The Volkswagen Type 147 (informally Fridolin) was a

panel van A panel van, also known as a blind van, car-derived van (United Kingdom) or sedan delivery (United States), is a small cargo vehicle with a passenger car chassis, typically with a single front bench seat and no side windows behind the B-pillar. ...

produced by the German automaker

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWCV; german: Volkswagen Nutzfahrzeuge , abbreviated ''VWN'' ) is a German marque of light commercial vehicles, owned by Volkswagen Group. It is headquartered in Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany. Originally p ...

from 1964 until 1974. The van was mainly built for the purposes of the state-owned ''

Deutsche Bundespost The Deutsche Bundespost (German federal post office) was a German state-run postal service and telecommunications business founded in 1947. It was initially the second largest federal employer during its time. After staff reductions in the 19 ...

''.

History

In February 1962 the German Postal Services commissioned Volkswagen to design them a postal van that would suit their needs. To lower costs, VW started off with the

Karmann Wilhelm Karmann GmbH, commonly known as simply Karmann, was a German automobile manufacturer and contract manufacturer based in Osnabrück. Founded by Wilhelm Karmann in 1901, the company specialized in a variety of automotive roles, includi ...

produced

Beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

cabriolet (Type 15) as basis for the van due to its strength in build but later turned to the

Karmann Ghia The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia is a sports car marketed in 2+2 coupe (1955–1974) and 2+2 convertible (1957–1974) body styles by Volkswagen. Internally designated the Type 14, the Karmann Ghia combined the chassis and mechanicals of the Type 1 ( ...

(Type 14) for basis as it was wider. The engine, the transmission and axles originated from the VW Beetle Type 1, the headlights from the VW 1500, and the tailgate (scaled-down) from the

VW Transporter The Volkswagen Transporter, based on the Volkswagen Group's T platform, now in its seventh generation, refers to a series of vans produced for over 70 years and marketed worldwide. The T series is now considered an official Volkswagen Group aut ...

( Type 2). It was agreed Franz Knobel & Sohn GmbH (later called Westfalia Werke) would build the vehicles at the behest of VW. Several prototypes were designed until production started in 1964. Most cars were sold to the Deutsche Bundespost, but also to

Swiss Post Swiss Post (french: La Poste suisse, it, La Posta Svizzera, german: Die Schweizerische Post, rm, La Posta Svizra) is the national postal service of Switzerland. A public company owned by the Swiss Confederation, it is the country's second lar ...

Offices (in an upgraded version with a more powerful 1.3 L engine,

disc brake A disc brake is a type of brake that uses the calipers to squeeze pairs of pads against a disc or a "rotor" to create friction. This action slows the rotation of a shaft, such as a vehicle axle, either to reduce its rotational speed or to hol ...

s and a

block heater A block heater is used in cold climates to warm an engine prior to starting. They are mostly used for car engines; however they have also been used in aircraft engines. The most common design of block heater is an electrical heating element embed ...

) and to the

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...

for

apron An apron is a garment that is worn over other clothing to cover the front of the body. The word comes from old French ''napron'' meaning a small piece of cloth, however over time "a napron" became "an apron", through a linguistics process cal ...

use. Its official name was ''Volkswagen Type 147 Kleinlieferwagen'' (small van) but due to its funny and badly proportioned shape it was affectionately called ''Fridolin''. From 1964 to July 1974, 6139 were produced, approximately 200 are preserved.

Specifications

Engine: flat 4, 1192 cc, 34 hp (25 kW) Length: Height: Wheelbase:

References

External links

Model description on Volkswagen ClassicVW Fridolin interest group
{{Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Vans Vehicles introduced in 1964 Type 147 Cars powered by boxer engines Rear-engined vehicles