Curtain to Fall on (original) VW Beetle, Icon of Flower Power - production ends this summer

Reuters.com ^ | 6/6/03

[Libloather]

Curtain to Fall on VW Beetle, Icon of Flower Power
Fri June 6, 2003 09:09 PM ET

FRANKFURT, Germany (Reuters) - The original Volkswagen Beetle, the ubiquitous German car born in the Nazi drive for a "people's car" and later an icon of the hippie revolution, will roll off a production line for the last time this summer.

Europe's largest auto maker Volkswagen said Friday the last of its factories still producing the bulky little car -- in Puebla, Mexico -- would close its assembly line after nearly 50 years.

In the model's 70-year history, 22 million air-cooled Beetles were produced at VW's factories around the world. They were cheap and reliable, with the marketing slogan for years claiming "it will run and run and run."

Created in 1938 on the orders of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler who wanted to give every German family a vehicle, Volkswagen, or people's car, entered mass production only after World War II.

It quickly became the symbol of the German industrial miracle and a car of choice for the first postwar generation that rebelled in the United States and Western Europe against the tight social corset of the time.

The Beetle has enjoyed cult status since then but its relatively old technology meant sales began to fall in late 1970s.

VW replaced it with another hit, the Golf, and it recently also released a modern version of the Beetle -- this time loaded with all the newest technology but priced well above what could be considered appropriate for everyman's car.

[Libloather]

Owned one in a long line of five consecutive VW's. Built like a tank...

[backhoe]

My first car was a VW, circa 1964... it had the European turn signal arms in the doorposts. Naturally, I called it "Fritz..."

[John Beresford Tipton]

After the War, the US Administrator for Germany, Gen. Lucius Clay, had a study commissioned that concluded that there was no market or future for the VW Beetle.

[Osage Orange]

I own a 1961 two-door truck....Used to be a daily driver. I've owned it for some 23 years or so....

FRegards,

[BSunday]

Curtain to Fall on VW Beetle, Icon of Flower Power Fri June 6, 2003 09:09 PM ET FRANKFURT, Germany (Reuters) - The original Volkswagen Beetle, the ubiquitous German car born in the Nazi drive for a "people's car" and later an icon of the hippie revolution, will roll off a production line for the last time this summer.

... In the model's 70-year history, 22 million air-cooled Beetles were produced at VW's factories around the world. They were cheap and reliable, with the marketing slogan for years claiming "it will run and run and run."

Created in 1938 on the orders of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler who wanted to give every German family a vehicle, Volkswagen, or people's car, entered mass production only after World War II.

... It quickly became the symbol of the German industrial miracle and a car of choice for the first postwar generation that rebelled in the United States and Western Europe against the tight social corset of the time.

... The Old beetle and new beetle were equally as ugly. Good riddance to that eyesore of a vehicle, symbol of Nazi Fascism. Long live THE Great American Car, the Ford Mustang.

[JoeSchem]

The Beetle, the Hitler-designed car of choice for the hippie generation and the Pacific Northwest's #1 Serial Killer, Ted Bundy.

. . . Just kidding. Well, actually, Bundy did own a yellow Beetle. But I'm obviously making outlandish, logic-stretching connections here. And you know what, it's fun to stretch logic. No wonder liberals seem so addicted to doing it!

[dts32041]

As we call then around here musdog's.

[upchuck]

Drove VW Beetles for years. First one was a 1958, last one was a 1971 Super Beetle. Damn fine cars. Not much of a heater, but they ran forever and were cheap to maintain. Also owned a VW Bus w/ sunroof.

Sorry to see them pass.

[Rudder]

I thought they stopped making the air-cooled, rear-engine, orginal Beetle many years ago. What has been on the market in recent years only appears outwardly to look like the orginal--correct?

[Shooter 2.5]

It was my understanding that they were too expensive to build in the U.S. and they couldn't pass the emissions tests.

As the article stated, the Bugs were still being produced in Mexico.

[BSunday]

All of it's competition has been retired. All else that's left is a rich man's sports car (Corvette) and a bunch or redundant-ground-effects-having, lawn-mower-sounding, meant-for-middle-class-workers-commute cars

[BSunday]

I mean, it's pretty sorry when the most valuable part of the car is the stereo system.

[Fiddlstix]

It was a good little car. Heck, the little thing would even float. lol

[Rudder]

Bugs were still being produced in Mexico.

Well, whatever was being sold in the USA was a far cry from the advantages (no coolant, easy to fix, durable, economical) of the orginal air-cooled bug. I looked at a new late model faux "beetle" recently--almost $30,000, and no one except a shop with a computer, could even attempt to diagnose any problems.

[nutmeg]

read later bump

[Shooter 2.5]

I always thought they should sell a frame, engine, transaxle and steering with pedals and that's it.

It would be the foundation for a lot of kit cars instead of trying to find a bug that was rolled or rusty.

I had a dune buggy back around the early '70's. It had a Corvair engine which was a mistake. It was too heavy in the rear and lost all steering when it hit a large bump.

[where's_the_Outrage?]

I have one for sale:

[eeman]

..., and no one except a shop with a computer, could even attempt to diagnose any problems.

I think your complaint is true about any car manufacturer. There was an article in the print edtion of WSJ about the squeeze on independent auto repair shops because of the costs in obtaining or subscribing to the autmobile manufactueres for the diagnostic codes.

Of course, the manufacturers have no interest in coming up with a set of universal codes that a generic diagnostic program could read

[Catspaw]

We had a series of beetles and campers. When we camped through Mexico in the mid-80's, we went in a VW camper with a 1600 engine because we knew we could easily find parts and mechanics--and we did.

But heaters? I once compared the heat produced as driving by someone lighting a match on a street corner. We carried an ice scraper in the bug so we could scrape the ice off the inside of the windshield.

[Newton]

Here's my '79 vert - Velma.....



This is what she looked like when we got her....
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