Volkswagen ‘Beetle’ 1303 cabriolet, 1973

The Volkswagen "Beetle" as we know the car these days was designed and developed by Ferdinand Porsche. In prewar Germany the government asked Porsche to design a car which every German inhabitant could afford. The concept was named "Kraft Durch Freude Wagen".
Ferdinand Porsche finished the design in the year 1934 and the first limited production started in the year 1938.
The KDF car was a clever and simple design which should guarantee a reliable car. And it was; the pressed steel bodywork was fitted to a platform chassis equipped with all round torsion bar sprung suspension. The engine was fitted at the rear of the car and the luggage compartment at the front. The four cylinder engine was of the boxer type and it was air-cooled.
After world war two the production started again in Wolfsburg Germany and soon the Volkswagen was sold world wide. The people nicknamed the car "Beetle" because of it's looks. The car evolved over the years, mechanically it was improved in little steps and the engines grew from 1131 cc. up to 1600 cc. in the final European production run.
In the year 1948 a Volkswagen Beetle four passenger convertible was introduced which was built by Karmann in Osnabrück Germany. This convertible was built until the European production was ceased in the year 1980.
Between the years 1949 and 1953 another Volkswagen Beetle convertible was built by Hebmüller of Germany, this was a two seater convertible. This scarce two seater convertible was built 696 times.
The Volkswagen Beetle would become a cult car in the sixties and seventies of the ninetieth century (think back of the famous 'Herbie' movies in wich a VW Beetle named 'Herbie' was playing the leading role.)
The Volkswagen Beetle is still being produced in Mexico. The cars are only available on the south American market and are fitted with a modern liquid cooled Volkswagen engine.
From 1938 on over 20 million Volkswagen Beetle's have been produced; a world record in automobile production.

Technical data

Four cylinder boxer engine
cylinder capacity: 1584 cc.
capacity: 60 bhp. at 4000 rpm.
gearbox: 4- speed, manual
top-speed: 135 km/u. - 85 mph.
weight: 890 kg.