Volkswagen “Hebmüller-Bus” — The Factory Experiment That Shouldn’t Exist

In 1965, a small team inside VW’s Sonderabteilung quietly tried to revive the spirit of the long-lost Hebmüller roadster. Instead of starting with a Beetle, they pulled a brand-new Type 2 single-cab pickup off the line and turned it into something no one expected.

They removed the roof behind the A-pillars, kept the windscreen and door frames, reinforced the cab, and added a shallow luggage locker behind the seats. A hand-fitted canvas top completed the roadster-truck look. Internally, it was nicknamed the “Heb Bus” — half experiment, charming but quirky at best.

German VW executives found it appealing but pointless for mass production. So they shipped the single prototype to California for promotional testing — and quietly hoped to sell it off. There, a VW of America manager fitted it with polished American magnesium wheels, giving it a hot-rod stance that made the oddball prototype even stranger — and cooler.

During a Beverly Hills holiday campaign, the marketing team filled its bed with gifts and ornaments for photos that were never officially released. Those images, rediscovered years later, became the only solid proof the vehicle ever existed.

The Heb Bus never went into production, but rumor says the lone prototype still shows up along the California coast every December — part pickup, part roadster, part Christmas sleigh — and the unknown driver with the white beard is always smiling behind the wheel.