Vehicle Description
Gateway Classic Cars of Denver is proud to offer this 1968
Volkswagen Beetle The Volkswagen Beetle-officially the Volkswagen
Type 1, informally in German the K�fer (meaning "beetle"), in parts
of the English-speaking world the Bug,[11] and known by many other
nicknames in other languages-is a two-door, rear-engine economy
car, intended for five occupants (later, Beetles were restricted to
four people in some countries),[12][13][14] that was manufactured
and marketed by German automaker Volkswagen (VW) from 1938 until
2003.[15] The need for a people's car (Volkswagen in German, and in
the English-speaking world in the early 20th century as "folks'
wagon"), its concept and its functional objectives were formulated
by the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, who wanted a cheap,
simple car to be mass-produced for his country's new road network
(Reichsautobahn). Members of the National Socialist party, with an
additional dues surcharge, were promised the first production, but
civil war in Spain shifted most production resources to military
vehicles instead to support Francisco Franco. Lead engineer
Ferdinand Porsche and his team took until 1938 to finalise the
design. Bela Barenyi[16] is credited with first conceiving the
original design for this car in 1925, notably by Mercedes-Benz, on
their website, including his original technical drawing,[17][18]
five years before Porsche claimed to have done his initial
version.[19] The influence on Porsche's design of other
contemporary cars, such as the Tatra V570, and the work of Josef
Ganz remains a subject of dispute.[20] The result was the first
Volkswagen, and one of the first rear-engined cars since the Brass
Era. With 21,529,464 produced,[21] the Beetle is the
longest-running and most-manufactured car of a single platform ever
made. Although designed in the 1930s, due to World War II, civilian
Beetles only began to be produced in significant numbers by the end
of the 1940s. The car was then internally designated the Volkswagen
Type 1, and marketed simply as the Volkswagen. Later models were
designated Volkswagen 1200, 1300, 1500, 1302, or 1303, the former
three indicating engine displacement, the latter two derived from
the model number. The car became widely known in its home country
as the K�fer (German for "beetle", cognate with English chafer) and
was later marketed under that name in Germany,[4] and as the
Volkswagen in other countries. For example, in France it was known
as the Coccinelle (French for ladybug).[1][2] In 1943, Roy Fedden
applied for a patent,[22] GB570814, 'Improvements relating to road
vehicles', a car identical to VW K�fer. The original 25 hp Beetle
was designed for a top speed around 100 km/h (62 mph), which would
be a viable cruising speed on the Reichsautobahn system. As
Autobahn speeds increased in the postwar years, its output was
boosted to 36, then 40 hp, the configuration that lasted through
1966 and became the "classic" Volkswagen motor. The Beetle gave
rise to multiple variants: mainly the 1950 Type 2 'Bus', the 1955
Karmann Ghia, as well as the 1961 Type 3 'Ponton' and the 1968 Type
4 (411/412) family cars, ultimately forming the basis of an
entirely rear-engined VW product range. The Beetle thus marked a
significant trend, led by Volkswagen, and then by Fiat and Renault,
whereby the rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout increased from 2.6
percent of continental Western Europe's car production in 1946 to
26.6 percent in 1956.[23] In 1959 even General Motors launched an
air-cooled, rear-engined car, the Chevrolet Corvair-which even
shared the Beetle's flat engine and swing axle architecture. Over
time, front-wheel drive, and frequently hatchback-bodied cars would
come to dominate the European small-car market. In 1974,
Volkswagen's own front-wheel drive Golf hatchback succeeded the
Beetle. In 1994, Volkswagen unveiled the Concept One, a
"retro"-themed concept car with a resemblance to the original
Beetle, and in 1998 introduced the "New Beetle", built on the
contemporary Golf platform with styling recalling the original Type
1. It remained in production through 2010, and was succeeded in
2011 by the Beetle (A5), the last variant of the Beetle, which was
also more reminiscent of the original Beetle. Production ceased
altogether by 2019.[24] In the 1999 Car of the Century competition,
to determine the world's most influential car in the 20th century,
the Type 1 came fourth, after the Ford Model T, the Mini, and the
Citroen DS.[2 For additional information please call our sales
staff at (303) 872-4722 or email us at
Denver@GatewayClassicCars.com. If you would like to see it in
person, come to our Denver Showroom located at: 14150 Grasslands
Drive Suite A, Englewood, CO 80112. To view 3000+ classics or
exotics, please visit: https://www.gatewayclassiccars.com/ To sell
your classic or exotic please call us - (303) 872-4722 or visit:
https://www.gatewayclassiccars.com/fluid-sell-my-classic-car
