Check out this Brubaker box, sent in by Aeromecca@aol.com, who’s got 1779cc with weber progressive 2bbl in it — listen to the engine in the video below. The paint looks faded below because he’s currently redoing the paint job. Definitely one of my favorite VW-based kits, and one of the more innovative designs out there.
I shamelessly stole found some better pictures of the Brubaker Box posted earlier today, so I’d like to quickly add those here. By the way, if you’d like to learn a little more about the history of the Brubaker Box, the folks at Rodster have a nice article for you to check out. A real ahead-of-its-time beauty of automotive design.
Tom sent in these pictures of a rare Brubaker Box that was up for sale in California last year. I don’t know what became of it, but it’s really beautifully finished with a great bumper treatment (love the exhaust), and the wing is a nice touch as well. The Brubaker Box really stands out from other VW kit cars with distinct and professional styling that still looks fresh today. If the interior and final touches were done on this car, it would be a show winner I think.
Along with the Laser 49er, the Brubaker Box (which debutted in 1972 and was made on an off by various companies until the mid/late seventies, and even briefly re-entered “production” dreams in the late nineties — these days, the molds are sadly decaying and few originals exist) is arguably the true birthplace of the mini-van. Inspired by dune buggies and surf culture, and a car-designer with no interest in joining a big corporation, it had features like the sliding door (to say nothing of the general “mini-van” concept) long before the big players ever considered building them.
Oh, and ironically, it was largely resistance from the car companies (VW in this case) that killed off the original company…. but I’ll tell that story in more detail as I find time to write the Encyclopedia entry on it.
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