I Is For Industrial

While the best place for an air-cooled VW engine will always be in the back of a VW, the industrial variants have ended up in many unexpected places as well. Including a very big gun…

- Richard Gunn/ Hans Klapp

The Volkswagen air-cooled engine is a masterclass in reliable, uncomplicated and compact engineering. Its diminutive size, ability to work under hostile conditions with no need for separate water cooling, and ability to be fixed with little more than some spanners, screwdrivers, duct tape and a liberal dose of WD40, has meant it’s done so much more than just push VWs around. Critics may sneer at its lack of refinement and power, and tendency to sound like a bag of nails. But few other engines of its era had such inherent robustness and constant high speed running ability. It just did its job superbly. Which is just one of the reasons why, soon after post-war Volkswagen became an independent, commercial company in its own right, it made its flat-four available in industrial form, to be shoehorned into all manner of weird and wonderful locations. Some of which may well surprise you…

It was in 1950 that Volkswagen officially launched its industrial engine variant, later offshoots of which would be dubbed the Type 127. Starting out in 1.2-litre form with 24bhp, they eventually progressed through to 1.7- and 1.8-litre units, of the same capacity as in 412s, VW/Porsche 914s and, of course, Type 2s. Which is why Type 127s often find themselves ending up in the back of Buses and Campers requiring a little mechanical refreshment.