The Renndienst VW ID Buzz Is Porsche Racing Nostalgia at Its Most Obscure
VW has revived a racing relic of the past with an ID Buzz painted in the original Porsche “Racing Service” livery.
There’s always something to love about vintage racing. Whether it was the cars, the original, insanely dangerous tracks, or the styles of the time, it was an era of racing this is remembered fondly despite its danger. But there was another cool thing about vintage racing: the support vehicles. And Volkswagen has revived one from Porsche lore with the ID Buzz.
Most folks know about the Mercedes Renntransporter, known as Blue Wonder, which was powered by a 300SL Gullwing engine and was used to transport grand prix cars in 1955. This is admittedly a lot less specialized but served a more important purpose: carrying tools, spare parts, acting as temporary bunks, and sometimes towing Porsche racing cars in the ‘60s and ‘70s. They were called Renndienst and were built from T1 and T2 Volkswagen Buses.
Much of Porsche’s racing effort for the 904, 908, 910, and 917 were supported by the little red buses. Renndienst translates directly into “racing service” and they were iconic at the time, accompanying Porsche’s factory cars to nearly every major race of the period, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
With the original VW bus long gone, there hasn’t been an opportunity to do a modern retro take on the Renndienst until the ID Buzz, which Porsche Netherlands used to pay homage to the original bus. It uses the burgundy paint and sticker treatment from the original Renndienst but isn’t actually anything more than that. Unfortunately, it is just a promotional homage livery and is not slated for any use for racing teams. Instead, it will live in Porsche showrooms around the Netherlands to help bring awareness to the automaker’s racing history.
I am certain, however, that if I had serious money to burn and a Porsche race car, I’d forget about a massive race hauler. Who wouldn’t want to be the person towing a GT3 Cup car behind a Renndienst-liveried ID Buzz?
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