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A Picture
Review of the
Volkswagen
Beetle
From 1932 to 1960
The People's Car
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and ending with the ones shown above. When I started this page I thought a lot about whether or not I would include the front engine/front wheel drive models. I decided to limit the page to the older air cooled rear engine models that I remember so well |
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There are many complete histories of this car posted that I felt that I couldn't do it justice. I'll just start it with the following. It all began at the end of the
summer of 1933 when Ferdinand Porsche was summoned to the Hotel Kaiserhof
in Berlin for a meeting with the dictator. Porsche had an outstanding
reputation as an engineer. He had been chief designer for Daimler-Benz,
Auto-Union, and now had his own engineering consultation firm. In a private
conference, Hitler told the engineer his plans for a car.
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of the pictures on my pages aren't loading properly. If this should happen to you just right click on the area where the picture is supposed to be and select "Show Picture". I have been told by the support team of my hosting service that this problem is a fault of MSIE and that we will have to live with it. I would like to
invite any one that has a favorite Volkswagen picture or a Web Page
John MacDonald |
This page was last updated on Oct 3
2008
This page is now in two sections
Page 1 ( This page ) Includes VW's from 1932 to 1960
Page 2 Includes VW's from 1961 to 1979
To View Page 2 click on the Link Below
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This car is not a Volkswagen even though it looks
much like one.
The T97 was designed in 1933 as a smaller alternative to the large T87. Instead of a V8, it was powered by a 1.8-litre flat-four engine. With engine power of 29.4 kilowatts (40.0 PS/39.4 bhp) the car could achieve top speed of 130 kilometres per hour (81 mph).[1] The design was also simplified, using just two headlights instead of three, a single-piece windscreen, and an overall smaller body. Production of the car was canceled after the Nazis annexed Czechoslovakia in 1938, possibly to avoid comparison with the KdF-Wagen (see below). At that time, 508 cars were built. In 1946, production resumed, but the new communist government quickly dropped the T97 in favor of the cheaper to build and overall 'more communistic' Tatraplan, which was named after the Communist Planned Economy. Wikipedia |
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Click on this image for a larger view in a new window |
Click on this image for a larger view in a new window |
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| This Schwimwagen won both Best of Show and Best Special
Interest Vehicle at the Kelly Park VW Show, April 21, 2007 in San Jose,
CA. It is owned by Mark Merrill
of San Jose. CA. This vehicle will actually swim at about 6 knots per hour, but the owner says it slowly fills with water. It has a 36 HP engine |
Note location of muffler. It had a cable pulled from rear seat to raise prop drive which was disengaged for land travel. It is 4x4 also. |
| Every year on the Friday before the Kelley Park show, Mark Merrill
has an open house at his shop. This
link will take you to a forum showing all of his other Volkswagens.
He has quite the collection.
These pictures were posted on this forum by Hotrodheb. |
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| This picture was submitted by Jerry Longden, Santa Rosa, CA |
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Click on this image for a larger view in a new window |
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by George Pachernegg of Germany. It is part of a deck of cards which he had when he was quite young and still has today |
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| This car is offerd for sale on Chicago Classis Cars | This car is offerd for sale on Chicago Classis Cars |
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| This car is offerd for sale on Chicago Classis Cars | |
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Click on this image for a larger view in a new window |
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| This car is offered for sale on Old Bug.Com | This car is offered for sale on Old Bug.Com |
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Click on this image for a larger view in a new window |
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Click on this image for a larger view in a new window If anyone has any comments please use the e mail link below |
This is a very special picture submitted to
me by Jeffrey Foulk.
Jeffrey had the following to say about those picture. "My father served in the US Army Air Corps during the latter part of WWII, and was stationed in the southern portion of Germany in late 1945-1947. He was a Captain, and oversaw the disposition of German aircraft. He passed away several years ago, and we found some undeveloped B&W negatives in his effects. I tried to have a couple of local photo shops develop the negatives into prints, but they were unwilling due to the age. Fast forward to today, my son is taking photography in his sophomore year of high school and we decide to risk letting him develop the negatives in the photo lab. Lo and behold, some cool pics of my dad and some even cooler pics of vehicles and surroundings. If you will notice, it appears as if the GI's
in the photo are constructing a dock out of some old fuel drums and wood.
To the left of the picture, and behind the dock structure, it looks to
me like there is a VW convertible. The headlights appear to be on, not
in, the front fenders, and if you look UNDER the dock the sweep of the
running board and front fender make it appear to similar to the 30's vintage
cabriolets on your site...comments? "
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Tim and Lora Hall of Owensboro, KY USA Lora had the following to say about these cars. Now Tim is mainly collecting vintage cars. It all began with a purchase of four vintage cars at once. I have attached a pix of them when we got them home. Tim knew of these cars for 20 years before he had an opportunity to purchase them. He got these (4) cars and (8) truck loads of NOS parts. I said that he won the "Volkswagen Lottery". Our friend Larry called it the "Mother Lode". No matter what we called it, it was the talk of the VW world around here. People were calling and dropping by just to see what all Tim got. The green car is a 1951,
Red is 1952 Zwitter and the Caramel & Creme is a 1955. The 1955 is
the first one he completed because it was in the best shape of these (4).
It was a one owner. It is mine, then he completed the 1952. These
cars are restored to original but the 1951 is a different story. This one
is the "fun" car. It has his dune buggy motor in it. He had sold everything
to do with off roading, except the motor.
He has many other in line to be completed. The last of the "Mother Lode" collection is a 1947. It started out in pretty bad shape. It would not be worth restoring if it were not his oldest car. It is in progress, but it is about 75% complete. He also has a 1959 Karmann Ghia, it is at a body shop and has been there for a long time. Our friend that is working on it, he just works on it between customer's work. Here is a list of all the cars
he has right now. The ones that are not restored are in line to be. It
may take him the rest of his life. But that is his plan. These are the
collection cars, and they are not for sale.
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Page
2 Includes VW's from 1961 to 1979
To View Page 2 click on the Link Above
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