Can you say Powerglide?? 2 speed slush box. Almost unbreakable. OK behind a V8, very wimpy behind a 6 even with a sloppy torque convertor. Pretty much replaced by the TurboHydramatic 350 in the late 60’s. Big blocks got the 3 speed THM 400. Another tough automatic.
The first VW Bus I ever owned was a '59 in the same colors as the one in in the picture. Mine wasn’t a 21 window though.
I gave 20 bucks for it with a bad motor. Another 50 bucks for a later 50 Horse conversion and it was up and running pretty decent. This was back in '73.
I painted the dash in gold metalflake and covered the entire interior in bright green shag carpet. It was a full fledged hippie bus after the interior work. A bit gaudy but so what. Dopeheads would have been right at home in it…
I’m picturing that in my mind but somehow I just can’t see it without flowers painted on the outside too.
My black 1959 Morris MInor had a huge yellow daisy painted on the roof. Does that get me off the hook? 
I have a feeling that the new VW Microbus will have as much in common with the originals as the new VW Beetles had in common with the original VW Beetles. Absolutely nothing.
It looks to me like an electric SUV styled to superficially resemble the VW Microbus.
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I had a 1960 Morris Minor that I painted GM mellow yellow but no flowers on it.
In '70 I had a CO, a young butterbar (or perhaps he was a 1st louie? It’s been a long time) from a wealthy family, that had a Ferrari… and he put stick on flowers on it. He had a lot more money than taste.
True. I thought all the retro-cars were like that… T-Bird, Challenger, Charger, Beetle, etcetera.
I’m not convinced that’s a bad thing. A Beetle from the era of my original Beetles would be dangerous and a maintenance head-ache compared with the modern versions. It would be illegal to bring those old cars to market, today.
I guess one just has to enjoy the memories one can relive while enjoying driving a safe, reliable automobile and call it good. 
CSA
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I can’t disagree with your point, however I hate to see a retro version of a car that totally abandons the premise that made the original famous. The original Beetle became famous because it was designed as very basic, very inexpensive means of transport. The “New Beetle” totally ignored that. It was more expensive than competitors in its market segment. The new Mini was the same, much more expensive than its segment competitors… again no relationship to the original basic utility vehicle. These “retro” vehicles aren’t modern versions of old classics, they’re simply bad styling imitations of the classics they pretend to represent, with overly inflated prices, a premium for the retro styling.
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Did the flowers on the Ferrari help him with the girls?
Don’t know. But I’m sure the Ferrari and the officer’s uniform must have. 
In the case of the T-Bird, they brought it back to its roots sort of. It began as a cute little convertible in 1955 and by the 1970’s it morphed into an enormous two door luxury car with styling that was so garish that a Miami pimp would be embarrassed to be seen in one.
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A junior pimp might drive a Thuderbird on his way up, but a professional grade pimp would only be seen in a customized Eldorado, as shown below. Now that’s a pimpmobile.
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Here is a recent “review” of the Microbus by Top Gear. Remember, this is a “concept” car and will not go into production as is. For example, the steering wheel retracts into the dash in autonomous mode, which will not happen in the next 5-10 years.
That looks like a rolling 1970s Whitney’s accessory catalog.
CSA
Where did he get those curb feelers? I could use a set of those but haven’t been able to find them since 1965. They used to be at the Coast to Coast store.
At today’s exchange rate the ID-Buzz will cost about $65,000. I know that a well restored 21 window Samba cost more, but not much more.