On Mon, 22 Aug 94 17:45:19 CDT Ralf MacGrady said:
>>     74 Bus    5
>This here's good ol' Ralferoonie up in Canada and after checking
>my VIN again I realize that the Beast is actually a Kombi.  It
>remains a '74 however...  Btw, something that I didn't realize

grumble, grumble, #$%@* :( <some people can't make up their minds!>

>before:  The Kombis are shorter!  By, uh, 20cms. or something.
>If you look at the back of the Haynes and check the dimensions
>you'll see it.  I'd state the exact amount but left the book at
>the farm...  Danke.

uhhhhh. ??? well, that's not my understanding (that they are shorter). now
i think Haynes might be wrong in that. i'm looking in my Big Book of All
VW Types/Models and it says:
1967-1972 Kastenwagen, Kombi, Krankenwagen,    4420 mm in overall length
          Achtsitzer, Pritschenwagen,          174 inches, 14.5 feet
          Doppelkabine, etc.
1971-1972 Actsitzer L                          4445 mm in overall length
                                               175 inches, 14.6 feet
1972-1978 Kastenwagen, Kombi, Krankenwagen,    4505 mm in overall length
          Achtsitzer, Pritschenwagen,          177 inches, 14.8 feet
          Doppelkabine, Achtsitzer L, etc.
1973-1975 Achtsitzer L (automatik)             4545 mm in overall length
                                               179 inches, 14.9 feet
1979-1982 Kastenwagen, Kombi, Krankenwagen,    4570 mm in overall length
          Pritschenwagen, Doppelkabine, etc.   180 inches, 15.0 feet
          (this is the vanagon body style)
1979      Grossraum-Holzpritsche (automatik)   4636 mm in overall length
                                               182 inches, 15.2 feet
1981      Grossraum-Pritschenwagen             4640 mm in overall length
                                               182 inches, 15.2 feet
so what the heck does all this mean? well, a Grossraum-Pritschenwagen is
a wide-body single cab pickup truck that has extended width bed in back,
so it looks like it is longer as well.

an Achtsitzer is an 8-seater bus, but what exactly an Achtsitzer L is and why
it is longer, i don't know. bigger bumpers?

so *I* think Haynes is wrong. they got the big pickup mixed up with the
Kombi, or got centimeters mixed up with millimeters or something. cause
20cm = 200mm = 7.9 inches! :)

now, what i always thought was neat (and actually won money betting people)
is this:

1968-1971 bus      4420mm 174 inches 14.5 feet
1972-1979 bus      4505mm 175 inches 14.6 feet
1980-1991 vanagon  4570mm 180 inches 15.0 feet
1970-1982 Beetle   4080mm 160 inches 13.4 feet
1970-1974 K.Ghia   4140mm 163 inches 13.6 feet
1974-1980 Rabbit   3705mm 146 inches 12.2 feet   (2-door model)
1974-1980 Rabbit   3815mm 150 inches 12.5 feet   (4-door model)

anyway, most folks do NOT believe that the bus is only 1 foot longer than
the beetle. unless you put both cars up against a wall, side by side. and
even the vanagon is just 1.5 feet longer. it's really wierd that the rabbit
is so short.

joel