It was 1962, and Kurt Ketzner, an ingenious Volkswagen mechanic from Vienna, decided that there was no car that would suit the unique mountainous terrain of his country. So he tried to create his own version called “Halfway Fox”.
The mechanic found that the perfect base for his project was a Volkswagen T1 minibus, but decided that he needed tanks to handle the snow.
“At first I looked around, but could not find the car of my dreams. That’s why I decided to build it myself, “Ketsner wrote in the marketing materials of the era.
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Then he came up with the idea of adding a pair of axles to the van. At the rear, the minibus has two axles that control the tanks according to Ketsner’s own design. The 13-inch alloy wheels are made of aluminum and rubber to be safe both on the road and outside.
The front axles had normal wheels with 14-inch rough tires, and each wheel had its own brake. It also had a limited skid differential to help ensure even power distribution to the wheels even in deep snow.
However, there was not much effort to disperse. Ketzner did not consider it necessary to change the 1192 cubic meters of VW, so the car has only 33 hp. (25 kW / 34 PS). That was enough to get it to 35 km / h (21 miles), which made it a little slower than a real four-legged fox.
By 1968, Ketzner had developed only two of these complex contraceptives and was working with a third when he was forced to stop production. It was purchased in 1990 by the Porsche Museum in Gmund, Austria, and was purchased by Bullikartel eV, a Volkswagen minibus enthusiasts’ association.
In 2005, they tried to restore the car, but found problems and forced them to stop. In 2018, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles took over the Half-Track Fox, handing it over to the Classic Transportation Department for a major overhaul, which was completed in February.
This allowed the team to get through the snow once again. They say that despite the lack of power, the Half-Track Fox is incredibly good at climbing snowy mountains.
