Home » Bombel Threat: Cold Start

Bombel Threat: Cold Start

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I think one of my favorite tiny sub-categories of car is the rear-engined small delivery vehicle. Especially ones adapted from small, rear-engined cars. These are different from rear-engined vans, like the Volkswagen Type 2, which were designed to be cargo vehicles from the start; I’m thinking more like adapted vehicles. I like these because of the inherent challenges of adapting a rear-engined car into something made to haul cargo. It can be done, of course, and the usual solution is generally the one you’d think of first: slap a box on the back, above the engine. I want to look at one of these solutions this morning, the Fiat 126 Bombel.

I was trying to think of all the adapted rear-engine small car cargo vehicles I could think of, and there’s really not all that many. Remember, I’m not counting total van body re-designs on rear-engined platforms like the Subaru Sambar trucks and vans or even the VW Fridolin. I’m talking production rear-engine small car hacked into a cargo vehicle of some sort.

Vidframe Min Top
Vidframe Min Bottom

In this category, I can think of just a few. First, there were the Volkswagen Reichpost vans made during and just after WWII, first on Kübelwagen bodies, then on Beetle bodies:

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These were very much in the hack-0ff-the-back-and-stick-on-a-box category. Subaru actually managed to show that you can do a version without the box, just by hacking off the back and making all the hacked-off parts into doors:

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That Subaru 360 Commercial up there may be the strangest of these conversions. You’d think it’d almost be easier and cheaper to just shove a box on the back there than hinging those rear quarter windows, right? They eventually made the Sambar on the same platform, so clearly the 360 Commerical was just a stopgap measure.

There’s one other one of these I really like, a version of a very charming little rear-engined car, the Fiat 126. This version of the 126 comes from Poland, the place where the 126 had the most success, being built in Poland and becoming that country’s peoples’ car, where it got the nickname “Maluch” which means “the little one.”

The 126 was a genuine pop culture staple in Poland, with tributes like this one about it:

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…and it would show up in children’s cartoons – or, in this case, stop-motion animations:

As you can tell, these were very loved little machines. But back to the cargo variant!

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There was a design institute in Poland called BOSMAL, an acronym that translates to Small Car Research and Developement Center. They did a lot of very clever design studies with the 126, including one called Bombel from 1974, which roughly translates to “bubble.” Which made sense, because this transformation of the 126 into a cargo vehicle relied on the use of a fiberglass “bubble” stuck on the back.

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It was a pretty clever solution, and versions were built with windows and rear seats, and without, for cargo-only use. Sixteen prototypes were made and shown, and while they got a positive response from the public, the Bombel never went into production.

In fact, none of the prototypes seem to have survived, though people have re-created them. Here’s a great video of one very careful re-creation.I’m not sure if it may use original parts? It’s honestly so good I do wonder if this could have been built from some surviving prototype parts:

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If you watch that, pay special attention to this part, where the host shows how the seat folds and a corrugated metal panel can be moved into a position to make a full-length flat load floor. It’s very clever!

Sure, the high load height to clear the engine isn’t great, but if only Bombel had caught on, that could have been improved. That’s because in 1987 a new version of the 126 called the 126Bis was released, which laid the engine on its side, making for a greatly lowered cargo floor and a lot more room.

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This version of the 126 got a nice big hatch, too, and was much more useful. A Bombel version on the 126Bis platform could have been so much better!

Alas, it never got to happen. Which is a shame, I think, because I find these Bombel 126s cool as hell.

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Oh well.

 

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Freelivin2713
Freelivin2713
8 days ago

So were these owned by the bubble boy?

Dion Fluttert
Dion Fluttert
10 days ago

Wot, no mention of the Commer Imp van?
Rear engined, 45 degree 4 cilinder water cooled engine, still a good usable load space for this little van. Look here: https://www.imps4ever.info/family/van.html

Kody Dagley
Kody Dagley
10 days ago

YAY! A Torch article about my favorite car, the 126p! 😀

Fun fact, though the BIS was better packing in a lot of ways, they were known for blowing headgaskets a lot…

Jim Zavist
Jim Zavist
10 days ago

I’ve been thinking that the Chevy Bolt would be a prime candidate for this type of conversion.

Jesus Chrysler drives a Dodge
Jesus Chrysler drives a Dodge
11 days ago

I didn’t watch the whole video, but at the beginning the narrator says that the red Bombel is an original, not a replica. So at least one prototype seems to have survived.

That cut-away back would have made the most adorbs ute ever!

Janek PL
Janek PL
11 days ago

I have seen one like this – open bed pick-up in early 2010’s or late 2000’s in ÅšwinoujÅ›cie (polish port city). Probably handmade out of early 90’s fiat 126p and used by fisherman. As I remember it was had a rollbar complete with additional lights – as God intended for pick-ups 😉
And it was in fact most adorable ute I have seen.

Theotherotter
Theotherotter
11 days ago

Psst! It’s “Maluch”, not “Macluch”

AlterId
AlterId
11 days ago

That little Subaru — WOW!

Jaroslaw Kusz
Jaroslaw Kusz
11 days ago

Jason it was called “Maluch” not “Macluch”
Maluch means a little kid, or you know you can use for other things too. Polish language is glorious.
Poland Reprazent!

Last edited 11 days ago by Jaroslaw Kusz
Jesus Chrysler drives a Dodge
Jesus Chrysler drives a Dodge
11 days ago
Reply to  Jaroslaw Kusz

Back in the day (ok, my parents’ day) these little maluchs were so common and generally shitty compared to Western cars you couldn’t give one away outside the Iron Curtain. Now they’re worth some serious kapusta!

Jaroslaw Kusz
Jaroslaw Kusz
11 days ago

It was my first car back in 1996. 23 horse-of-raw-power..

Last edited 11 days ago by Jaroslaw Kusz
Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
11 days ago

This thing is Le Bomb.

Permanentwaif
Permanentwaif
11 days ago

That monochrome shot makes it look like that little Fiat put on a powdered wig.

MaximillianMeen
MaximillianMeen
11 days ago

Torch, you forgot to mention this Porsche 356 Sedan Delivery.

Kevin B Rhodes
Kevin B Rhodes
11 days ago

I’ve driven a Polski-Fiat as the Hungarians call them. Super fun, and this version is absolutely adorable – and properly useful in a city for small deliveries.

Toyec
Toyec
11 days ago

Looks a lot like the Mobilize Bento

MATTinMKE
MATTinMKE
11 days ago

Totally LOLd at that little guy chasing the horses in the steeplechase!

A. Barth
A. Barth
11 days ago

The third-to-last picture (in greyscale) caught my attention.

It would be an interesting project to emulate a Bombel using an early VW Rabbit/Golf. The spirit would be the same but the cargo situation would be greatly improved since the VW is front-engined.

Yes, I know there were VW-Rabbit-based pickups, but putting a topper on one of those wouldn’t be much of a project.

MiniDave
MiniDave
11 days ago
Reply to  A. Barth

I had a diesel VW Rabbit with a bed topper on it……you think it was slow before!!!

LTDScott
LTDScott
11 days ago

An even more adorable Pizza Planet truck

Six Inna Row Makes it Go
Six Inna Row Makes it Go
11 days ago
Reply to  LTDScott

Came here to say the same thing. The one in the top photo is just one light-up rooftop rocketship away from being the Pizza Planet truck IRL.

Nicholas Nolan
Nicholas Nolan
11 days ago

Slap the logo of Pierogi World from Cyberpunk 2077 on the rocket instead, for a more appropriately Polski flair.

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