Volkswagen sued them, but I’m not sure what the result was.
Phil Socci (dead) had the idea and Beatts contributed to it and finished it up.
Q: The best ad parody I ever saw in National Lampoon showed a floating Volkswagen Bug in the water with the caption “If Teddy Kennedy drove a Volkswagen, He’d be President Today.” Where did that appear?
A: The issue was recalled. If you buy a copy of this issue, you may find the ad is missing. As a result of a lawsuit by VW over the ad for unauthorized use of their trademark, National Lampoon was forced to remove the page (with razor blades!) from any copies they still had in inventory (which, from what I gather, was about half the first printing of 250,000 copies) and all subsequent reprints. For what it’s worth, Ted Kennedy didn’t sue.