1963 Volkswagen Type 2 Transporter flatbed pickup

You might not associate political controversy with old Volkswagens, but there's a reason why there are many VW microbuses built between the 1970s and the 2000s on American roads, but the only air-cooled VW trucks you see date from the mid-60s or earlier.

From Wikipedia:

"Certain models of the Volkswagen Type 2 played a role in a historic episode during the early 1960s, known as the Chicken War. France and West Germany had placed tariffs on imports of U.S. chicken. Diplomacy failed, and in January 1964, two months after taking office, President Johnson imposed a 25% tax (almost ten times the average U.S. tariff) on potato starch, dextrin, brandy, and light trucks. Officially, the tax targeted items imported from Europe as approximating the value of lost American chicken sales to Europe.

In retrospect, audio tapes from the Johnson White House, revealed a quid pro quo unrelated to chicken. In January 1964, President Johnson attempted to convince United Auto Workers' president Walter Reuther not to initiate a strike just before the 1964 election, and to support the president's civil rights platform. Reuther, in turn, wanted Johnson to respond to Volkswagen's increased shipments to the United States.

The Chicken Tax directly curtailed importation of German-built Type 2s in configurations that qualified them as light trucks – that is, commercial vans (panel vans) and pickups. In 1964, U.S. imports of automobile trucks from West Germany declined to a value of $5.7 million – about one-third the value imported in the previous year."

The Chicken Tax is still around. Ford has been importing its Transit Connect vans from Turkey in passenger vehicle configuration to get around the tax, then ripping out the extra seats to put the vans into cargo configuration.

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1965 Volvo 1800S

   

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1964 Toyota Land Cruiser

Toyota's official web site offers a remarkably candid history of the brand's early years in the United States:

"Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., was formed Oct. 31, 1957, establishing its headquarters in a former Rambler dealership in Hollywood, Calif. Sales began in 1958 and totaled a modest 288 vehicles – 287 Toyopet Crown sedans and one Land Cruiser.

Enthusiasm turned to gloom when it was found that the Toyopet, a sturdy vehicle with quality features and room to spare, was woefully underpowered and overpriced for the American market. Toyopet sales stalled and were discontinued in 1961. The legendary Land Cruiser, which quickly gained a reputation as a durable, all-terrain vehicle, carried the Toyota flag in the United Sates until 1965 when the Toyota Corona arrived."

The Toyopet wasn't just underpowered. According to one of Toyota's first sales managers in the US, "when you drove it at 50 miles per hour on American roads, it would shake like hell. More than that, the engines busted."

I'll probably never get the chance to photograph a Toyopet, but there are plenty of early Land Cruisers still on the road.

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