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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.

Long live THE Great American Car, the Ford Mustang.

The problem with Fords is they're not long lived. My Ford work van, (provided by my employer), is on it's third set of brakes, second MAF sensor and has already needed AC repairs with just under 50,000 miles on it. Total POS van.

My old Ford Bronco had just about everything on it break in the two years I owned it. It spent more time in the shop than it did on the road. Total POS SUV.

My parents Ford Taurus had it's brakes replaced twice, motor mounts once, transmission once, wiper motor twice, radiator once, fuel pump once and even more with only 75,000 miles on the car. Total POS car.

Somehow however our Toyotas, Nissans and Mitsubishis seem to keep running with only minor repairs and maintenance. My wife's Toyota RAV4 is going on 90,000 miles and has only needed new brake pads and a new water pump. My Mitsubishi pickup has 175,000 miles on it and has needed no repairs aside from a new clutch, a clutch cable, and new brake pads and shoes. My sisters Nissan Sentra went over 220,000 miles, and although it had some problems in that time, it was still running good and almost everything under the hood was still original when she sold it.

It'll be a cold day in hell before I buy another Ford. There's nothing worse than an unreliable vehicle.