VA14602 Volkswagen Type 2 (T2) Transporter Delivery Van, BRS Truck Rental

BRS Truck Rental was established in 1975 and was part of the government-owned British Road
Services company created in 1949 as part of a very ambitious post war plan to nationalise
the UK’s transport system. The vast majority of BRS’s van rental fleet at this time were UK-built
diesel-engined vehicles such as the Ford Transit and the company rarely bought foreign
vehicles although contract hire fleet companies sometimes requested them. BRS did, however,
buy six VW Type 2 vans in early 1975 including the example modelled here, believing
that the quieter rear-engined positioning of their petrol engines and more car-like driving
position might appeal to customers who’d not previously driven a van.
Production of the T2, the second-generation Type 2 Volkswagen commercial, commenced
at Hanover, Germany, in August 1967. It was both slightly larger and slightly more powerful
than the original and was a wholly new design in both structure and styling. It remained
faithful to VW’s traditional layout however, using a rear-mounted air-cooled engine in a unitary
construction body. Like the original Type 2 it was available from the factory in an array of guises,
although specialist conversion companies also used it as a base for vehicles such as fire engines.
The vehicle modelled was made in early 1975, the twenty fifth year of Type 2 production, and
on August the 9th of that year Volkswagen celebrated the production of the four millionth Type 2.