It isn’t widely known that there was a 4×4 Beetle produced in Germany during the second world war, the car was dubbed the “Volkswagen Kommandeurwagen” as it was primarily designed for use by the Wehrmacht. The Kommandeurwagen was a hodge podge of sorts, it used a KdF-Wagen sedan body, a Kübelwagen chassis and the Schwimmwagen (1st gear only) 4×4 system.
A total of 667 Kommandeurwagens were delivered during WW2 with only a very small number of originals lasting to the current day. Read more about the history here via Wikipedia (scroll down to the “Wartime Production” section).
Ben Branch has had his work featured on CNN, Popular Mechanics, the official Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, 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 millions of readers around the world and hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
The book MotoGP™ Technology by Neil Spalding is officially licensed by MotoGP™, and it’s widely recognized as an essential book to get your hands on if you want an in-depth working knowledge of modern motorcycle engineering. Neil started racing motorcycles in 1980 and enjoyed a long club career – winning two championships in his competitive…
The Scarbo SVF1 Although the Scarbo SVF1 Prototype looks like a ’60s Formula 1 car, it’s actually an entirely modern creation, fitted with a 425 hp GM Performance all-aluminum LS1 6.2 litre V8 and weighing in at a feather-light 1,280 pounds. The car is the work of Joe Scarbo, a California State Polytechnic University mechanical engineer and…
The NASA Saturn V Owners’ Workshop Manual is a comprehensive guide to the world’s most famous rocket, best known for its role in sending the Apollo missions, including Apollo 11, to the Moon. Each Saturn V launch cost $185 million in 1960s dollars, that’s over $1.1 billion today, the rocket had a payload to LEO of…
This 1992 Ford Crown Victoria police car was used extensively on camera during the filming of the Oscar-wining 1996 black comedy crime movie Fargo. Actress Frances McDormand’s character “Marge Gunderson” was the chief of police in Brainerd, Minnesota and a key figure in the film – she would win an Academy Award for her work in…
The NSU Prinz is an iconic little car from the West German marque NSU Motorenwerke AG. It was the first post-WWII car from NSU, and it was designed to slot neatly into the economic climate of Germany at the time, when austerity was king and the future seemed uncertain. The cars were small and simple,…
The Land Rover Series 3 – Introduction The Land Rover Series 3 was introduced in 1971 and was pretty much a “face-lifted” version of the Series 2 and 2a. Most parts are interchangeable between the 2a and the 3. The Series 3 (commonly referred to as the Series III) featured a few mechanical improvements over…
