Volkswagen’s first four-wheel drives were military and nothing else: 15,584 Type 166 Schwimmwagen between 1941 and 1944 and about 564 Type 87 saloons for senior officers, both on Porsche-designed running gear with self-locking differentials and portal axles.
The Iltis picked the role up again thirty-four years later. 9,547 were built in Germany with anti-tank, artillery survey, command and communications bodies; Bombardier supplied 2,500 to Canada and 2,673 to Belgium. The Transporter Syncro served too, in Bundeswehr olive.
11941 – 1944
Wehrmacht (1941–1944)
2 VEHICLES IN THIS CHAPTERThe Schwimmwagen and the Kommandeurswagen.
Registry records · chapter 1
21978 – 1999
Bundeswehr and NATO (1978–1990s)
2 VEHICLES IN THIS CHAPTERThe Iltis in German service and, from Bombardier, in Canadian and Belgian.
Registry records · chapter 2
Sources
- Volkswagen Schwimmwagen — Wikipedia
- Volkswagen Kommandeurswagen — Wikipedia
- Volkswagen Iltis — Wikipedia