You’re probably wondering, “What is a Fuskombi?” You already know what a Volkswagen Kombi is, right? The “Fus” is short for Fusca. In Brazil, Fusca means Beetle, and of course, Kombi is the Type 2 bus. Before you is a Brazilian mashup between a Beetle front and Kombi back. It has a basis in what VW could have actually produced. 

There were VW variants that the US never saw

Brazil had some unique VW wagon variants. They’re even called “Variant,” and you know the Type 3 Squareback and 411 Variant. But did you know there was also a Brazilian Variant I and II wagon? And all of these used some form of the Beetle floor pan. 

Diego Riello and Danilo da Silva of Overtake Garage in Brazil, are the masterminds behind the Fuskombi. The Beetle part came from a 1974 Bug, while the bus sections were scrounged from a wrecking yard. In all, about 10 cuts were necessary to mate the two. 

 “Putting all that together was the most difficult part,” Riello told autoevolution. “We had to combine them in a way that made the lines of these two vehicles match well together. For you to have an idea, the entire body structure comes from the Fusca, not from the Kombi. Anyone that thinks we just cut the Kombi’s roof and welded it to the Fusca is very wrong.”

Every single Fuskombi body piece came off of a 1974 VW of some kind

The off road look is aided with the fenders, and they also house large off-road tires. All of the body bits came from some form of a 1974 Volkswagen product. 

“That made it easier for us to make the designs match,” says Riello. “There was also an issue with the taillights. Newer models use larger ones, and most people prefer them to be smaller.”

The engine is stock and the interior looks stock

And that factory red interior was handled the same way. Always in the back of their minds was how VW might have produced the Fuskombi. A 1974 Porsche was sourced for the gauges. 

The Fuskombi’s power comes from the stock 1.5-liter engine that was in the Beetle when the project was started. It’s the stock 54 hp boxer engine with twin carbs. With the added weight it begs for more scoot we’re sure. 

Now enthusiasts want to buy a VW Fuskombi

Overtake Garage has had requests to build more now that the Fuskombi has been seen around the world. “The project price depends a lot on what the customer wants the car to have when it comes to wheels, interior, etc. But if we stick with the bodywork and painting, something similar to the Fuskombi would cost around R$ 80,000 ($15,300 at the current exchange rate). We now have plans to create a Baja pickup truck, a convertible…”

An enthusiast in Germany wants to buy the first Fuskombi. So, if Overtake wants to sell it they’ve got a start to begin another one. And if Overtake sticks to creations that look like the factory built them we’d love to see them.