The Bug's Life: A History of the Volkswagen Beetle

[Old School]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/auto...f-the-volkswagen-beetle/ss-BBnDOlU?ocid=HPDHP

 

[Old School]

Volkswagen?s Beetle is one of the oldest nameplates in automotive history still in use today. In the U.S., the Bug was sold between 1950 and 1979, with sales resuming as a new model introduced in 1998. But the little VW?s history stretches all the way back to 1934, when development work started in earnest in Germany. The first batch of finalized cars were birthed in 1938, only to see the gleaming new factory built to assemble them pulled into Germany's war effort and later bombed to near-oblivion. European civilians wouldn?t get their hands on the car until 1947, after production was restarted to provide ground transportation for Allied occupying troops. U.S. importation grew from a trickle in the early ?50s to a flood a decade later, and eventually 21 million Beetles would be sold worldwide. Even after U.S. sales ceased in 1979, the car continued to be built and sold in Mexico and Brazil. Over the years, very little about the Beetle changed; it wasn?t until 1998 that the car received its first major redesign. For a look at the major events in the Bug's history, continue on:

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[MadJack]

My first car. A 1969 white VW beetle with automatic stick shift. :lol:

Parents gave it to me when I graduated HS 1973.

It was my mom's car but the car I drove my last 3 years of HS. My stepdad had rules though. I was permitted 50 free miles a week but after that it cost me 25 cents per mile and of course I paid for my own gas. It didn't take long for me to figure out how to disconnect the speedometer/odometer so I usually turned in around 70-100 miles per week even though I drove hundreds of miles. :0003

 

[freelancc]

loved the beetle..:00hour would put surf racks on top and load up the car with surfboards and friends..:00hour then I bought a VW van, and it become my rolling hotel room

 

[MadJack]

loved the beetle..:00hour would put surf racks on top and load up the car with surfboards and friends..:00hour then I bought a VW van, and it become my rolling hotel room

 

[freelancc]

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