The Type 21/28 Lasten Transporter doesn’t get much press on this site mostly because the LT series of Transporters from Volkswagen was never offered here. Introduced in the mid-1970s as a larger work vehicle than the T2, in brought water-cooled motors and a more traditional front-engine, rear-drive layout to Volkswagen’s van recipe. Well, I say “front-engine”, but technically this was a mid-engine van since the layout placed the engine above the front axle.
The LT was a work van first and foremost, so they were not luxurious in nature. Often snapped up by delivery companies and municipalities, they lived hard lives and it has become even more unusual to see them today as the newest is new some 22 years old. They were available in many different configurations with different engines, from the 2.8 ton LT28 through the mega-duty LT55. Both gasoline and diesel (along with a turbocharger in some cases) were available, and Volkswagen even briefly offered a Westfalia camper version of the larger T4.
This particular example is from mid-run. A LT35D, it features the Volkswagen D24 DW 2.4 liter inline-6 normally aspirated diesel. With a 23.5:1 compression ratio these motors sound impressive but didn’t return much in terms of power; sans turbo (and as seen in Volvos, too!), they made 74 horsepower at 4,000 rpms and all of 114 lb.ft of torque. It has has an interesting history, having lived its working life as a fire truck at Zahnradfabrik Passau in Bavaria on the Austrian border; a production plant for the company you known much better as simply “ZF”: