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The Volkswagen Type 1, more commonly known as the Beetle, Vocho, Bug or Käfer (German), is a compact car, produced by Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003. Although the names "Beetle" and "Bug" were quickly adopted by the public, it was not until August of 1967 that VW began using the name in marketing materials. It had previously been known only as either the "Type I" or as the 1200 (twelve-hundred), 1300 (thirteen-hundred) or 1500 (fifteen-hundred), which had been the names under which the vehicle was marketed in Europe prior to 1967; the numbers denoted the vehicle's engine size in cubic centimetres. In 1998, many years after the original model had been dropped from the lineup in most of the world (it continued in Mexico and a handful of other countries until 2003) VW introduced a "New Beetle", bearing a similar appearance to the original but having little else in common.
In the international poll for the award of the world's most influential car of the twentieth century the Beetle came fourth after the Ford Model T, the Mini and the Citroën DS.
History
The people's car
The origins of the car date back to 1930s Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler wanted private motorized transport to be widely available and commissioned engineer Ferdinand Porsche to produce such a vehicle. Hitler decreed that this car should be capable of transporting two adults and three children at a speed of 100 km/h (62 mph), and that it should cost no more than a motorcycle and sidecar to buy. A savings scheme was also launched that would enable the common people to buy the car. However, the advent and aftermath of World War II meant that those who paid into the scheme never received their cars.Ferdinand Porsche formulated the original parameters of the Beetle several years before it was commissioned. However its production only became financially viable when it was backed by the Third Reich. The Beetle looked very similar to the Mercedes 170H, another of Porsche's designs.***
Further more, some rumors suggest that the Beetle was originally designed for conversion into a makeshift armored car in times of war. Its style resembles a tankette without a turret or armor. There is no documentation or real-world support for these claims, however it is possible that they surfaced based on the misunderstanding of how elements of the Type I's mechanics and chassis were shared with German military vehicles of the time; several compact military transport vehicles including the Volkswagen Kübelwagen (later adapted for street use as the Type 181) were based heavily on the Type I and were used by both the German military and the SS.
Despite the generally accepted claim that the design had always originated with Ferdinand Porsche, there is some controversy regarding that story. During the 1920s Joseph Ganz had a similar design for a car that was smaller and more affordable than existing models. Car manufacturers were not interested, but two motorcycle manufacturers were. Adler produced the Maikäfer and Standard the Superior, which it advertised as 'Der Deutsche Volkswagen' and was the cheapest four wheel car at the time. When the Nazis came to power, they tested the Superior and favorable reviews appeared in magazines. However, shortly after, the Nazis suddenly imprisoned Ganz, fired him as chief editor of the magazine Motor-Kritik and confiscated his documents, after which he fled to Switzerland, never to return. Speculation seems to indicate that they discovered Ganz to be a Jew, and that Hitler would not tolerate anything positive about the Jewish people making it into public forum. The Nazis then turned to Porsche, who produced a prototype of the Käfer that looked a lot like the Superior. Volkswagen says that Ganz wasn't the only one to have such a design and that the Käfer was not based on his. See also *
The military Beetle
Prototypes of the car called the KdF-Wagen (German: Kraft durch Freude = strength through joy; the car was so called because it was intended to be sold to members of the KdF, a Nazi leisure organization), appeared from 1935 onwards—the first prototypes were produced by Daimler-Benz in Stuttgart, Germany. The car already had its distinctive round shape (designed by Erwin Komenda) and its air-cooled, flat-four, rear-mounted engine. However, the factory (in the new town of Kdf-Stadt, purpose-built for the factory workers) had only produced a handful of cars by the time war started in 1939. Consequently, the first volume-produced versions of the car's chassis (if not body) were military vehicles, the Jeep-like Kübelwagen Typ 82 (approx. 52,000 built) and the amphibious Schwimmwagen Typ 166 (approx. 14,000 built).Deliberately designed to be as simple as possible mechanically, there was less that could go wrong; the aircooled 985 cc 25 hp (19 kW) motors proved especially effective in action in North Africa's desert heat. This is due to a built-in oil-cooler and the superior performance of the flat-four engine configuratoin. The innovative suspension design used compact torsion beams instead of coil or leaf springs.
A handful of civilian-specific Beetles were produced, primarily for the Nazi elite, in the years 1940–1945, but production figures were small. In response to gasoline shortages, a few wartime "Holzbrenner" Beetles were fueled by wood pyrolysis gas producers under the hood. In addition to the Kübelwagen, Schwimmwagen, and a handful of others, the factory managed another wartime vehicle: the Kommandeurwagen; a Beetle body mounted on the 4WD Kübelwagen chassis. A total of 669 Kommandeurwagens were produced until 1945, when all production was halted due to heavy damage sustained in Allied air raids on the factory. Much of the essential equipment had already been moved to underground bunkers for protection, allowing production to resume quickly once hostilities had ended.
Post-war conflicts
Much of the Beetle's design was inspired by the advanced Tatra cars of Hans Ledwinka, particularly the T97. This also had a streamlined body and a rear-mounted 4 cylinder horizontally-opposed air-cooled engine. Tatra launched a lawsuit, but this was stopped when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. The matter was re-opened after WW2 and in 1961 Volkswagen paid Tatra 3,000,000 Deutsche Marks in compensation. These damages meant that Volkswagen had little money for the development of new models and the Beetle's production life was necessarily extended.The Volkswagen company owes its postwar existence largely to British army officer Major Ivan Hirst (1916–2000). After the war, Hirst was ordered to take control of the heavily bombed factory, which the Americans had captured. His first task was to remove the unexploded bomb which had fallen through the roof and lodged itself between some pieces of irreplaceable production equipment; if the bomb had exploded, the Beetle's fate would have been sealed. He persuaded the British military to order 20,000 of the cars, and by 1946 the factory was producing 1,000 cars a month. The car and its town changed their Nazi-era names to Volkswagen (people's car) and Wolfsburg, respectively. The first 1,785 Beetles were made in a factory near Wolfsburg, Germany in 1945.
Production boom
Production of the "Type 1" Volkswagen Beetle grew dramatically over the years, with the 1 millionth car coming off the assembly line in 1954. The Beetle had superior performance in its category with a top speed of 72 MPH and 0-60 in only 27,50 seconds on 31 MPG for the standard 34 HP engine. This was far superior to the Renault 4CV and Morris Minor and even competitive with more modern small cars like the Mini. The engine fired up immediately without a choke and could only be heard in the car when idling. It had very excellent road-handling for a small car. It was economical to maintain and a joy to drive. During the 1960s and early 1970s, innovative advertising campaigns and a glowing reputation for reliability and sturdiness helped production figures to surpass the levels of the previous record holder, the Ford Model T, when Beetle No. 15,007,034 was produced on February 17, 1972. By 1973 total production was over 16 million, and by 2002 there had been over 21 million produced. The car was known under various names in different countries, usually local renderings of the word "beetle":
Beetle derivatives
While production of the standard Beetle continued, a Type 1 variant called the Super Beetle, produced from model year 1971 to 1979, offered MacPherson strut front suspension, better turning radius, and more space in the front luggage compartment. The Super Beetle was improved in 1973 to include a padded dashboard and a curved windshield.The Super Beetle (VW 1302 and 1303 series, also called Type 113) is not the only Type 1 variant; other VWs under the Type 1 nomenclature include the Karmann Ghia and the VW 181 utility vehicle, not to mention the VW Brasilia (a locally produced Brazilian version of the Type 4 using Beetle components) and the Australian Country Buggy (locally produced in Australia using VW parts).
Sales decrease
Faced with stiff competition from more modern designs — in particular Japanese economy cars in the North American market and superminis in Europe — sales began dropping off in the mid 1970s. There had been several unsuccessful attempts to replace the Beetle throughout the 1960s; the Type 3, Type 4, and the NSU-based K70 were all failures. Finally, production lines at Wolfsburg switched to the new watercooled, front-engined, front wheel drive Golf in 1974 (sold in North America as the Rabbit), a car unlike its predecessor in most significant ways.Beetle production continued in smaller numbers at other German factories until 1978, but mainstream production shifted to Brazil and Mexico. The last Beetle was produced in Puebla, Mexico, in mid-2003. The final batch of 3,000 Beetles were sold as 2004 models and badged as the Última Edición, with whitewall tires, a host of previously-discontinued chrome trim, and the choice of two special paint colors taken from the New Beetle. Production in Brazil ended in 1986, then restarted in 1993 and continued until 1996. Volkswagen sold Beetles in the United States until 1978 (the Beetle convertible a.k.a. Cabriolet was sold until January 1980) and in Europe until 1985.
The Beetle in developing countries
Other countries produced Beetles from CKD (complete knockdown kits): Thailand, Indonesia, South Africa, Australia, and Nigeria have assembled Beetles under license from VW (source: Volkswagens of the World).Beetles produced in Mexico and Brazil had several differences:
- The Brazilian version retained the 1958-1964 body style (Europe and U.S. version) with the thick door pillars and small quarter glass; this body style was also produced in Mexico until 1970. Brazilian CKD kits (complete knockdown) were shipped to Nigeria between 1975-1987 where Beetles were locally produced. The Brazilian-produced version have been sold in neighboring South American nations bordering Brazil, including Argentina and Peru.
- The Brazilian VW Bug have four different sized engines: 1200cc, 1300cc, 1500cc and, finally, 1600cc. In the 70's Volkswagen made the SP-2 (derivated from the VW Bug chassis and powertrain) that used a air-cooled VW engine with 1700cc. In Brazil the Vw Bug never used electronic fuel injection, the car always came only with single or double carburation.
- For the 2006 model, the brazilian VW branch finally ended the production of the air-cooled engine after utilising it by more than 50 years (utilised lastly in the VW Bus, named in Brazil as "Kombi"). Now the brazilian VW Bus ("Kombi"), with its T2 body, came with 1.4 water-cooled engine with front mounted cooling system.
- Beetles produced in Mexico (since 1964) have the larger door and quarter glass between 1971 — 2003 with the 1958 vintage back glass until the mid-1970s. This version, after the mid-1970s, saw little change with the incorporation of electronic fuel injection, electronic ignition, hydraulic valve lifters and an oil filter after 1993, along with a driver-side air bag.
Independent importers continued to supply several major countries, including Germany, France, and the UK until the end of production in 2003. Devoted fans of the car even discovered a way to circumvent United States safety regulations by placing more recently manufactured Mexican Beetles on the floorpans of earlier, US-registered cars between 1998 — 2003. The Mexican Beetle (along with its Brazilian counterpart) was on the US DOT's (Department of Transportation) hot list of gray market imports after 1978 since the vehicle did not meet safety regulations. A U.S. citizen who drives a Mexican Beetle across the US-Mexico border into the US is likely to end up with the vehicle seized by the US government.
In the Southwest United States (Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas) — Mexican Beetles (and some Brazilian T2c Transporters) are a common sighting in San Antonio and Houston since Mexican nationals can legally operate the vehicle in the United States, as long as they have the registration papers.
The end of production in Mexico can be attributed primarily to to Mexican political measuses: the Beetles no longer met emissions standards for Mexico City, in which the ubiquitous Beetles were used as affordable taxicabs; and the government outlawed two-door taxicabs because of rising crime rates. *. The issue of public safety forced the Mexican government to require four-door vehicles to be used as taxicabs. In addition, Volkswagen (now Germany's largest automaker) has been attempting to cultivate a more upscale, premium brand image, and the humble Beetle, with its US$7000 base price, clashed with VW's new identity, as seen in the Touareg and Phaeton luxury vehicles. Another reason would be that the people start preferring modern cars like the Volkswagen Pointer and Volkswagen Lupo, so the sales of the Beetle were decreasing.
Pop culture
Like its competitors the Mini and the Citroën 2CV, the Beetle has been regarded as something of a "cult" car since its 1960s association with the hippie movement; and the obvious attributes of its unique and quirky design. Much like their Type 2 counterparts, Beetles were psychedelically painted and considered an art car ancestor. One of the logos used by the Houston Art Car Klub incorporated a Beetle with a cowboy hat.From 1968 to 2005, a pearl white 1963 fabric sunroof Beetle with racing number "53" and red, white, and blue stripes named "Herbie" played a starring role in The Love Bug series of Disney comedy films. A yellow Wunderkäfer, called DuDu, appeared in a series of German films for children. Also made famous is the Autobot Bumblebee, a canary yellow Beetle in the toy, comic and cartoon line The Transformers. The Throttlebot, Legends and Generation 2 toy line versions of Bumblebee also transformed from robot to VW Beetle, though the Throttlebot-type was called Goldbug as it was a golden 1975 Super Beetle. (Note, too, that the G2 toy was painted anodized gold in colour.) In other countries, 'Bumblebee the Beetle' has been released in various colours.
The Beetle has been an influence on Hollywood in many other instances, albiet brief. For instance, the opening shot of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980) featured a yellow Volkswagen Beetle. The sci-fi thriller The Arrival (1996) featured a few Mexican Beetles in the film — one scene in the film features Charlie Sheen hiding in the notorioulsy tight trunk.
During the early 1970s, the Beetle was used for advertisements where graphic art ads were decaled on newly-sold Volkswagens to which the Beetleboard craze kicked in. A marketing consultant (Charlie E. Bird) in the Los Angeles area came up with this concept — it would be deemed the progenitor of removing billboards off the highway to which automobiles have been used for advertising media. Both standard and Super Beetles were used until the original Beetle ceased production in Europe in 1978; this trend was resurrected after the New Beetle entered production (source — The Beetle Book).
The Volkswagen Beetle has built a large fan base among the off road types in the form of the Baja Bug. Today, there are many online Clubs & Community's that allow people to stay in touch with other. Even the sighting of a Volkswagen Beetle is cause for violent fun in the car-sighting game known as Punch Buggy.
New Beetle
At the 1994 North American International Auto Show, Volkswagen unveiled the J Mays-penned "Concept 1", a concept car with futuristic styling deliberately reminiscent of the original Beetle's rounded shape. Strong public reaction convinced the company to move the car into production, and in 1998, 20 years after the last original Beetle was sold in the United States, Volkswagen launched the New Beetle, designed by Mays and Freeman Thomas at the company's California design studio.
New Beetles are manufactured at VW's Puebla, Mexico assembly plant.
The New Beetle is related to the original only in name and appearance: under the hood, it is a modern car in every way, based on the Volkswagen A platform. In stark contrast to the original, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave the New Beetle among the best safety ratings in its class at the time of its launch.
Marketing campaigns have enhanced the continued goodwill towards the original, and helped the new model to inherit it. The Volkswagen New Beetle was Motor Trend's Import Car of the Year for 1999.
Phase-out of the original Beetle
In 2002 total production of the VW Golf, at 22 million units, overtook that of the Beetle. However this measure includes all four distinct generations of Golf since 1974, and these are really different cars using the same name, as is also the case with the Toyota Corolla.
By 2003 Beetle annual production had fallen to 30,000 from a peak of 1.3 million in 1971. On July 30, 2003, the final original VW Beetle (No. 21,529,464) was produced at Puebla, Mexico, some 65 years after its public launch in Nazi Germany, and an unprecedented 58-year production run since 1945. VW announced this step in June, citing decreasing demand. The last car was immediately shipped off to the company's museum in Wolfsburg, Germany. In true Mexican fashion, a mariachi band serenaded the last car. There was also in Mexico an advertising campaign as a good bye for the beetle. For example, in one of the ads was a very small parking space on the street, and many big cars tried to park in it, but couldn't. After a while, a beetle parks in the spot without a problem. Then a sign appears that says: "Es increíble que un auto tan pequeño deje un vacío tan grande" (It's incredible that a car this small leaves such an empty space). There were other ads with the same nostalgic tone.
The final edition had the following specifications:
- Length: 4 m (13.32 ft)
- Width: 1.6 m (5.08 ft)
- Height: 1.5 m (4.92 ft)
- Length between axles: 2.4 m (7.87 ft)
- Weight: 810 kg (1,786 lb)
- Engine: 4 cylinders, 1.6 L
- Transmission: Manual
- Brakes: front disc, back drum
- Passengers: Five
- Tank: 40 L (10.57 gallons)
- Colors: Aquarius blue, Harvestmoon beige.
Alternative uses for VW Beetle engines
The aircooled 4-cylinder oposed cylinder Beetle engines have been used for other purposes as well. Especially interesting is its use as an experimental aircraft engine. This type of Beetle engine deployment started in the sixties. A number of companies still produce aero engines that are VW Beetle engine derivatives: Limbach, Hapi, Revmaster and others. Kitplanes or plans built experimental aircraft were specifically designed to utilise these engines, the newest of this breed being the French designed RJ.03 IBIS experimental airplane. Beetle engines are also used to run the ski lifts at the Thredbo ski resort in NSW, Australia and are maintained to a high standard by expert VW mechanics.See also
External links
- American New Beetle Community
- Beetle Art
- Beetle directory
- Beetle Pictures
- German New Beetle Community
- German Beetle Fanclub
- Only Aircooled (How to guides)
- Vintage Beetle Pictures
- Used Volkswagen Beetle information
- Volkswagen UK - New Beetle model page on the Volkswagen UK website
- VW Bug Bug and VW based vehicles Community
- The Beetle as part of the permanent collection at MoMA, New York
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