Motoring Con Brio

Yet another historical example of VW and Porsche being in bed together. And, unless one is a Porsche elitist purist, what’s not to like about that?

The Porsche-branded B32 van you see above occurred back in the mid-1980’s, when the automaker from Stuttgart was racing its awesome Group B 959 in the Paris to Dakar Rally and the factory found itself in need of a support vehicle. Using a Volkswagen Type 2 Transporter (Vanagon) as a platform, the van was modified to accommodate the 3.2-liter flat-6 engine from the Porsche 911 Carrera. The air-cooled powerplant was good for 230 hp and a top speed in excess of 130 mph. It obviously offered significantly more motivation than the largest VW factory engine at the time, a water-cooled inline-5, though testing its limits was likely akin to expressing a death wish. Porsche built up to eleven examples of the “B32” complete with upgraded suspension, brakes, and leather interiors (source).

This type of thing isn’t exactly unusual among tuners and privateers with a wacky sense of humor, but what we do find especially tantalizing about the B32 is that it was commissioned by Porsche themselves.

(Via Autoblog)

~ by velofinds on September 16, 2010.

Posted in Still images
Tags: b32, porsche, t3, transporter, type 2, vanagon, volkswagen, vw