• Year of manufacture 
    1960
  • Car type 
    Other
  • Lot number 
    141
  • Drive 
    LHD
  • Condition 
    Used
  • Location
    United States
  • Exterior colour 
    Other

Description

This remarkable Volkswagen has a fascinating story, both of how it came to be and how it survived almost exactly as it was built, reportedly retaining nearly all original finishes. According to one account, this swivel-seat, walk-through Kombi was retailed through R.B. Kuhn Volkswagen in Fairborn, Ohio – to which the original service booklet and dealer sticker on the engine door attest – then outfitted with specialized equipment to make fresh, hot donuts onboard.

Jay Tyree had the idea to sell donuts to General Motors workers on break at the Dayton-area factories in the 1960s, under the apt name “Rolling Donuts.” Early in the venture, Mr. Tyree discovered that an employee was skimming the enterprise’s profits and he soon shuttered the business, placing this bus in clean, heated storage. All but forgotten, in 2008, the bus emerged after almost 45 years, in astoundingly original condition. The boomerang-pattern ceiling and countertops in the kitchen area, as well as the flooring and much of the donut equipment remain intact, and the tilt-out donut sales tray is as it was first built.

Volkswagen aficionados will marvel at the Type 2’s original engine, door seals, and speedometer, which showed less than 10,600 miles at the time of cataloguing. Indeed, nearly every finish on the “Donut Bus,” including the lettering, reads like the first day of business. There’s no sugar coating it, don’t glaze over this sweet opportunity!