Volkswagen Country Buggy

The Volkswagen Country Buggy was a small utility vehicle designed and built by Volkswagen in Australia, using parts from the Type 1 and Type 2. It began in the early 1960s as the Kurierwagen, a project to give the Australian Army an amphibious four-wheel drive vehicle that could also be sold to the public, led by Rudi Herzmer with engineer Cyril Harcourt at the Clayton factory. The production version, designated Type 197, had neither four-wheel drive nor the ability to float, so the military never bought one. It entered production in July 1967 and reached the public on 3 April 1968. Local manufacturing ended in 1968 after 1,956 had been built, part of them as kits for the Philippines and elsewhere, where a derivative called the Sakbayan continued until 1980.