VW Typ 128 Schwimmwagen
The VW Schwimmwagen Typ 128 is the rare forerunner of the famous Typ 166 — the most-produced amphibious vehicle in history. In 1941, just thirty were built at the Volkswagen factory in Fallersleben, as a trial series for an amphibious version of the Kübelwagen. Designer Erwin Komenda created a boat-shaped monocoque hull, but the long 2.40-metre wheelbase — carried over from the Kübelwagen — made the structure too fragile for off-road use: the hull cracked at the wheel wells. The solution was radical: cut forty centimetres from the wheelbase. This produced the more compact, stronger Typ 166. Only a few restored examples of the original Typ 128 are known to survive worldwide.
