21 Window vs 23 Window Volkswagen Bus
Among American enthusiasts, it is common to refer to the different models by the number of their windows. To offer a fancier bus, Volkswagen took the basic Kombi/Microbus body stamping, added more windows and called it the “Deluxe” bus. Originally, they added 1 window to each side (towards the back of the bus) and also added a very cool curved window to each back corner. So you take a standard 11 window bus, add 2 side windows and 2 rear corner windows and you get the Deluxe, or “15 window” bus (that’s 11 + 4). So far this all makes sense, but starting with model year 1964, VW “modernized” the Deluxe bus by removing the 2 curved corner windows, so starting with the ’64 buses, a Deluxe was known as a “13 window” (15 – 2) bus.
Now for the final twist. To really super-size the deal, you could order a Deluxe bus with the “Samba” option (a $160 option for 1963), which added a large canvas sunroof and 8 “skylight” windows to the roof. Since the large sunroof is not actually a “window”, the Samba model added 8 windows, not 9, to a Deluxe bus. So through model year 1963, the Samba was a “23 window” bus (15 + 8), and starting with model year 1964 the Samba was a “21 window” bus (13 + 8).
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Download Volkswagen Bus De Luxe 1964 – Paper Model (1/35 scale)
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Volkswagen BUS DE LUXE model (Samba bus)
