Hippies rejoice! Volkswagen might revive the Microbus!

Back in the 60s and 70s, when the ending of WW2 brought unprecedented peace and prosperity to the world, 'Peace, Love, worry-the-future-no-more and smoking pots brought forward the rule of hippies, with a guitar in hand, a bible and a few quids, guys and girls would just gather together for a long 'Destination Unknown' trips, stopping by roadsides for a quick 'Beatles On the Move'; gather their $30, and spend $20 for some quick weed sessions and $10 for a meal. The very automobile that fits into this smoking pot, shagging, laying around hippie lives perfectly, was no other than the Volkswagen Microbus. Cheap, slow, shabby is everything these truth seeking peace lovers were looking for.

Truth be told, it's so iconic that we would rank the Microbus, Mini and Beetle being the first three if the world was ever allowed to have only three nostalgic dreams for petrol heads, in fact petrol heads should be the wrong word here, the Beetle, Mini and Microbus are the exact opposite to what constitutes as a petrol head's choice, their very creation was to cater to average Joes that barely realizes the looks, the ergonomics, or the number of gears they had, it is just there, starting when they do, not when they couldn't.

A day in the workshop for these would be a quiet place, a few hammers and a very old man with a wretch, there should be no dynos, no charts or computer wires, just some sound of carburetors irking and the smell of dirty old petrol.

What's in a Microbus back then weren't luxury amenities like radios or TVs, but the smell of smoked weeds, memories of the girl you shagged, which you've never met, some leftover shirts or bra where you wouldn't know who it belonged to. The familiarity of uncertainty is always there as accompany, these are truly beautiful creations of automobiles, existing not to remind you have two cylinders less, existing not to remind the girl next door might care what you drive, existing not to remind there could be an oil crisis on the brink. They are merely there, to remind you, Now, is what's most important.

And Volkswagen is now rumored to be tinkering with the idea of bringing a small piece of serenity to this world plague by war, energy crisis, inflation, economic downturn with a new Microbus, cool but we're not really sure if its legal now to smoke weed, whether new green engines could have the sound of a carburetor, whether mechanics wouldn't get sued hammering your car with a wretch, or whether a guitar is all you need to play the latest songs of Timbaland on the streets. Most of all, whether the 60 year old hippies could still be capable for a wild shag.

Pictures of the 2001 Microbus Concept