The story of Volkswagen is one of marvellous cars, daring leaders, international battles, wins and losses, tremendous successes, and some significant failures. What began as a single-model philosophy grew into a multitude of confusing lines, models, and nomenclature. What began as a desire to build an inexpensive car for the masses matured into the act of building some of the finest Grand Touring (GT) performance cars in the world, on a level with those from Mercedes-Benz and BMW. What was once a total denial of competition activity was replaced with factory encouraged formula cars and a motorsports arm second to none.
Volkswagen has indeed come a long way, and some of the latest "autobahn-burners" will no doubt become classics in the future. The Type One Beetle must already be acknowledged as a current, post-war classic. Type One- based cars constitute almost fifty percent of this guide, and the prewar "Fuhrerwagen", indeed, made Volkswagen what it is today.
VOLKSWAGEN AS A POSTWAR CLASSIC
Consider this: the VW Beetle is the most important car in the last half of the twentieth century. From 1950 to 1970, the VW heralded a revolution, not in design but in thought, paving the way for the Japanese invasion of the automotive world. Almost singlehandedly, it conquered the largest and most lucrative market in the world: the United States. Its success gave birth to the Falcon, the Corvair, the Valiant and a host of other would be competitors throughout the years.
The VW Beetle continues to be built, albeit in Mexico, establishing a production record which far exceeds even that of Henry Ford's immortal Model T. Its reliability, serviceability, and road worthiness, not to mention charm, convinced millions of Americans that gas-conserving efficient, small foreign cars were not only viable, but indeed the way of the future.
VW succeeded where no others did. Although its dominance was threatened in those heady days of 1957 - 1968, no other manufacturer even came close to the consistent sales records achieved by VW in America. Now, those contenders are all gone, having either left America's shores or disappearing entirely. The list of manufacturers defeated in their goal to win the hearts of Americans is long: Renault, Simca, Fiat, Austin, and Fiat, to name but a few. If it wasn't said, it should have been: ‘Conquer America and you conquer the world'.
Ironically, with a road provided by VW, only the Japanese succeeded in this lofty goal. But, of the many European small sedans that inundated the United States in the fifties and sixties, only the VW survived in the early nineties, legacy of its long-term staying power and legendary emphasis on quality, innovation and outstanding dealer reputation.
The VW Beetle is one of the bona fide postwar landmark cars and still available and restorable at reasonable prices, owing in part to the millions sold, the model's reusable ruggedness, and an ample supply of parts, both original and remanufactured. Although the number of pre- 1966 cars is dwindling rapidly, it is higher than that for typical post-war classics. Early VWs are easy - but often misleading - marks for home do-it-yourself restorations, which, with a great deal of patience, can be as good as professional jobs at fifty dollars an hour. And, because many young people still buy a Beetle as their first car, a nostalgia market for the cars may exist for years to come.
Millions of VWs have been turned into beach buggies, airplanes, golf course lawnmowers, fibreglass replicars, and customised specials. For the VW was every person's car. Owing simply to the relatively complex electronics required in even the most basic cars today, the world will probably never again see the likes of the VW. In the manner made popular by the Model T, VW parts, engines, transaxles, chassis, and bodies were transformed by millions of active imaginations and artful hands. The Beetle served as the last tool of a waning industrial revolution, to be remembered only by those who restore and enjoy old cars. The mechanical properties of the VW Beetle, its unique chameleon-like ability to be all things to all people, while decimating its numbers, served to spread its word and reputation to all corners of the world.
These unique characteristics also created a cult car, and the Beetle in particular has been almost neglected as a post-war classic thought because of this. It is almost as if the Beetle were not a car at all, but a cult symbol not qualified to take its rightful place in the heavens of the so-called classic car, despite grudging recognition by the experts. It was sought after not as the collector's item it is, but as the cult car it remains. The large number that remain in road worthy condition has hampered its status as well. One will see a vintage-sixties Beetle in general use in the United States.
In England, the VW is just obtaining cult status, but the problem is the same. "They are still so common in every day use that the ‘classic' people don't always them recognise as such, and the owners also set themselves apart, feeling they know something everyone else doesn't", wrote Robin Allen, a British Beetle owner.
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