Posted on 07/09/2019 5:48:56 AM PDT by McGruff
Volkswagen is halting production of the last version of its Beetle model this week at its plant in Puebla, Mexico. It’s the end of the road for a vehicle that has symbolized many things over a history spanning the eight decades since 1938.
It has been: a part of Germany’s darkest hours as a never-realized Nazi prestige project. A symbol of Germany’s postwar economic renaissance and rising middle-class prosperity. An example of globalization, sold and recognized all over the world. An emblem of the 1960s counterculture in the United States. Above all, the car remains a landmark in design, as recognizable as the Coca-Cola bottle.
The car’s original design — a rounded silhouette with seating for four or five, nearly vertical windshield and the air-cooled engine in the rear — can be traced back to Austrian engineer Ferdinand Porsche, who was hired to fulfill German dictator Adolf Hitler’s project for a “people’s car” that would spread auto ownership the way the Ford Model T had in the U.S.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
There is a good book about the Volkswagen company called “Small Wonder” by Walter Nelson. Good read if you are interested in the history of the company.
“...Ferdinand Porsche, who was hired to fulfill German dictator Adolf Hitler’s project for a “people’s car” that would spread auto ownership the way the Ford Model T had in the U.S.”
IIRC, Porsche had been working in the idea for a while before Hitler attached himself to the effort and promoted the car as a symbol of the Nazi rebirth of Germany. The article makes it sound like Porsche was a hired hand.
Hecho en Mexico. Good riddance.
They were fun to play with.
Built a couple of off road buggies in my youth.
My cousin had a ‘68 Bus for years after he got back from Vietnam. The only right wing hippie I ever knew LOL.
And the most recent version of the beetle was put into production by Ferdinand Piech, Porsches grandson.
CC
I'm trying to come up with an American export to Germany that rivals this in scope and $$?
I have a 2015 TDI Beetle.
They paid me $7.5K to ‘fix it’
Then I put a Malone stage 2 tune which brought it up to German specs (178 HP), lots of torque and gets nearly 40 MPG. I can fit my upright bass in it.
Sweet car.
We exported a LOT of bombs to Germany, 1942-1944 ...
I had a ‘71 VW 411 Square-back wagon in college. Had great traction with the engine in the rear.
People reflexively slam VW for their association with Hitler, but don’t seem concerned that Henry Ford was an anti-Semite and Nazi sympathizer.
http://www.thehistoryreader.com/modern-history/hitlers-american-friends-henry-ford-and-nazism/
We actually owned 1 of the 2 ‘49 split window beetles that were imported that year. Bought it dead from behind a repair ship near Ft Worth TX. Re-sold it to the guy that did our machine work in Houston.
Wonder what that’s worth today?
The Volkswagen Beetle was an automotive energizer bunny that kept going and going...
My sister drove one through college, grad school, several jobs. I remember hearing her faded red Beetle (firing up with a broken muffler) blocks way as she made her way home to our apartment from work.
That car would drive through rain, sleet, blizzards... It never quit on her.
(I had Volkswagen Beetle envy - always wanted one.)
I had a 72 bug. Paid $700 for it when I was 15, before I had a license. Drove it all through high school and college. It was my daily driver, off road (hunt camp) vehicle, and slept in it a few times on camping trips.
Now I have a ‘79 convertible Super Beetle. Fun car.
Volkswagen has developed an all-electric version that looks somewhat like the original.
https://newsroom.vw.com/vehicles/future-cars/official-the-vw-bus-is-back-and-its-electric/
Like I wrote, Hitler backed the Volkswagen. But the origins of the design predated his involvement:
“Ferdinand Porsche, a well-known designer for high-end vehicles and race cars, had been trying for years to get a manufacturer interested in a small car suitable for a family. He built a car named the “Volksauto” from the ground up in 1933, using many popular ideas and several of his own, putting together a car with an air-cooled rear engine, torsion bar suspension, and a “beetle” shape, the front hood rounded for better aerodynamics (necessary as it had a small engine).[8]
In 1934, with many of the above projects still in development or early stages of production, Adolf Hitler became involved, ordering the production of a basic vehicle...”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen
As a 19 y/o kid from Ohio, I had just moved to LA/Hollywood in 1968.
I bought my first bug at Jim Smith’s Hollywood VW/Porsche - sticker was $1500.
I lusted for the 911 in the showroom...but it was waaaay too expensive with a sticker of $5,000.
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