DANSK LEGETOYS FABRIK was a special Danish phenomenon. The company was established in 1905 when a new law was established which forced prisoners (inmates) to work while in prison. The choice was made to start a toy factory and produce wooden toys. The pioneer in this field was the warden of the Vestre prison, Stener Frederik Grundtvig. Production ceased in 1977 as they could not compete with the mass-produced toy plastic toys and partly because many of the inmates preferred to participate in education rather than toy production.
Part of the DANSK LEGETOYS FABRIK toy production included a VW Bus, either in the Transporter, Kombi or Pickup versions. The VW Busses were made out of wood that had several individual parts that were nailed and glued together to form the toy. The DANSK LEGETOYS FABRIK VW Busses all had cut out windows and interiors such as seats and an instrument panel. The chassis, also made of wood, had axles with black rubber tires. The wooden bumpers were usually painted silver and were nailed to the chassis. Quite often, the bumpers broke off the chassis and usually missing from the VW Bus. There was a dab of silver paint for the headlights, red paint for the taillights and a white hand painted VW emblem of the front. Some had special themes such as ESSO or special businesses and were painted solid or two-tone colors. The roof section was removable on the Transporter and Kombi VW Bus models so the interiors could be seen better. Its length was app. 41 cm, 16 cm wide and 19,5 cm high.
