VW Bus Buyers Guide - The Essential Buyer's Guide (Essential Buyer's Guide Series) [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Veloce has now published 13 of these handy pocket size books. Each serves as a useful guide for enthusiasts and assumes that readers will already know a little about older cars. The publications follow a pattern, starting off with the question, - Is this car right for you? - it's a valid question, since many first-time owners buy with their hearts and not their heads, and live to regret it. Items to watch out for are helpfully divided into a 15-minute evaluation and a more serious investigation examining mechanicals, body, trim and so forth in close detail. The author then compares the various advantages of auctions against private sales before discussing the all important paperwork after all, you'll want to make sure that the seller actually owns what you are buying. Internet links and tips on where to find spares are helpful as is the list of relevant publications. Put it in your pocket before you start looking. --Australian Classic Car - September, 2007

The great thing about these books is that they really are inexpensive. Just £9.99 buys you a copy, and for that you get a 64-page softback title packed with vital information and advice on buying your vehicle of choice. You wouldn't buy these books for their groovy layout, stunning photography or witty text, but to criticise them for that would be to miss the point entirely. They re small enough to fit in your glovebox and to take with you when viewing a classic for sale; and the writing style and layout are so simple and logical that flicking through for on-the-spot information couldn't be easier. In this instance, you'll find a full introduction to VW commercials, plus a history of all three generations covering the period 1950-1990 from the original split-window Type 2, through the updated bay-window versions and on to the later, squared-off Wedges that are now gaining in popularity. You'll find a chapter on living with these vehicles, a checklist of what to do before you start viewing, plus detailed step-by-step guides of exactly what to look for when examining any derivative. For such a compact book, the level of detail is very impressive. This series is an interesting diversion for Veloce, and one that deserves to do well. It's good to see practical, very affordable titles like this on the market. --Review by Paul Guinness for Classic Car Mart, Spring 2006

Most MCC members have a VW skeleton somewhere in the cupboard. Some still even trial them but most have experienced the people's car from Wolfsburg that was Hitler s brainchild and the Wehrmacht's workhorse, finally given respectability by REME acting for the Allied Control Commission in one way or another. Most of us know the Beetle but what about the Bus/Kombi/Transporter or whatever you choose to call it? Surely there can be no more familiar sight than the forward control box on wheels which despite being 40 odd years old is still plentiful on our roads and recalls seeing them parked beside the Fistral filled with long haired wannabe surfers sipping their tinnies and boasting of the big ones on Bondi or Hawaii, rows of them in psychedelic colours at sixties pop concerts, of many of my friends carrying their racing cars around Europe on flatbed versions and even a vision of MCC Vice President Tom Threlfall tackling the Exeter in a VW bus well ballasted by a load of fellow Cambridge undergraduates. Love em or hate em you'll enjoy Volkswagen Bus, The Essential Buyer's Guide published by Veloce for under a tenner. It's only a small volume but an absolute mine of information about the different models, what to look for when buying, where to get service and spares, a guide to values and indeed everything a would be owner should know. Soon you'll be chatting knowledgeably about Splitties and Sambas, Wedges and Bay windows and all those other terms so beloved by the VW Van sub culture. In fact after reading its information and picture filled pages you will forget the vehicle's anthropoidal driving position, curious road holding with abysmal performance and dash out to buy one; at least with the knowledge gained you may well make a profit when after a short while the aforesaid shortcomings outweigh the novelty and your pride and joy becomes another occasion de jour. --Review from Motor Cycling Club, October 2006

Covering all the collectable Buses produced by Volkswagen between 1950 and 1990, this volume is unique in providing the full story of the high-points and pitfalls of buying such models. Written by enthusiasts, the easy readable text is informative to the novice, while still being of considerable value to those who have already owned a Bus.