With few exceptions, vans and wagons and pickups are configured to put the cargo in the back. It makes sense: With the cargo in the back, the driver's view of the road ahead isn't obstructed by oversize items or dust and chaff getting whipped by the wind out of the cargo bed. Tailgates can fold down to accommodate long loads. Vehicle handling dynamics don't constantly and dramatically change depending on the weight of the load in the cargo area.
Still, somebody decided to play what-if with a welder and a Volkswagen Type 2, as we see in this pair of photos that the inimitable Truque blog recently posted (original source unknown - clue us in if you have more details).
At first, the photos are jarring, and our brains couldn't process them correctly. Did the builder read the April 1975 issue of Road and Track one too many times? Was somebody going for a lo-buck far-cab-forward Ghia Selene / Renault Project 900 / Pininfarina Y tribute?
Could be a photochop. If so, our hat's off to the artist for creating two convincing images that would fit in well with our photochop challenges.
Could Volkswagen have built this Type 2 as a Plattenwagen replacement? Where is this vehicle today? And, as we all surely want to know, what's it like to drive?
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