The
first Golf began production in 1974. Marketed in the United States and
Canada from 1975 to 1984 as the Volkswagen Rabbit and in Latin America
as the Volkswagen Caribe, it featured the water-cooled, front wheel
drive design pioneered by the Citroën Traction Avant in 1934 with the
addition of a hatchback pioneered by the Renault 4 in 1961. The Golf was
Wheels magazine's Car of the Year for 1975. The name is short for
Golf-Strom, German for Gulf Stream; it was named for that oceanic
current to reflect its international character. It was originally named
the Rabbit in North America and the Caribe in Latin America, ironically,
because marketers decided that no one in the Western Hemisphere would
understand the European name. While the Golf was not the first
design with this layout (earlier examples being the Austin and Morris
Mini of 1959, the Austin Maxi in the late 1960s and the Fiat 128 3P of
the early 1970s), it was very successful, especially since it married
these features with Volkswagen's reputation for solid build-quality and
reliable engineering. The Golf was designed by Italian automobile
architect / designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, of the ItalDesign design
studio. A version of this original Golf model, known as the Volkswagen
CitiGolf, is still produced in South Africa as an entry level car.
In
1978, Volkswagen commenced producing the Rabbit version of the Mk1 Golf
in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, thus becoming the first European
car manufacturer in modern times to produce a vehicle in the United
States. Former Chevrolet executive James McLernon was chosen to run the
factory, which was built to lower the cost of the Rabbit in North
America by producing it locally. Unfortunately, McLernon tried to
"Americanize" the Rabbit by softening the suspension and using cheaper
materials for the interior. VW purists in America and company executives
in Germany were displeased, and for the 1983 model year the
Pennsylvania plant went back to using stiffer shocks and suspension with
higher-quality interior trim. The plant also began producing the GTI
for the North American market. (Rabbits were built in Pennsylvania
through 1984.) The first VW Caddy pick-up, based on the Mk1 Golf, was
also created at the Pennsylvania plant. The GTI version, launched
in Europe in 1976 and in the US in 1983, virtually created the hot hatch
genre overnight, and many other manufacturers since have created
special sports models of their regular volume selling small hatchbacks.
It was one of the first small cars to adopt fuel injection for its
sports version, which raised power output of the 1588 cc engine to 110
PS (81 kW/108 hp). In 2004, Sports Car International announced the GTI
Mk I as the 3rd best car of the 1980s. In the United States, the Mk1
Golf GTI was known as the Rabbit GTI. There was a minor facelift
in 1980 for North American versions only, which saw the adoption of
larger rear lamp clusters (more in line with Guigiaro's original
concepts), larger bumpers, square headlights and a new dashboard with a
more modern-looking instrument display.
The convertible version,
named the Cabriolet, was sold from 1980 to 1993 (a convertible version
of the Golf II was not made, so the Mk1 cabrio with slight modification
was produced until the introduction of the Mk III cabrio). It had a
reinforced body, transverse roll bar, and a high level of trim. The A1
Volkswagen convertible is of unibody construction built entirely at the
factory of Karmann, from stamping to final assembly; Volkswagen supplied
the engine, suspension, interior, etc. for Karmann to install. The
vinyl tops were insulated and manually operated, with a glass rear
window. As of 2006, Volkswagen of South Africa still manufactures
two first generation Golfs, the four-door "Citi" Golf and the "Pickup".
The
original VW Passat was launched in 1973. The body types offered
originally were 2- and 4-door sedans and similar looking three- and
five-door versions. Externally all four shared a modern fastback style
design, styled by the Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro). All the
versions sharing the same external design was unusual, since two of the
models were traditional sedans with a separate trunk. A five-door
station wagon was introduced in 1974. Passat was effectively a less
expensive version of the Audi 80 (Fox) sedan which had been introduced a
year earlier and which had a more conservative body style, so that the
Audi and Volkswagen models had distinct body styles and image. In
Europe, Passat was equipped with hexagonal or single round or double
round headlights depending on specification. In North America, the
car was called the Dasher, and was only available with round DOT-spec
lights. The three-door hatchback model was launched in North America in
1975. VW Passat was one of the most modern European family cars at
the time, and was intended as a replacement for the ageing Volkswagen
Type 3, and as a contemporary rival for popular Ford Taunus/Cortina) and
Opel Ascona/Vauxhall Cavalier. The Passat was Wheels magazine's Car of
the Year for 1974 and its sister model Audi 80 was nominated car of the
year by the European motor press a year earlier. The platform was named
B1. The Passat used the 4 cylinder OHC 1.3 L, 1.5 L, and 1.6 L
petrol engines, also used in the Audi 80-longitudinally mounted with
front wheel drive, in Audi tradition, with either a 4-speed manual
transmission or 3-speed automatic. It had a MacPherson strut front
suspension with a solid axle/coil spring setup in back. The SOHC
1.5 produced 75 PS (55 kW) and was enlarged to 1.6 L for 1975. The
larger engine included tighter emissions controls, so power output
dropped to 70 PS (52 kW). Bosch fuel injection on the 1.6 was introduced
in 1976 and brought power up to 78 PS (57 kW). The whole range
received a facelift in 1977 (launched 1978 outside Europe), featuring an
interior upgrade and subtly revised styling including repositioned
indicators and quad (round) headlights on all models. This generation
was sold in Brazil well into the 1980s and extensively exported to Iraq,
where many are still on the road. It was also assembled in Nigeria. 1979
saw the introduction of the Volkswagen Golf's 1.5 L Diesel engine,
which produced just 48 PS (35 kW) in the 1130 kg (2500 lb) car. 0-100
km/h time for the Diesel was 19.4 seconds, 6.2 seconds slower than the
gasoline (petrol) engine. Still, all gasoline engines were dropped for
North America in 1981 in preparation for the next generation car the
next year.
The
original VW Passat was launched in 1973. The body types offered
originally were 2- and 4-door sedans and similar looking three- and
five-door versions. Externally all four shared a modern fastback style
design, styled by the Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro). All the
versions sharing the same external design was unusual, since two of the
models were traditional sedans with a separate trunk. A five-door
station wagon was introduced in 1974. Passat was effectively a less
expensive version of the Audi 80 (Fox) sedan which had been introduced a
year earlier and which had a more conservative body style, so that the
Audi and Volkswagen models had distinct body styles and image. In
Europe, Passat was equipped with hexagonal or single round or double
round headlights depending on specification. In North America, the
car was called the Dasher, and was only available with round DOT-spec
lights. The three-door hatchback model was launched in North America in
1975. VW Passat was one of the most modern European family cars at
the time, and was intended as a replacement for the ageing Volkswagen
Type 3, and as a contemporary rival for popular Ford Taunus/Cortina) and
Opel Ascona/Vauxhall Cavalier. The Passat was Wheels magazine's Car of
the Year for 1974 and its sister model Audi 80 was nominated car of the
year by the European motor press a year earlier. The platform was named
B1. The Passat used the 4 cylinder OHC 1.3 L, 1.5 L, and 1.6 L
petrol engines, also used in the Audi 80-longitudinally mounted with
front wheel drive, in Audi tradition, with either a 4-speed manual
transmission or 3-speed automatic. It had a MacPherson strut front
suspension with a solid axle/coil spring setup in back. The SOHC
1.5 produced 75 PS (55 kW) and was enlarged to 1.6 L for 1975. The
larger engine included tighter emissions controls, so power output
dropped to 70 PS (52 kW). Bosch fuel injection on the 1.6 was introduced
in 1976 and brought power up to 78 PS (57 kW).
The whole range
received a facelift in 1977 (launched 1978 outside Europe), featuring an
interior upgrade and subtly revised styling including repositioned
indicators and quad (round) headlights on all models. This generation
was sold in Brazil well into the 1980s and extensively exported to Iraq,
where many are still on the road. It was also assembled in Nigeria. 1979
saw the introduction of the Volkswagen Golf's 1.5 L Diesel engine,
which produced just 48 PS (35 kW) in the 1130 kg (2500 lb) car. 0-100
km/h time for the Diesel was 19.4 seconds, 6.2 seconds slower than the
gasoline (petrol) engine. Still, all gasoline engines were dropped for
North America in 1981 in preparation for the next generation car the
next year.
The
Volkswagen K70 (pronounced as "ka siebzig" in German) is a sedan
automobile produced by both NSU and Volkswagen from 1969 to 1974. The
K70 was the first VW to have a front-mounted watercooled engine. The
K70 was originally developed by NSU as a smaller brother to the more
famous Ro 80, the main difference being that the K70 used a conventional
piston engine instead of the Ro80's more complicated Wankel rotary
engine. The name "K70" referred to the fact that the engine had a power
output of 70 hp (52 kW), the "K" denoting the German word "Kolben",
meaning Piston. In 1969, just as the car was about to be launched,
NSU was taken over by Volkswagen, who integrated the Neckarsulm company
with Auto-Union/Audi, which it had acquired in 1964. VW was in
desperate need for a new family sedan to replace the unsuccessful Type
4, which itself was intended to replace the Beetle. Thinking that the
K70, featuring front wheel drive and modern styling, was the perfect way
to transform its image, the Wolfsburg firm quickly scrapped publicity
material showing the K70 badged as an NSU, and instead put it into
production as a Volkswagen. Despite the different badging, buyers
tarred the K70 with the same brush as its unreliable Ro 80 sister car,
leading to poor sales. The K70 also became notorious for serious
corrosion problems, and very few have survived as a result. It was
replaced in 1973 by the Audi-based Volkswagen Passat.
On
September 19, 2008 forty years have passed since Volkswagen presented
the VW 411, at that time the company's largest and most powerful model
yet, to some 200 journalists in Wolfsburg. The journalists had earlier
put the VW 411 through its paces on the new Volkswagen proving ground in
Ehra-Lessien, testing the vehicle's equipment and performance.
Volkswagen built 367,728 units until production ceased in July 1974, and
416 of these are currently registered as old-timers (as of September
2008). The ads claimed there had never been a VW like this before.
And they were quite right. This was the very first model with a
unibody, a four-door option, more space than any other Volkswagen and a
longer wheelbase than the Volkswagen Beetle.
A newly-designed, powerful, 68 bhp air-cooled 1.6 liter boxer engine
mounted in the rear of the Volkswagen 411 was robust enough even for
long journeys at a maximum speed of 145 km/h. The innovative sporty
chassis with MacPherson strut front suspension and rear suspension with
double joint axles also used in the Porsche 911 made sure the car held
the road well. The midsize saloon featured "the luxury of a luxury car".
Available with either a Normal or an L equipment line, "Wolfsburg's
biggie" offered customers space and ride comfort, enhanced safety, a
total 570 liters of luggage space in front and rear and an optional
automatic transmission. The history of what was known as the Type 4
began in 1962 as development project EA 142. The economics of series
production, which began in February 1967, were based on the sale of
822,500 vehicles over a four year period with daily production of 1,000
units. The price of the VW 411 ranged from 7,770 to 9,285 DM.
1968 Volkswagen 411
Compared to the Volkswagen 1500/1600
launched in 1961, the VW 411 was noticeably larger and better equipped.
Volkswagen aimed to establish the new vehicle in the upper midsize
segment which was beyond the reach of the Beetle and the Type 3, and to
expand the market position in the long term by broadening the model
range. For this reason, the publicity concentrated on technical
innovations and the high level of comfort as well as highlighting
typical Volkswagen characteristics such as quality, economic efficiency
and service. In the run-up to the market launch on October 5,
1968, dealers, the press and customers responded positively to the
Volkswagen 411. Once the car had come to market, problems with the
clutch on the first models delivered and an increasingly negative press
curbed sales prospects. The most common complaints from customers
related to engine and driving noise, the engine's limited output and
what was perceived as an unaesthetic front end. Since over 80% of VW 411
buyers were already Volkswagen customers, the vehicle failed to win new
customer groups. As a result of these marketing problems, which could
not be remedied by sales incentives either, Volkswagen sporadically
lowered production to 75 vehicles per day. The company introduced
an improved version, the VW 411 E, for the 1970 model year. Electronic
fuel injection boosted engine output to 80 bhp and the front end, which
had given the model the nickname of "Nasenbär" (coati), received a
facelift. The VW 411 E Variant, provided even more space for luggage,
and this estate version was soon selling twice as well as the hatchback
saloon. Type 4 exports to the USA began in 1971, and the car sold better
than expected there, soon accounting for roughly 40% of total sales. A
further new and improved model called the VW 412 followed in 1972.
Production of the Type 4 at the Wolfsburg plant continued until 1973,
when the production line was relocated to Salzgitter, and production at
Volkswagen of South Africa commenced in 1969. Even though the VW
411/412 did not break any sales records, the model nevertheless has an
important role to play in Volkswagen's automobile history as the last
large series model with air cooling and a rear-mounted engine. A 1966
prototype is on display at the Automuseum Wolfsburg.
The
Volkswagen Type 3, was originally launched in two varieties, the
Notchback a saloon bodied version and the Squareback an estate bodied
version in 1961. The Fastback a coupe styled version arrived as the 1966
addition to the range. This automobile was introduced in 1961 by
Volkswagen to diversify its product range beyond the Type 1 (Beetle) and
the Type 2 (Bus). The Type 3, officially the Volkswagen 1500, was
designed to allow Volkswagen to make a more sophisticated car while
maintaining much of the engineering from the Type 1. The Type 3
was initially equipped with a 1.5 L (1493 cc) engine based on the
aircooled flat-4 found in the Type 1. While the long block remained the
same as the Type 1, the engine cooling was drastically changed to allow
for a much lower engine profile. This resulted in increased area for
cargo stowage and the so-called 'Pancake' or 'Suitcase' engine. This
engine's displacement would later increase to 1600cc. Originally a
single or dual carbureted 1.5 L engine, (1500 N, 45 hp or 1500S, 54 hp)
the Type 3 engine got a larger displacement (1.6l 1600 cc) and modified
in 1968 to include fuel injection as an option, making it one of the
first mass production consumer cars with such a feature (the first was
the Type 4 VW 411). The type 3 had four models: + Sedan or "notchback" - The VW 1500 and later VW 1600 (nicknamed "Zé do Caixão" in Brazil, translating to "Coffin Joe"). + Fastback - The VW 1600 TL (in Brazil the Volkswagen TL), often mistaken for a hatchback due to its profile. + Wagon or "squareback" - The Volkswagen Variant. +
Type 34 Karmann Ghia - AKA Grosse Ghia or Razor Edge Ghia. A larger
more squared version of the Karmann Ghia based on the Type 3 platform.
The
Volkswagen Type 1, more commonly known as the Beetle, Fusca,
Coccinelle, Vocho, Bug, Volky or Käfer (German), is a compact car,
produced by Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003. Although the names "Beetle"
and "Bug" were quickly adopted by the public, it was not until August
of 1967 that VW began using the name in marketing materials. It had
previously been known only as either the "Type I" or as the 1200
(twelve-hundred), 1300 (thirteen-hundred) or 1500 (fifteen-hundred),
which had been the names under which the vehicle was marketed in Europe
prior to 1967; the numbers denoted the vehicle's engine size in cubic
centimetres. In 1998, many years after the original model had been
dropped from the lineup in most of the world (it continued in Mexico and
a handful of other countries until 2003) VW introduced a "New Beetle"
(built on a Volkswagen Golf platform), bearing a strong resemblance to
the original. In the international poll for the award of the
world's most influential car of the twentieth century the Beetle came
fourth after the Ford Model T, the Mini and the Citroën DS. "The People's Car" The
origins of the car date back to 1925, when Béla Barényi submitted his
concepts to the Maschinenbauanstant Wien. Further influences came from
the 1931 Tatra T97, and the 1931 Porsche Typ 12. In 1933 Adolf
Hitler met with Ferdinand Porsche to discuss the development of a
"Volks-Wagen" ("People Car"), a basic vehicle that should be capable of
transporting two adults and three children at a speed of 100 km/h (62
mph), and which should cost no more than a 990 reichsmark (at an average
income of 32RM/week). Advertisement from ca. 1936 says "Five mark a week you must put aside - If in your own car you want to ride!"
1938 Volkswagen Beetle
Ferdinand
Porsche formulated the original parameters of the Beetle several years
before it was commissioned. However its production only became
financially viable when it was backed by the Third Reich. The Type
1's mechanics and chassis were shared with several German military
vehicles of the period, including the Kübelwagen ("bucket car", later
adapted for civil use as the Type 181 or "Thing"), used by both the
German military and the SS, and the amphibious Schwimmwagen, built in
small numbers Ferdinand's career continued on to designing an iconic supercar of the 21st century - Porsche. The military Beetle Prototypes
of the Kdf-Wagen appeared from 1935 onwards - the first prototypes were
produced by Daimler-Benz in Stuttgart, Germany. The car already had its
distinctive round shape and its air-cooled, flat-four, rear-mounted
engine. However, the factory had only produced a handful of cars by the
time war started in 1939. Consequently, the first volume-produced
versions of the car's chassis were military vehicles, the Jeep-like
Kübelwagen Typ 82 (approx. 52,000 built) and the amphibious Schwimmwagen
Typ 166 (approx. 14,000 built). The car was designed to be as
simple as possible mechanically, so that there was less to go wrong; the
aircooled 985 cc 25 hp (19 kW) motors proved especially effective in
actions of the German Afrika Korps in North Africa's desert heat. This
was due to the built-in fan-cooling and the superior performance of the
flat-four engine configuration. The innovative suspension design used
compact torsion beams instead of coil or leaf springs. A handful
of civilian-specific Beetles were produced, primarily for the Nazi
elite, in the years 1940-1945, but production figures were small. In
response to gasoline shortages, a few wartime "Holzbrenner" Beetles were
fueled by wood pyrolysis gas producers under the hood. In addition to
the Kübelwagen, Schwimmwagen, and a handful of others, the factory
managed another wartime vehicle: the Kommandeurwagen; a Beetle
body mounted on the 4WD Kübelwagen chassis. A total of 669
Kommandeurwagens were produced until 1945, when all production was
halted due to heavy damage sustained in Allied air raids on the factory.
Much of the essential equipment had already been moved to underground
bunkers for protection, allowing production to resume quickly once
hostilities had ended. Post-war conflicts Much
of the Beetle's design was inspired by the advanced Tatra cars of Hans
Ledwinka, particularly the T97. This also had a streamlined body and a
rear-mounted 4 cylinder horizontally-opposed air-cooled engine. Tatra
launched a lawsuit, but this was stopped when Germany invaded
Czechoslovakia. The matter was re-opened after WW2 and in 1961
Volkswagen paid Tatra 3,000,000 Deutsche Marks in compensation. These
damages meant that Volkswagen had little money for the development of
new models and the Beetle's production life was necessarily extended. The
Volkswagen company owes its postwar existence largely to British army
officer Major Ivan Hirst (1916-2000). After the war, Hirst was ordered
to take control of the heavily bombed factory, which the Americans had
captured. His first task was to remove the unexploded bomb which had
fallen through the roof and lodged itself between some pieces of
irreplaceable production equipment; if the bomb had exploded, the
Beetle's fate would have been sealed. Hirst persuaded the British
military to order 20,000 of the cars, and by 1946 the factory was
producing 1,000 cars a month. The car and its town changed their
Nazi-era names to Volkswagen (people's car) and Wolfsburg, respectively.
The first 1,785 Beetles were made in a factory near Wolfsburg, Germany
in 1945. Production boom Production of the
Type 1 grew dramatically over the years, with the one-millionth car
coming off the assembly line by 1954. The Beetle had superior
performance in its category with a top speed of 115km/h (72mph) and
0-100km/h (0-60mph) in 27.5 seconds on 31mpg for the standard 25kW
(34hp) engine. This was far superior to the Renault 4CV and Morris Minor
and even competitive with more modern small cars like the Mini. The
engine fired up immediately without a choke and could only be heard in
the car when idling. It had excellent road-handling for a small car. It
was economical to maintain and, for many, a joy to drive. However, the
opinion of some in the United States was not as flattering. Henry Ford
II once described the car as 'A little shit box' out of frustration that
it was the top-selling foreign car in the US market. During the 1960s
and early 1970s, innovative advertising campaigns and a glowing
reputation for reliability and sturdiness helped production figures to
surpass the levels of the previous record holder, the Ford Model T, when
Beetle No. 15,007,034 was produced on February 17, 1972. By 1973 total
production was over 16 million, and by 2002 there had been over 21
million produced. Beetle derivatives While
production of the standard Beetle continued, a Type 1 variant called the
Super Beetle, produced from model year 1971 to 1979, offered MacPherson
strut front suspension, better turning radius, and more space in the
front luggage compartment. The Super Beetle was improved in 1973 to
include a padded dashboard and a curved windshield. The Super
Beetle (VW 1302 and 1303 series, also called Type 113) is not the only
Type 1 variant; other VWs under the Type 1 nomenclature include the
Karmann Ghia and the VW 181 utility vehicle, not to mention the Brasilia
and the Australian Country Buggy (locally produced in Australia using
VW parts).Small fractions of people now call it the weevil. Sales decrease Faced
with stiff competition from more modern designs - in particular
Japanese economy cars in the North American market and superminis in
Europe - sales began dropping off in the mid 1970s. There had been
several unsuccessful attempts to replace the Beetle throughout the
1960s; the Type 3, Type 4, and the NSU-based K70 were all failures.
Finally, production lines at Wolfsburg switched to the new watercooled,
front-engined, front wheel drive Golf in 1974 (sold in North America as
the Rabbit), a car unlike its predecessor in most significant ways. Beetle
production continued in smaller numbers at other German factories until
1978, but mainstream production shifted to Brazil and Mexico. The last
Beetle was produced in Puebla, Mexico, in mid-2003. The final batch of
3,000 Beetles were sold as 2004 models and badged as the Última Edición,
with whitewall tires, a host of previously-discontinued chrome trim,
and the choice of two special paint colors taken from the New Beetle.
Production in Brazil ended in 1986, then restarted in 1993 and continued
until 1996. Volkswagen sold Beetles in the United States until 1978
(the Beetle convertible a.k.a. Cabriolet was sold until January 1980)
and in Europe until 1985. Pop culture Like
its competitors the Mini and the Citroën 2CV, the Beetle has been
regarded as something of a "cult" car since its 1960s association with
the hippie movement; and the obvious attributes of its unique and quirky
design. Much like their Type 2 counterparts, Beetles were
psychedelically painted and considered an art car ancestor. One of the
logos used by the Houston Art Car Klub incorporated a Beetle with a
cowboy hat. From 1968 to 2005, a pearl white 1963 fabric sunroof
Beetle with racing number "53" and red, white, and blue stripes named
"Herbie" played a starring role in The Love Bug series of Disney comedy
films. A yellow Wunderkäfer, called DuDu, appeared in a series of German
films for children. Also made famous is the Autobot Bumblebee, a canary
yellow Beetle in the toy, comic and cartoon line The Transformers. The
Throttlebot, Legends and Generation 2 toy line versions of Bumblebee
also transformed from robot to VW Beetle, though the Throttlebot-type
was called Goldbug as it was a golden 1975 Super Beetle. (Note, too,
that the G2 toy was painted anodized gold in colour.) In other
countries, 'Bumblebee the Beetle' has been released in various colours. The
Beetle has appeared in Hollywood in many other instances, albeit brief.
For instance, the opening shot of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980)
featured a yellow Volkswagen Beetle. The sci-fi thriller The Arrival
(1996) featured a few Mexican Beetles in the film - one scene in the
film features Charlie Sheen hiding in the notorioulsy tight trunk. During
the early 1970s, the Beetle was used for advertisements where graphic
art ads were decaled on newly-sold Volkswagens. A marketing consultant
(Charlie E. Bird) in the Los Angeles area came up with the "Beetleboard"
concept. Both standard and Super Beetles were used, until the original
Beetle ceased production in Europe in 1978. This trend was resurrected
after the New Beetle entered production (source - The Beetle Book).The
Volkswagen Beetle has built a large fan base among off-road types in the
form of the Baja Bug. Today, there are many online clubs and
communities that keep Beetle aficionadoes on touch. Even the sighting of
a Volkswagen Beetle is cause for violent fun in the car-sighting game
known as "Slug-Bug" or Punch Buggy.
