Basic German light off-road vehicle used by the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS during World War II. The distinctive name KüBelwagen derives from earlier vehicles of this class. These were open-top vehicles without doors, so the “bucket” seats (kübelsitze) installed in them protected the crew from falling out while driving off-road. The name KüBelsitzwagen (later shortened to KüBelwagen) stuck with the German Army’s light off-road vehicles, and it stuck. The history of the VW Type 82 begins in the late 1930s, when a need arose for a military version of the famous VW “Beetle.” Volkswagen designers, including Ferdinand Porsche, quickly built the VW Type 62 prototype based on it, still closely resembling its original. After a series of tests, many changes were made, including: A new, distinctive, rectilinear body made of sheet metal reinforced with embossing appeared. The vehicle, with a 985 cm3 engine driving only the rear axle, proved very successful and, due to its low weight (approx. 720 kg), performed exceptionally well even in very difficult terrain. Combat testing of pre-production vehicles took place during the Polish campaign in September 1939. After further design changes, the vehicle ready for series production, ultimately named the VW Type 82 (or in military terminology, le.gl.Pkw-Kl Type 82), began production in the spring of 1940 at the Stadt des KdF-Wagens factory (present-day Wolfsburg). By the end of the war, over 50,000 KüBelwagens had been produced.
Technical specifications:
Number of seats: 4
Length: 3.74 m
Width: 1.6 m
Height without roof: 1.11 m; with roof: 1.65 m
Wheelbase: 2.4 m
Unladen weight: approx. 720 kg
Propulsion: Four-cylinder air-cooled boxer petrol engine, mounted in the rear of the vehicle
Displacement: 985 cm3 (from mid-1943 – 1131 cm3)
Power: 24 HP (from mid-1943 – 25 HP)
Maximum road speed: 80 km/h
Maximum range: 450 km
