Volkswagen Bus: The Essential Buyer's Guide [Paperback]

Richard Copping (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Essential Buyer's Guide | Publication Date: March 17, 2006

Buying a car is an expensive business and mistakes can prove costly financially and in time, effort and stress. Wouldn't it be great if you could take an expert with you? With the aid of this book's step-by-step guidance from a marque specialist, you can! You'll discover all you need to know about the car you want to buy. The unique points system will help you to place the cars value in relation to condition while extensive photographs illustrate the problems to look out for. This is an important investment - don't buy a Volkswagen Bus without this book's help.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Review from Australian Classic Car, September 2007 Veloce has now published 13 of these handy pocket size books. Each serves as a useful guide for enthusiasts and assumes that readers will already know a little about older cars. The publications follow a pattern, starting off with the question, "Is this car right for you?" - it's a valid question, since many first-time owners buy with their hearts and not their heads, and live to regret it. Items to watch out for are helpfully divided into a 15-minute evaluation and a more serious investigation examining mechanicals, body, trim and so forth in close detail. The author then compares the various advantages of auctions against private sales before discussing the all important paperwork - after all, you'll want to make sure that the seller actually owns what you are buying. Internet links and tips on where to find spares are helpful as is the list of relevant publications. Put it in your pocket before you start looking. - Review by Paul Guinness for Classic Car Mart, Spring 2006 The great thing about these books is that they really are inexpensive. Just GBP9.99 buys you a copy, and for that you get a 64-page softback title packed with vital information and advice on buying your vehicle of choice. You wouldn't buy these books for their groovy layout, stunning photography or witty text, but to criticise them for that would be to miss the point entirely. They're small enough to fit in your glovebox and to take with you when viewing a classic for sale; and the writing style and layout are so simple and logical that flicking through for on-the-spot information couldn't be easier. In this instance, you'll find a full introduction to VW commercials, plus a history of all three generations covering the period 1950-1990 - from the original split-window Type 2, through the updated bay-window versions and on to the later, squared-off 'Wedges' that are now gaining in popularity. You'll find a chapter on living with these vehicles, a checklist of what to do before you start viewing, plus detailed step-by-step guides of exactly what to look for when examining any derivative. For such a compact book, the level of detail is very impressive. This series is an interesting diversion for Veloce, and one that deserves to do well. It's good to see practical, very affordable titles like this on the market. - Review from Motor Cycling Club, October 2006 Most MCC members have a VW skeleton somewhere in the cupboard. Some still even trial them but most have experienced the people's car from Wolfsburg that was Hitler's brainchild and the Wehrmacht's workhorse, finally given respectability by REME acting for the Allied Control Commission in one way or another. Most of us know the Beetle but what about the Bus/Kombi/Transporter or whatever you choose to call it? Surely there can be no more familiar sight than the forward control box on wheels which despite being 40 odd years old is still plentiful on our roads and recalls seeing them parked beside the Fistral filled with long haired wannabe surfers sipping their tinnies and boasting of the big ones on Bondi or Hawaii, rows of them in psychedelic colours at sixties pop concerts, of many of my friends carrying their racing cars around Europe on flatbed versions and even a vision of MCC Vice President Tom Threlfall tackling the Exeter in a VW bus well ballasted by a load of fellow Cambridge undergraduates. Love 'em or hate 'em you'll enjoy Volkswagen Bus, The Essential Buyer's Guide published by Veloce for under a tenner. It's only a small volume but an absolute mine of information about the different models, what to look for when buying, where to get service and spares, a guide to values and indeed everything a would be owner should know. Soon you'll be chatting knowledgeably about Splitties and Sambas, Wedges and Bay windows and all those other terms so beloved by the VW Van sub culture. In fact after reading its information and picture filled pages you will forget the vehicle's anthropoidal driving position, curious road holding with abysmal performance and dash out to buy one; at least with the knowledge gained you may well make a profit when after a short while the aforesaid shortcomings outweigh the novelty and your pride and joy becomes another occasion de jour.

About the Author

Richard Copping has had a passion for Volkswagens for many years, and a particular love of the Beetle of which he has owned many examples. For the last decade his time has been devoted to writing about the cars, his work being published in various magazines and several books. Richard has also collected an enviable hoard of archive material relating to all Volkswagen models. He is also a former editor of VW Motoring magazine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Veloce; 1st edition (March 17, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1845840224
• ISBN-13: 978-1845840228
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #728,219 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An invaluable and profusely illustrated reference for any prospective buyer or collector of the Volkswagen Bus line of vehicles, April 5, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Volkswagen Bus: The Essential Buyer's Guide (Paperback)

Very highly recommended, The Essential Buyer's Guide: Volkswagen Bus by automotive experts Ken Cservenka and Richard Copping is an invaluable and profusely illustrated reference for any prospective buyer or collector of the Volkswagen Bus line of vehicles. Introducing the reader to an in-depth and extensively researched collection informatively covering every necessary detail of each model and year of the VW Bus, The Essential Buyer's Guide: Volkswagen Bus acts as an expansive and exclusive contribution and consumers reference. The Essential Buyer's Guide: Volkswagen Bus is very strongly recommended to all readers searching for a vivid and accurate compendium of the Volkswagon Bus and the how to guide for what to look for when buying, fixing, or collecting the popular vehicle.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars qualification, December 6, 2009

By 

Daniel Reyes "Danbalder" (Mexico city) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Volkswagen Bus: The Essential Buyer's Guide (Paperback)

I am so happy with the delivery of this item, I want to thank "the book depository" because of the time of deliver, however I want to add that this ítem is not a book with deep research. It is just a short, little and expensive book to "introduce you to the introduction" on how to get and what to consider before buying a VW BUS, definetelly I do not recomend this ítem,and definetelly I recomend to buy on "the book depository" as they are a serious seller.