COBI Volkswagen T2b Bus Set 24362

COBI's Volkswagen T2b Bus is a 1:12 model built from 2,366 blocks under original licence from Volkswagen, 38 cm long. The front doors open, the side door slides, the rear flap lifts to show the engine bay, the steering turns the wheels, and the interior has folding seat backs and printed curtains. All markings are printed; the set contains no stickers.

Still in production in 2013

German production of the T2 ended in 1979. In Brazil it did not. The São Bernardo do Campo factory kept building the same van for another thirty-four years, as a bus, a pickup, a delivery van and an ambulance, long after the rest of the world had moved on twice.

What finally killed it was a regulation. Brazil mandated anti-lock brakes and airbags from 2014, and there was no sensible way to fit either to a design from the 1960s. Production stopped in December 2013 after a final run of 1,200 cars. An earlier rule had already forced a change most people find hard to believe: from 2006 the air-cooled flat-four was replaced with a water-cooled engine, which is why late Brazilian buses have a radiator grille in the front panel.

The T2b is the 1972 facelift, and the panoramic windscreen that replaced the T1's split screen is why English speakers call the whole T2 generation the Bay Window.

In the COBI range

Set 24361 is the T2a Camper Van, the earlier version with the Westfalia camping interior and a pop-top roof.

Specifications

Pieces: 2,366 · Scale: 1:12 · Licensed by Volkswagen
Model dimensions: 38 × 16 × 16.5 cm (15.0 × 6.3 × 6.5 in)