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The History of the VW Beetle

The classic Volkswagen Beetle is one of the most iconic cars in history, with its record 65-year production period being the longest of any single generation motorcar. More than 21.5 million VW Beetles have been made since the first distinctively shaped model rolled off the production line in Wolfsburg, Germany, in 1938.

Before production finally stopped in 2003; the famous marque enjoyed its own film series, it became a symbol of love and peace and was the best-selling car of the 1950s. Now the humble Volkswagen Beetle, designed as a practical and inexpensive family car, has become a collectors’ dream commanding more than £150,000 at auction.

Volkswagen Beetle

© BreizhAtao / Shutterstock.com

VW Beetle history

One of the best classic cars in the world, the smooth, curved body design of the prototype was a concept by Béla Barényi, an 18-year-old Hungarian engineer studying crash prevention strategies. His original technical drawing dates from 1925, before he joined Stuttgart car manufacturer Mercedes Benz. A prolific inventor, he lodged more than 1,200 patents, mainly relating to car safety, including the 1952 “crumple zone” crash feature still used in automobiles today.

Unfortunately, the significance of the VW Beetle wasn’t recognised back in 1925. The classic car of the future was largely sidelined until 1930, when automotive engineer Ferdinand Porsche was tasked with designing a cheap and economical family car. He received a development contract from the German Association of the Automotive Industry after the government decreed there should be a “people’s car” to drive along the nation’s new Reichsautobahn road network.

The Volkswagen Type 1 had a body shape resembling Barényi’s 1925 technical drawing. For years, the inception of the rear-engine, air-cooled car with its distinctive shape was attributed to a design by Ferdinand Porsche. However, in 1955, Volkswagen agreed to officially recognise Barényi, as the “intellectual father” of the original old Volkswagen Beetle.

Growth of the VW Beetle

A team of top engineers and designers, under chief engineer Karl Rabe, worked on the Volkswagen Type 1 throughout the early 1930s. Franz Xaver Reimspiess was credited as designing the iconic VW badge.

Released in 1938, the workers were encouraged to “save five marks a week to get your car”. By the late 1940s, manufacturing capacity at the Wolfsburg plant began to increase significantly. In 1946 and 1947, only around 9,000 Beetles per year were produced, but as demand grew, this more than doubled, with 19,200 cars manufactured in 1948.

A significant milestone, the one-millionth VW was assembled on 6th August 1955, with production growing to 700,000 models per year by 1959.

Love and peace Beetle

In the early 1960s, the Wolfsburg production plant was huge, covering an area of 10.8 million square feet, accommodating 10,000 machines and 43,500 employees. Volkswagen had captured 34.5% of the total automotive market in West Germany, with its success spreading globally and recording the largest sales growth in North America. The car became a symbol of love and peace after being adopted by the hippie movement of the 1960s and it was often seen at US music festivals, adorned with painted flowers.

The Type 1 didn’t get its name, Beetle, until 1968. Derived from the German “der Käfer”, which translates to “beetle”, the moniker was based on the car’s insect-like shape. The New York Times had first coined the phrase and it was officially adopted by VW.

Herbie Volkswagen Beetle

Much of the VW Beetle’s global fame came after the Herbie franchise of Walt Disney films, released between 1968 and 2005, starring an anthropomorphic Beetle with a mind of its own that could drive itself. The first film, The Love Bug, released in the US on Christmas Day 1968, was a massive box office hit, with the comedy delighting cinema goers of all ages.

Featuring professional racing driver Jim Douglas and his mechanic, Tennessee Steinmetz, who find their VW Beetle isn’t just another car, they call him Herbie and find fame on the California motor racing circuit. The franchise continued with Herbie Rides Again in 1974 and a further four films, the latest being Herbie: Fully Loaded in 2005.

In the late 1970s, everyone wanted a “Herbie”. Ironically, Volkswagen had refused permission for Disney to use the car’s official name! Herbie was never referred to as a Beetle or even a Volkswagen in the films, hence it was nicknamed “Herbie”, which will be forever associated with the 1970s VW Beetle.

Volkswagen reportedly received a sales boost anyway from the films.

End of an era

As the 20th century drew to a close, sales of the famous car began to decline. The planning of a new model began in 1991, when VW’s design centre opened in Simi Valley, California. Despite the manufacturer having created several new designs from the 1960s onwards, none emulated the success of the Volkswagen Type 1.

The new model in the 1990s was known as the Concept One during development. The prototype, unveiled at the Detroit Motor Show in 1994, was renamed the New Beetle when released in 1997, after six years’ development.

Sadly, in 2003, VW produced its final Type 1, bringing to a close the longest production span of a single-generation automobile in history but this wasn’t the end of the story, as the iconic pink VW Beetle emerged in 2005, when VW dealership owner Miles Brandon began painting the little cars, saying that having a Beetle in a plain colour was “the worst thing you can do”.

In total, he painted 29 Beetles in a bubble gum pink shade over five years until 2010. All of them sold and the colour was a customer favourite. Brandon has continued selling rare models of Beetles, saying colourful versions are always bestsellers. Other later models of VW Beetles finally ceased production in 2019.

When do cars become classic?

Unlike most antiques and collectibles, cars can become classic after as little as 25 years, so if you own an early version of a VW Beetle, you’re very lucky.

There are currently 44,000 old VW Beetles left in the UK with a valid MOT, according to How Rare is my Car, the majority being the Type 1.

The highest price at auction for the model was £167,000 for one of the Herbie cars used in the Disney films – a 1961 Type 1 Coupe used in Herbie Goes Bananas in 1980. For many years, it was displayed at Las Vegas’ Planet Hollywood Casino.

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