VW Fun Facts..
A Brief History of the Volkswagen
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The idea for the
Beetle came from Adolph Hitler, who
while in prison in 1924 following
the unsuccessful putsch on the
Federal German capital. Hitler
conceived of an idea to solve
Germany's unemployment problem, the
Government would build special roads
(autobahns) for motor vehicles. He
would also mass-produce a car ( the
peoples car, the Volkswagen ) which
the average man in the street would
be able to buy. Nine years later (
February 1933 ) the Nazi party swept
to power, and at the very first
cabinet meeting Hitler raised the
issue of the special roads. Work
began on these roads in September
1933. The Design's for the
Volkswagen were not finalized until
1933 and the Volkswagen finally saw
the light of day in 1939,
unfortunately the Second World War
ceased production of the Volkswagen
A Stuttgart based design company,
owned and run by Ferdinand Porsche,
in April 1934 was given the
important task of designing this
special car within 10 months. Hitler
specified certain criteria the car
must meet. The car must have a top
speed of 62 mph, achieve 42 miles
per gallon, must have an air-cooled
engine (?) and be able to transport
2 adults and 3 children. And most
importantly it should market at no
more than £86. It was for the latter
reason that Ferdinand Porsche
decided on a rear engine car, the
car was then known as the Type 60.
He experimented with various engine
designs; flat jour, vertical four
cylinder, two cylinder but none of
them proved adequate. In 1935 an
Austrian engineer, who had been
working for the company for less
than a year, came up with a design
for a flat four engine within two
days of working on the project.
After the accountants had checked
it, it proved to be the most
financially viable option. The same
engine design has driven the
Volkswagen Beetle for the last 60
years. Ferdinand Porsche had been
working on various other cars for
other manufacturers before the
Volkswagen and incorporated some
older designs within this new
project. Other vehicle designs were
utilized for this project, the
backbone chassis and the idea of
independent front and rear
suspension came from on and the
torsion bar front suspension
patented by Porsche back in 1931.
The body styling dates back to 1931,
to a car called the Wanderer which
never reached production and the
only prototype built was used by
Ferdinand Porsche for his personal
transport. Hitler also had plans for
the styling of the Volkswagen, he is
reputed to have said "It should look
like a Beetle, you have to look to
nature to find out what streamlining
is.". Hence the name Beetle.
Over the years larger engines were
fitted to Beetles and slightly
interior and exterior specifications
were available. Front headlights
changed from sloping to upright. The
basic 1200 Beetle with minimum
headlining and single bladed bumpers
going through the front valance
which later changed to European
bumpers going through the wings. The
1300 with increased headlining and
European bumpers. The 1500 with
front disc brakes.
Beetle manufacture ceased at
Wolfsburg in July 1974 and the Golf
commenced. Beetle manufacture
continued at Emden until noon on
January 19th 1978. Karmann continued
manufacturing the convertible until
January 10th 1980 when German
production of the world's most
popular car ceased.