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History
of the type 87 VW.
During
WW2 Ferdinand Porsche designed the world famous VW type 82 better know
as the "Kubelwagen", for the German army.
From this type, he also designed many variants like the Type 155,
a kubelwagen with tracks, a Type 157 that could drive on the railway
Al kinds of -in the field modified type existed during WW2 like commandocars
radiocars ammunitioncars, dummy tank cars, all made from the famous kubelwagen.
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But
the most useable types were the Type 82E and Type 877 (oftenly
mistaken called Type 87)
The first one Type 82E was a kubelwagen with the body of he KDF-wagen
(KDF was the type of VW designed for the German people (Volkswagen), KDF
"Kraft Durch Freude (power by joy)), due to the fact that this type
had more body freedom it was perfect for off-road driving, with the luxury
of a closed sedan type VW.
Type 87 was in fact a normal Kubelwagen with four-wheel drive.
This type is often "mistaken" with the Type 877, a KDF-sedan
on the chassis of a four-wheel drive Type 128 amphibious kubelwagen. Type
128 was later modified to the famous "Schwimmwagen"
Type 166.
Kommandeurwagen
Type 877.
The
Type 877, better know as the Kommandeurwagen (commandocar).
Between 1942 and 1944 only 677 Type 877 were build.
These were delivered almost exclusively to the Afrika Korps. Like the
Kubelwagen these vehicles were modified during operation in the desert
(dust protection for engine, fuel and electrical systems. Following the
surrender in Tunisia in May 1943 the remaining Type 877 vehicles were
used in the European Theatre.
On paper this was an excellent car, but with the four-wheel driven transmission,
it was not easy to drive the car. And the steering was heavy and not always
secure. Even on a straight road the car drove from left to right. The
engine was air-cooled, but the noise the transmission made overwhelmed
the engine noise, in wartime this noise was no benefit for the car.
The type 877 weighted with crew about 1240 Kg, way to much for a 25 hp
engine.
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