In 1967 Volkswagen Australasia Ltd. started with a project vehicle designed for Australia's rough conditions. This vehicle, designated Country Buggy or Type 197, was designed by project head Volkswagen Australasia's Managing Director Rudi Herzmer and VW Engineer Cyril Harcourt in VW Australia's Clayton Factory.
The Country Buggy was based on an Australian made Type 1 platform with engine, gearbox, and front axle from the Type 1. The rear swing axles had reduction gears from a 1st generation Volkswagen Transporter (1950-1967).
Volkswagen TransporterOriginally, the idea was to make the Country Buggy an amphibious vehicle, however directives from VW Germany curtailed this vision.
The Country Buggy started production in July 1967, with exports to the Philippines sold as the Sakbayan ("Sakbayan" is a combination of the Tagalog words "Sakay," "Ride;" and "Bayan," "Nation"), Singapore, New Zealand & some other small Pacific nations. In the Pam Grier film Black Mama, White Mama, several Country Buggies were seen as police vehicles (the Country Buggies are in fact the locally-produced Sakbayans).
VW Australasia's Country Buggy also caught the attention of the chief heads in Wolfsburg, and one or two were sent to Wolfsburg for evaluation. In reality, VW was developing their own Country Buggy competitor, the Volkswagen 181.
Volkswagen 181A Country Buggy with a canvas awning style roof can be seen very clearly in an Australian Coca Cola commercial from 1969 featuring an Australian band called "The Executives"
The Country Buggy was not a big success. It had some early reliability problems which doomed it, as well as it being ahead of the market trend of the day.
Production ended in 1969 with only 1956 units built. Very few Country Buggies survive today, but Sakbayans are being revived in the Philippines following increasing interest in the original Volkswagen Beetle.
External links:
Full Country Buggy History
Original Brochures
Review
