"This is the new Volkswagen, Fuhrer."
"Where is the steering wheel?"
"Mmmm, there seems to be a bug, Fuhrer."
"A Volkswagen bug? Heh heh. Ulric,
take this nitwit out and shoot him."
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 ...
I loved my VWs...a ‘67 Beetle, ‘71 Bus, ‘73 Beetle.
I miss every one of them.
We'd probably still have it if my brother hadn't wrecked it.
I’m not suprized that Beatles are still made in Mexico. There must be a million of them still used as taxies in Mexico City, painted green with the front passenger’s seat knocked out.
There are Jews who,to this day,won't ride in a German made car. And I'll bet that there are Koreans who feel the same about Japanese made cars.
Back when Oliver North had a radio show, I heard him say something like, how can any American drive a Mitsubishi.
OMG a ‘67. From Germany. I feel your pain.
Though I respect Ollie North quite a bit I will cut him a little slack though my grandfather I’m certain would not.
My grandfather was on a US nay ship in the Pacific that was sank during WWII. Though he was one of the lucky ones to survive he spent better part of a year in a hospital in Hawaii with none of his family knowing where he was until he was well enough to be transferred to San Francisco to finish healing enough for civilian life. Finally convelesed enough to be discharged. Went home and went to work studying a family.
Fast forward 60 years to a wedding I was attending he unexpectedly decided to attend. (Besides being almost completely deaf, and being a widower he traveled a great deal, mostly by himself) Afterwards at the reception he verbalized to me wondering why so few people were in attendance. I answered that some people had boycotted the wedding and the reception due to the bride being native Japanese. After a LONG silent pause, he said “I’m here and I don’t think anyone else has more reason to hold a grudge that me, and I don’t, people should get over themselves, I did along time ago in Honolulu”
That was one of the few times in my life I ever heard him make a direct comment re: his time in.
He lived well into his 90s, I’m certain his spiritual health contributed greatly to his temporal health.
People who are not directly involved shouldn’t have an opinion on the subject.
I bought a '61 Beetle with sun roof identical to the above in 1964. I don't recall any other cars getting 30 mpg at that time but the VW did. It had no gas gauge but it did have a reserve tank accessed by a flip lever below the dash. The gear box worked well around town but at highway speeds you had no passing power unless you were going downhill or had a good tailwind.
A headwind was a big problem as the flat bottom of the car which provided flotation also provided lift and you could almost get airborne in a strong wind.
My mechanic Helmut, a fine German fellow, kept it running nicely.
As I say, one of my many regrets.
Let’s say they have more in common than VW has in common with any previous conventional design. Also T87 is largely based on previous another 1934 Tatra.
Also Nazi loved T87 and stolen most of them in Czechia upon takeover.
The bug concept was shown in 1938, that is near five full years since Tatra first sold theirs.
LOL. 110 mph was insanely fast for a mass-market street-legal car in 1935.
“Béla Barényi is credited with first conceiving the original design for this car in 1925,[16] – notably by Mercedes-Benz, on their website, including his original technical drawing,[17] –
five years before Porsche claimed to have done his initial version.[18] The influence on Porsche’s design of other contemporary cars, such as the Tatra V570, and the work of Josef Ganz remains a subject of dispute.[19]”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Beetle
“Spent munitions?”
Whadya mean Fritz!? They were good when we shipped them to you!”
I don’t know where the poster was, but I was at Ft. Sill, OK in 71 and gas there was 18 cents a gallon during their gas wars. I was used to it being around 30 cents in Kentucky.
Columbus, Ohio — they were having gas wars at the time. It was great — I was a senior in college and doing my student teaching. Those low prices didn’t last too much longer.
I know it is a rare car but given the opportunity try to take a ride in T87. Apart from the look of the interior it feels just like a modern car. Acceleration, handling, ride comfort. It feels more modern than a 1975 Ford, let alone VW bug. The thing is easily the most unique piece of automotive history.
There are rumors that the volkswagens design was cribbed from the tatra model 97, a Czech car of roughly the same period. If you look at the pictures of one, its quite obvious.
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