Retro Relativity – The BUG

My Retro Relativity series continues with a world renowned automotive icon originally known as the “KdF-Wagen.” – It’s probably true that not many of you know it by this name – since only 210 were built in 1938. But! – in post-war-1946, production of the KdF-Wagen was restarted and it became known as the VW Type 1. The Type 1, at the time, was better known by the nickname “Käfer” in Germany – which is only cool in Germany – so the name was quickly changed again and became known the world over – by English speaking folks like you and me – more officially as the Beetle and informally as the Bug.  Interestingly enough, there is actually a compiled list of ALL the names which the Beetle has been called around the world during its lifespan – be sure to check it out.

The Bug has a long history to it. And I will summarize: originally designed in 1934 by Ferdinand Porsche under direction from Adolf Hitler to fill the need for a “People’s Car” (Volkswagen) that anyone could afford. #fullstop. Although, it was believed that Porsche copied the design of Czechoslovakian car maker Tatra’s V570 prototype (above), in which they sued VW prior to Germany’s invasion and the start of WW2 shortly thereafter – but that’s a history lesson for another day.

With 1946 post-war production of the Bug starting in the newly named city of Wolfsburg, Western Europe was the primary location for its sales until its first opportunity to sell in the US in 1950 after multiple attempts to find a US dealer network to carry them. To everyone’s surprise, the Beetle was a hit, and it very sold well. How well? By 1955 one million of them were parked in driveways across America  – To top that in 1972 VW had produced 15,007,034 Beetles matching the total number of Ford Model T’s ever produced and eventually reaching a total 21,529,464 world wide for the Type 1, a number that has yet to be beaten.

Even though the Beetle was no longer sold in the US after the early 1980’s, it was produced in Mexico for the global market until 2003! – right alongside “the New Beetle” from 1998-2003. WOW!  The Type-1 holds the record for longest running production vehicle ever manufactured. The first re-introduction of the Beetle in 1997 was as known the Concept 1. Many younger individuals are familiar with the new Beetle which made its debut in 1998 and ran until 2011 until it was redesigned again to the current A5 (MK6-based) version.

Note: Personally, I think the redesign (as seen above) made the newest Beetle look much better overall. Compared to the 1998-2011 cars, it had more of an original feel, more of a nostalgic look similar to the KdF-wagen.

The Beetle, it’s chassis, components, and more – have been used for so many other applications. A very popular one in the California surf scene was the “Dune Buggy” and the Myers Manx. People have used them to make sand rails as the air-cooled engine proved reliable in dry desert like areas. This led to more popular “Baja Bugs” for racing. Many folks have modified the Bug for all sorts of racing, including drag racing and formula-spec (Formula Vee), making impressive power numbers from the flat-4. And on the extreme end people have cut them and made trikes, kit-cars or even put the shell over another vehicle with larger power trains. (examples below). Not to mention all of the military vehicles and additional VW models that were based on the Bug design like the Type-2 Bus, Type-411, Karmann-Ghia, etc – heck! even the Porsche 356.

After many years the Type 1 seemed to take on a life of its own. For many of us it will forever be known as the “Love Bug” due to the series of Herbie movies in which the #53 Beetle was the star.

To further ingrain its reputation as a “Love Bug” into American culture, the Beetle become synonymous with its “hippie” drivers throughout the ’60s.

Continuing right into my childhood, the ’80s brought back Beetle-mania with a yellow Type 1 better known to many of us as “Bumblebee.” (Transformers).

There are clubs, magazines, and events (like “the Bug-Out”) held specifically for this iconic car. And who as a child didn’t play a game of “punch buggy” ? #nopunchbacks.

Unfortunately for many male fans of the original Bug, the new (MK4-based) Beetle was geared towards female drivers with accessories such as flower petal looking wheels and even a flower vase incorporated into the dash.

After a few years, VW did recognize that they were missing out on sales because of the gender bias and offered some specialty models to draw in more sales from men with options like the VR6 powered RSI  (europe-only, above) and the Turbo S (below).

Although VW has decided to cancel production of the current beetle, which is scheduled for later this year (2019), compared to the MINI I reviewed in the last segment, I feel the only way the Beetle could have been kept “more true” to its ancestry was to have reintroduced it with the rear mounted engine – but that’s what we have the 911 for, right? (Although, how cool would that have been?!?). The future of the Beetle is still undecided, maybe it’s on break for the next 10-15 years while VW continues to refine more cutting-edge technologies… Maybe it will be an all-electric version next time. Either way, I’m anxious to see what they do with it next.

[Editors Note] Fairwell to the Beetle … check out fellow author Matt Y epilogue describing his family experiences “Memories of the VW Beetle” with this iconic car. His article was submitted to NPR back in July of 2019.