Over the years, the Brubaker Box has been an automotive curiosity that has occasionally emerged from hiding despite the very limited production numbers. It seems to be one of those vehicles that often emerges as a barn find like this one but is never completely left to ruin; it seems like throughout the generations, every caretaker knew it was something special, even if they couldn’t actually be the one to save it. The Brubaker Box was born from an era of fun and optimism when surf culture ruled the West Coast, and this garage-find example listed here on eBay has been sympathetically restored.
The idea of a box on wheels sounds simple but the truth is, the Brubaker design was complex. Its intent was to capture the spirit of California surf culture, and designer Curt Brubaker was years ahead of what would become a national obsession with van life. The use of a single sliding door was innovative in a few days: one, a sliding door was still a novel concept on a passenger vehicle, and two, Brubaker used just one of them to preserve as much structural rigidity as possible. The exterior was clearly sporty and the gun-slit style rear window and steeply raked front windshield added to that athletic vibe.
Sadly, the Brubaker dream was short-lived. There was just three original Brubakers ever built despite the company founders attracting generous outside funding to build out a manufacturing space. However, a central component of the VW-based design was the use of a Beetle chassis, and when the company refused to sell the startup bare chassis, the vision fell apart. Brubaker couldn’t rely on buying old Beetles and parting them out, which added a significant and unforeseen cost burden to the business model.
The interior is straight out of the 70s and nothing short of perfection for a couple of surfer bros. The aggressive stance with fat rear tires and staggered wheels all combined to give the Brubaker a near-unmatchable aura. The seller’s example is more than likely one of the additional 25 examples made when one of the original investors purchased the molds from the failing company. Known as Automecca, it didn’t evolve much further than what Brubaker was able to achieve, but it at least kept the dream alive for a little while longer. Have you ever seen one of these rare air-cooled vans in person?
Kind of reminds me of the ill fated AM Van, that I thought was really cool.
Yes, I remember seeing a Box on the road back in the day, and yes, I’d love to have one. They are amazing in person, sleek and much smaller than they appear in photos. I always thought the wood plank that served as a front bumper was strange, but couldn’t think of anything better.
This one seems a tad overdone to me, and wouldn’t be my choice for street use. It’s what the seller wanted, though, as a car of this kind should be.
Great write-up Jeff. Very, very interesting. I had a vague remembrance of these (probably from magazine pictures) but knew nothing about them. It does still look cool today. Outstanding ebay ad. I have no idea how one would price it; the ebay result will help.
I thought about buying one of these until I saw no left door. Looked like a trap in event of an accident. Went back to painting my VW Notchback a bright yellow and hit the sand dunes. Nice looking rigs though.
It’s a fiberglass bathtub strapped to a VW platform.
If I were concerned with safety, the door would be the least of my concerns! I’m sure it’s no more of a deathtrap than the VW T2 Van.
But I remember reading about them in my pre-teen years in “Car & Driver,” and wish they had gotten farther with the project
Thanks for a great write up Jeff. I’m happy to answer questions if I can.
Such an insanely cool vehicle. It’s a real shame these never reached full production. I would love to see a modern version produced.
That wasn’t sympathetically restored. Driven.co took it down to the chassis, cleaned and made molds from the body panels, then rebuilt the chassis to new spec, added all new mechanicals and electrical, repainted and freshened the body and rebuilt it again. There is a strong cult following on these cars since less than 30 were built.
Rick is correct. We do take them down to bare parts and then rebuild with new.
Compared to a Tesla pickup this is no where near a box. This van at least has some style. To bad it couldn’t have become a more common vehicle.
Black top, sunny day, no air conditioning. Do any of those windows open? I was stationed out of San Diego when these were made.
Yeah it do remember seeing this in Car and Driver magazine. I also remember talking to my friends at that time about if we had it. Getting a Porsche six with turbo and with air conditioning, install it in the van. Also, installed power windows on the driver’s side and passenger side. That would be one cool fast van!! I am surprised they never did this. 🐻🇺🇸
Super rare and great condition!! $54,100 now and reserve not met, ends soon so get those bids in.
Rockin’ the Keystones!
I noted that a lack of cooperation from Volkswagen on the chassis apparently doomed the venture. I was surprised, as when I worked at Clenet, we received crates of new OEM sheet metal and other components directly from Volkswagen (we used the VW Cabriolet center section for the passenger compartment).
The Brubaker Box was a vehicle seen in the 1973 movie “Soylent Green”.
https://www.imcdb.org/v452817.html
Some nice old airplanes in the E- Bay post.
That’s the Yanks Air Museum in Chino Hills CA. Very cool place. The Octane magazine shoot was done there.
Reminds me of a TV- show from the 70’s. They used something like a roamer (?) .
Ark II was the TV show. There are some photos of the designer Curt Brubaker driving the Roamer in the eBay advert.
IIRC, Brubaker also designed the Ark II main vehicle as well as the Roamer, which was a cut-down open-top Box that would stow in the back of the Ark II.
This reminds me of an urban assault vehicle. It definitely has that Robi Cop vibe. I wouldn’t turn one down.
I’ll have one of those F-104 instead
I spotted this Brubaker Box in the background of a vehicle featured here by the same seller last week.
I have always loved the look of these and recall a cover article about them in Car And Driver back in the day.
GLWTA.
I am the owner of the green Brubaker Box that was displayed in the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles for more than one year.
Waiting to see the result of this Ebay auktion…… and thinking about what I can do with my Box…… Driven.co knows my contact data.
I am also the owner of the one-and-only 1977 AMC AM Concept Van. Working on it to get it ready for the road…and Pebble Beach in 2 years. :-))
Andreas from Frankfurt-Germany
Went to $73,600 reserve not met. 104 bids.