Today we are talking about one great thing that came from Germany, no not ring binders or Heidi Klum, Volkswagen and not any other Volkswagen, The Volkswagen Beetle or Bug,Kodok,Vocho,Escarabajo or the French version Coccinelle which literally means lady bird or lady bug in case it's a man lady bird cause you know ,testosterone( FYI I am an engineer not a biologist so feel free to quote me in your biology final:-))
But every rose has a thorn as they say and this beloved beauty of every teenager everywhere had some very controversial beginning's,how controversial? You may ask. Well it made some people 1,000,000marks richer.
The idea for the car was thought of by Joseph Ganz, a Jewish engineer. The idea was stolen by Adolf Hitler after seeing the car at an auto show in 1933. He later had Ganz written out of history. Adolf then gave the order to Ferdinand Porsche to develop a Volkswagen which means literary the peoples car,Folks Wagon.
In the May of 1934, a meeting at Berlins Kaiserhof Hotel was held where Hitler provided Porsche with more details insisting on a basic car capable of transporting two adults and two children. The car also had to be very user friendly and efficient, it had to be able to do 100km on 7litres and the parts had to be easily replaceable and when replaced had to be easily fixed. The engine also had to be very powerful,it had to be able to maintain rapid sustained cruising on Germany's new road or the Reich-Sautobahn system.
( highway).The car also had to have an air cooled system,this was because ethylene glycol antifreeze was very uncommon and was used only in high performance aircraft engines. It was so cold that radiators were filled with water and placed in a warm room until morning or drained each night and filled each morning.
On 26 May 1938( 26 may is when I wrote this) Hitler laid the cornerstone for the Volkswagen factory in Fallersleben. He gave a speech in which he named the car Kraft Dutch freude-wagon meaning strength through Joy car. The cars similarities to a car called the Tatra V570 caused the million marks pay out to Tatra-Ringhoffer for numerous patent infringements by the beetles design
The car was designated as the Volkswagen Type 1 and was marketed simply as the peoples car. The later models were the 1200,1300,1500( this showed engine capacity) and the 1302 and 1303 which showed the type number.
The car came as a 2door salon or a 2door convertible. The engines were small but as powerful as needed. They had a 1100,1200,1300,1500 and 1600cc engines. The transmission came in three choices
1) 4-speed manual
2) 4-speed semi automatic from the 1961 models
3) 3-speed semi automatic (autostick) which were in the 1967-1976 models.
The Volkswagen was father of all vw hatchbacks from the Jetta to the Golf and even the Porsche.
And for the cars movie career, it is widely known for the Love bug,Herbie. The Volkswagen also features in every movie out there about spring break, teenage heartbreaks and love all together. I think it has been in more movies than all cars out there. The beetle is actually the longest running, most manufactured car of a single platform ever made.
