The Brubaker Box is one of the weirdest and rarest cars ever
- A US-based auto designer broke the mold in 1972
- He designed the unforgettable Brubaker Box
- It blended the Volkswagen dune buggy with the California custom van craze
Published on Jul 23, 2024 at 10:05 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Jul 24, 2024 at 7:02 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
An independent US-based auto designer broke the mold in 1972 when he created the unforgettable Brubaker Box.
It merged the Volkswagen dune buggy with the California custom van craze.
And with only three ever created it’s truly one of the ‘weirdest’ cars in the world.
DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
The story of the Brubaker Box

Auto designer, Curtis Brubaker, was an alumnus of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena who teamed up with fellow designers, Todd Gerstenberger and Harry Wykes.
Brubaker had been inspired by Volkswagen Minibuses and the Southern California car scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s – but he wanted to give them both an upgrade.
With that in mind, the body of the Brubaker Box was designed to fit on the chassis of a Volkswagen Beetle.
In fact, Car and Driver magazine labeled the Brubaker Box the ‘the best thing that ever happened to a Beetle’ on its March 1972 cover.
Volkswagen disagreed, citing liability issues.
After failing to reach a deal with Volkswagen, however, Brubaker bought completed Beetles and converted them.
With that in mind, the scheme didn’t prove very profitable for the team of designers.
The result was that only three were ever made.
On the bright side, this meant that the rare cars became increasingly sought-after.
When one became the Roamer on the TV show Ark II, the Brubaker Box reached cult status.
Subsequently, another company called Automecca offered the Brubaker Box in kit form in various stages of completion as the Roamer Sports Van.
Around 25 were sold.

In 2018 a California company planned to reproduce the Box in kit form again, as the Boxx.
This isn’t the first time that cars have been sold as kits.
These are some of the world’s most interesting kit cars.
Kits are a great way to keep costs down with this Corvette C8 widebody kit costing the same as a family car.
The car


Brubaker blended several automotive subcultures.
The ‘world’s weirdest car’ per Launch Mode, made a huge splash at the 1972 Los Angeles International Motorsports Show
It included VW dune buggies, surf woodies, and custom vans.
The Brubaker Box is a molded fiberglass cuboid mounted on a Volkswagen Beetle Type 1 platform.
Keeping the diminutive 1.35 meter (53-inch)structure simple and rigid, it boasts just one single sliding door on the right side.
In an attempt to keep costs down, it had a windshield borrowed from an American Motors car with rear glass from an El Camino.
Speaking of rare VWs, this man somehow made one of Volkswagen’s rarest cars from the 1990s even rarer.

All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”