"So we had this idea." The idea was to trot out the most nauseating display of youth baiting this side of a Scion ad in Second Life. The year was 2001, and Volkswagen had just rolled out its Microbus concept. Clinging to the last strand of dot-com optimism like a vine over quicksand, VW produced this video, which it screened at the Microbus's unveiling at the Detroit auto show. It featured requisite design-geek narration under flashes of hipster families as they romped through all sorts of recreational self gratification. The van project was called a go in 2003, but subsequently recast as a joint project with Chrysler. But for a minute, there were tears of joy cried from Santa Cruz to Shasta. Truly, you can never go back. Well, maybe you sort of can.

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