket steering wheel and AutoMeter gauges, including a speedometer, tachometer, and auxiliary readouts for oil pressure, cylinder head temperature, voltage, and fuel. The digital odometer remains nonfunctional, showing 12,588 miles, with 673 miles noted under current ownership.
Power comes from an air-cooled 1,835cc flat-four built on an aftermarket case. The engine is fitted with 92mm pistons, a 69mm crank, dual Weber 44 IDF carburetors, a serpentine belt system, and a full-flow oiling setup. Additional equipment includes a 009-style distributor, polished tinware, finned valve covers, and a merged header exhaust with a MagnaFlow muffler.
Power comes from an air-cooled 1,835cc flat-four built on an aftermarket case. The engine is fitted with 92mm pistons, a 69mm crank, dual Weber 44 IDF carburetors, a serpentine belt system, and a full-flow oiling setup. Additional equipment includes a 009-style distributor, polished tinware, finned valve covers, and a merged header exhaust with a MagnaFlow muffler.
The four-speed transaxle is equipped with a “Freeway Flyer” gearset to improve drivability at speed on highways, making this a true cross-country machine if the new owner wants to use it that way. Recent maintenance included an oil change, a repaired oil filter housing leak, and replacement of the fuel sender.
This vehicle is now being offered for sale out of Beverly Hills, California at no reserve with a clean California title the seller’s name listing it as a 1969 Volkswagen. If you’d like to read more about it or place a bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
