Question
 

I remember when I was stationed in Germany that we use to get air cooled VW Transporters and pick-ups that had 5 speeds. Would this work on a beetle and where can they be found?

Thanks,
Dan

I was stationed in Italy (Naval Air Base) and we had a Diesel Transporter but it was a 4 speed. I didn't know there was ever a Vanagon with a 5 speed. What year Transporter was this?

I think 1988-91 Vanagons did. We sold our '85 Vanagon (4-speed) because we wanted a different interior. We bought a '93 EuroVan Westy but we looked at newer Vanagons and the later year models had 5-speeds.

Oops. I got a couple of things mixed up in my head from my car search of 1997.

VW Foxes had 5-speeds available after 1988. Vanagons with Syncro had 5-speeds (including the low gear) after 1986. We never got either because we ended up with the aforementioned EuroVan and we kept our Jetta (until 2002) instead.

Now, maybe, Caravelles (European name for Vanagons) had regular 5-speeds.

Year Unknown
 

Hey Guys,

I remeber that they were diesels and were pick-up versions of the "vanagon" althought Caravelle is sounding familiar..... How would one get one to drop into a beetle. I have looked everywhere except for Volkswagen itself. Don't get me wrong I think berg Trannys are very well built but the cost associated with it???? Same with mounting a porsche tranny to a beetle? Why doesn't someone make there own 5 or 6 speed tranny for us air cooled junkies?

Dan

T25 ... Vanagon 5 speed
 

The only 5 speed ever fitted into an aircooled VW van was in the Vanagon, the early version were aircooled.

The 5 speed was really a 4 speed with a crawler gear, plus it was a dogleg 1st. They are not that strong, very big and heavy and wouldn't fit in the Bug chassis without some modifications and the shifter comes out of the side of the box making for big problems rigging it up.

MG

Hi

All our 2.1 Vanagons are 5 speed down here, they are very weak boxes.

Steve C