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.
