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February 3, 2012

Volkyland Spotlight - VW Type166 Schwimmwagen

The Schwimmwagen is just what I need to cross those pesky rivers in the Northwest! Or hang out in the beach in the Caribbean ;-)

All kidding aside, this is a fabulous vehicle and I am grateful to the guys at Volkyland for giving me a demonstration of the propeller mechanism and checking out the engine compartment. It is a simple solution to what seems at first hand like a complex problem. More about this cool museum on a previous post...


A shovel here, a couple of oars there. It is clear that this vehicle will need some man handling to get to where you are going. Those shock towers however indicate the front axle is not an original piece which should be something more like this :-(


Interior accommodations are a pretty simple affair. The seats on this particular vehicle are not setup exactly right but you get the idea...


A gear-driven screw was lowered into position when navigating. A simple coupling allowed connection to the crank shaft. Being driven directly, this arrangement is fine while moving forward. Reversing course however is a different matter all together. I am sure the paddles would have been involved at some point.

The propeller shaft (in red above) is just a simple extension of the crankshaft.

A pretty ingenious concept overall.


UPDATE March 24, 2023: As reported in Jalopnik and TheDrive, sadly, this wonderful collection was sold off in 2019 after the museum's closure a year earlier. As of this update, photos of all the vehicles can be found in Oldbug.com for those of you interested.