The world's most popular car, Volkswagen-or "the People's Car"-has earned its place in history. The VW Beetle chronicles the development and rise to worldwide popularity of the famed "punch-buggy," invented in Germany in the 1930s. This peculiar history includes the makings of all models, engines, and body styles through 1967-and the key people responsible for its development.
Written by an enthusiast the How to Restore Volkswagen Beetle Enthusiasts Restoration Manual is the only up-to-date book dealing with a complete Beetle restoration - from basic skills required, to dealing with professional restorers. The perfect book, whether you have no technical knowledge, or are an old hand at restoring!
This is the story of a little miracle on four wheels, discovered in a field in Eastern Europe by two of the most competent collectors of air-cooled Volkswagens: The 38 split window Beetle. The vehicle with the chassis number 3806 is as black and shiny as it was more than 70 years ago. It is the pride and joy of the Grundmann collection! When the discovery of this prototype of the VW 38 was posted on an internet forum, the international Beetle scene went wild. For the experienced VW restorers Traugott and Christian Grundmann there was no question: the first "Splitty" would become the centrepiece of their exquisite old-timer collection. The VW 38's condition may have been shocking, but it was not beyond hope. Supported by a brilliant team of welders, upholsterers, painters, mechanics and VW enthusiasts from around the world, they managed to give the dear little Beetle a complete makeover. Traugott Grundmann and his son Christian have a little piece of paradise in the Weser Hills: they have created their very own automobile museum for one of the most exclusive Volkswagen collections in the world. More than 50 old-timers, including many one-offs and special models, are displayed in all their splendor in Hessisch Oldendorf - most of them were restored to their former glory in the Grundmann's workshop. The VW 38 is the exhibition's new shining star. Axel Struwe leads two lives: one as a food photographer and qualified photo designer, the other as a passionate collector and restorer of VW old-timers. When the German first heard that his friend Christian Grundmann had discovered a VW 38, it became obvious that he would not only support the project with his practical experience, but also document the journey with his camera. Clauspeter Becker was three years old when the first split window Beetle appeared. He can vividly remember sitting in a VW 38 as a young lad in Berlin - but in the back seat. As part of his research for this book, the renowned specialist journalist and book writer from Neuhausen near Stuttgart, who received the Johny-Rozendaal-Uhr award in 2010 for his entire oeuvre, finally got to take the steering wheel himself. 83 colour, 16 b/w
Restoring 1949-1967 VW Beetles to original factory condition in the simplest, most cost-effective way possible is the goal of this illustrated guide. Sections include tear-down of the unrestored vehicle, part evaluation and buying, engine rebuilding and restoring, vintage accessories, and more.
No automobile is more recognizable than the Volkswagen Beetle. Introduced as an affordable motor vehicle for postwar Germany, the little Beetle grew to iconic status in both the automotive world and the world of pop culture. This year-by-year, full-color tribute to the "People's Car" begins with the first models in 1945 and goes on to cover the Beetle's 33-year production run in Germany, it's continued manufacture in Mexico starting in 1978, and the introduction in Spring 1998 of the New Beetle -- a car that reasserted the model's popularity, posted remarkable sales and, like its forebear, transcended the automotive world to become a pop culture sensation.
Sometimes achieving big things requires the ability to think small. This simple concept was the driving force that propelled the Volkswagen Beetle to become an avatar of American-style freedom, a household brand, and a global icon. The VW Bug inspired the ad men of Madison Avenue, beguiled Woodstock Nation, and has recently been re-imagined for the hipster generation. And while today it is surely one of the most recognizable cars in the world, few of us know the compelling details of this car’s story. In Thinking Small, journalist and cultural historian Andrea Hiott retraces the improbable journey of this little car that changed the world. Andrea Hiott’s wide-ranging narrative stretches from the factory floors of Weimar Germany to the executive suites of today’s automotive innovators, showing how a succession of artists and engineers shepherded the Beetle to market through periods of privation and war, reconstruction and recovery. Henry Ford’s Model T may have revolutionized the American auto industry, but for years Europe remained a place where only the elite drove cars. That all changed with the advent of the Volkswagen, the product of a Nazi initiative to bring driving to the masses. But Hitler’s concept of “the people’s car” would soon take on new meaning. As Germany rebuilt from the rubble of World War II, a whole generation succumbed to the charms of the world’s most huggable automobile. Indeed, the story of the Volkswagen is a story about people, and Hiott introduces us to the men who believed in it, built it, and sold it: Ferdinand Porsche, the visionary Austrian automobile designer whose futuristic dream of an affordable family vehicle was fatally compromised by his patron Adolf Hitler’s monomaniacal drive toward war; Heinrich Nordhoff, the forward-thinking German industrialist whose management innovations made mass production of the Beetle a reality; and Bill Bernbach, the Jewish American advertising executive whose team of Madison Avenue mavericks dreamed up the legendary ad campaign that transformed the quintessential German compact into an outsize worldwide phenomenon. Thinking Small is the remarkable story of an automobile and an idea. Hatched in an age of darkness, the Beetle emerged into the light of a new era as a symbol of individuality and personal mobility—a triumph not of the will but of the imagination.
At the Berlin Auto Show in 1938, Adolf Hitler presented the prototype for a small, oddly shaped, inexpensive family car that all good Aryans could enjoy. Decades later, that automobile—the Volkswagen Beetle—was one of the most beloved in the world. Bernhard Rieger examines culture and technology, politics and economics, and industrial design and advertising genius to reveal how a car commissioned by Hitler and designed by Ferdinand Porsche became an exceptional global commodity on a par with Coca-Cola. Beyond its quality and low cost, the Beetle’s success hinged on its uncanny ability to capture the imaginations of people across nations and cultures. In West Germany, it came to stand for the postwar “economic miracle” and helped propel Europe into the age of mass motorization. In the United States, it was embraced in the suburbs, and then prized by the hippie counterculture as an antidote to suburban conformity. As its popularity waned in the First World, the Beetle crawled across Mexico and Latin America, where it symbolized a sturdy toughness necessary to thrive amid economic instability. Drawing from a wealth of sources in multiple languages, The People’s Car presents an international cast of characters—executives and engineers, journalists and advertisers, assembly line workers and car collectors, and everyday drivers—who made the Beetle into a global icon. The Beetle’s improbable story as a failed prestige project of the Third Reich which became a world-renowned brand illuminates the multiple origins, creative adaptations, and persisting inequalities that characterized twentieth-century globalization.
This illustrated history celebrates the 75th and 70th anniversaries of Volkswagen's two most iconic vehicles, from the first Beetles spearheaded by Ferdinand Porsche in the 1940s to the buses that became synonymous with a generation. Volkswagen is one of the most beloved brands in motoring history, thanks largely to two instantly recognizable vehicles: the Beetle (a.k.a. Bug) and the Bus. More than 23 million VW Beetles have buzzed into the world since 1945, while the VW Bus presaged the minivan by thirty-plus years. Volkswagen: Beetles and Buses examines and celebrates all aspects of the vehicles and the many cultural associations that have swirled around them for more than seven decades. The diminutive rear-engined and easily mass-produced Beetle became the most popular imported car in America during the 1960s. Its success was due to its familiar face, its wildly clever ad campaigns, and the sheer numbers produced. The equally compact yet spacious Bus (a.k.a. Kombi, Microbus, Type 2, Transporter, and simply “van”) has won millions of fans around the world with its practicality, simplicity, and design. In this beautifully illustrated and authoritatively written celebration, author Russell Hayes looks back at the vehicles while focusing on the classic air-cooled VWs that ran into the late 1970s. Along the way, readers witness the Beetle and Bus at work and at play and learn about vehicle development and growing roles in popular culture, including star appearances in films like The Love Bug, Little Miss Sunshine, Footloose, Fight Club, The Big Lebowski, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, as well as television shows like Lost and Once Upon a Time and on the covers of the Beatles’ Abbey Road and Bob Dylan’s Freewheelin’ album. The story is brought up to date with coverage of the New Beetle and plans for the VW Buzz, a modern electric version of the iconic Microbus due in 2022. Volkswagen: Beetles and Buses deserves a place in the motoring libraries of VW owners, automotive enthusiasts, and those simply interested in pop culture. It's the ultimate illustrated history of these beloved vehicles.
Whether youre a restorer looking to see which door handle you need or an enthusiast admiring the early split windows, this is the book for you! All the cosmetic changes on Beetle sedans and convertibles from 1949-59 are covered. Everything required for true authenticity is in here, from inner body and chassis details to luggage compartment.
