101 Cars: Volkswagen Beetle

Automotive Lifestyle

101 Cars: Volkswagen Beetle

Flower Power
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SPEED Staff | Posted July 03, 2008 Charlotte, North Carolina

A 1963 Volkswagen Beetle nicely restored with fold-back canvas sunroof. (Photo: Barrett-Jackson)

For those of a certain age, the Volkswagen Beetle was a rite of passage. Whether it was Dad's '65 blue 1500 or your roommate's 1960 black 1300 with no reverse gear and even less heat, you drove or at least rode in one, preferably not crammed in back. Originally a Ponzi scheme by Adolf Hitler to bilk trusting Germans of hard-earned Reichsmarks, the "KdF-Wagen" (Kraft durch Freude, or "strength through joy") was designed by Ferdinand Porsche - yes, that Porsche - and survived after the war through the efforts of a British army officer. In its own way, it conquered the world. The Volkswagen Type I - "Beetle" was never official - won with simplicity, a rounded lightweight body with a compact air-cooled boxer four cantilevered behind the rear axle. By the late 1950s, the "people's car" outsold all other imports in America combined. Loved by the economical and those rejecting American consumerism, even assault by Ralph Nader in Unsafe at Any Speed couldn't stop it. But by the 1970's, the unchanging, even if evolving, design was old, and the last Beetle sold in the United States was a convertible in 1980. The rite of passage had passed.

Specifications
Engine: 1.6-liter OHV horizontally opposed four
Horsepower: 57
0–60 mph: 20.0 seconds
Top Speed: 87 miles per hour
Price New: $1,839
Value Now: $6,000
Volkswagen Beetle Photos

The import America loved first

"Grovin'" by The Young Rascals

Anyone wearing bellbottoms

See Volkswagen Club of America

Production of the Volkswagen Beetle continued to Mexico until 2002. All told, 21,529,464 were made.

To Woodstock

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SPEED Staff

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