waving goodbye to one of the alltime greats

[Lance]

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they built the very last production line Volkswagen Beetle today. no, those water-cooled, front engine, front-drive, modern suspension, pseudo-retro salesgimmick ones don't count. i'm talking about the rEal Beetles. designed by a genius who built an electric car in about 1908, the Lohner-Porsche, and who produced great functionality from simple designs, including the near 200 mile-per-hour Auto-Union grand prix car of the 1930s. it had pushrod operated valves, and despite being a V-16, it was tremendously light, had a suspension like the Beetle's, and was surprisingly cheap, and amazingly fast. the equal of its Mercedes-Benz competition. in the late 1940s, Ferdinand Porsche's basic Beetle design was developed by his son into the first cars bearing his name. during the same time, he also designed the fantastic flat-12 supercharged Cisitalia Formula I car. less successful than the Auto-Union types C and D, but still a great car design. the Beetle was the last one of his designs to still be produced in a form very close to what Ferdinand Porsche produced in his mind so long ago. i've always loved the things. this was the car that brought small cars to America. its reliability and cheapness, its simple to maintain design, and the fun it was compared to the big american cars of the time are what allowed the europeans and japanese to transform the american and therefore the world markets for cars. it's a demonstration of how much influence one person can have. an example of how much effect something of real value can have
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[Roger]

Yes, the Beetle really is a special car. My family used to own one back in the 80's. I remember one of the more tricky things about it was that you had to push down on the gearstick to get it into reverse :-?

Anyway, I got to celebrate the Beetle in a nice way: hitched a ride in a cabbie-converted, bright yellow painted, 1960's model (so old it didn't have seatbelts, anyway). Drove down the street with the wind in my hair (no, my name isn't Lucy Jordan; no it wasn't Paris :wink: )

[Spaceboy Gajo]

Thanks Lance for the history lesson.

The Beetles, especially the old ones hold a special place in my heart. Perhaps you could blame Disney and making those darn lovable, Lovebug movies. Ever since I first saw that movie I've always wanted to own one.

Still don't have one, but it doesn't hurt to dream does it?

I have a couple of questions for your car experts out there, especially with Lance's encyclopedic knowledge of the automotive industry.

So bear with me.

(1) Does Auto-Union have anything to do with Audi? I'm just taking a really educated guess on that one. It would make sense with their logo of the rings and I know that VW and Audi are part of the same company.

(2) With the production of the classic Beetle, did that also include parts? Just wondering since I was in Croatia this summer I still saw a lot of these amazing cars on the road.

Thanks in advance,

spaceboy gajo

[Lance]

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Auto-Union did indeed become Audi, or rather, Audi was the leading company of the ones that became part of Auto-Union, so eventually the others were forgotten, and A-U was called Audi. Audi is from the latin word meaning to listen or to hear. one of the original four companies [hence the four rings of the logo] that merged to form Auto Union was called Horch [imagine an umlaut over the 'o'], which is a german word meaning Listen! the modern english equivalent is Hark! also Hearken. anyway, the four companies were Horch [founded by August Horch], Audi [also founded by August Horch after he lost control of his own original company to investors], DKW, and Wanderer
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[Vasudeva]

Beetles are great.

But there is a dark side to the story as well. The "Volkswagen" was created in the 1930s under pressure of the Nazi regime that wanted to have "ein Volkswagen für allen" (a Volkswagen for everybody), hence the name "Volkswagen", by the way ( = car of the people).

I may be one of the few people who actually like the new Beetle designs. But of course nothing will ever beat the old design. The Beetle remains, together with the Mini and the 'Duckling' or 'Goat', the most famous small car.

By the way, just to nitpick on the Latin: the verb is "audire" and does mean "to hear, to listen", but the form "audi" is the imperative ("listen!").

Peace,
V.

[Lance]

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ahem... just to be picky:
''Audi is from the latin word meaning to listen or to hear.''
i said frOm the word, i didn't say it wAs the word. ;)
well, at least i got the Hark! right. :)

the Duckling? what is that? a Deke? [DKW]

we should also definitely mention in that list the Citroen Deux-Chevaux, the Ford model T.

although i like the Renault R4 a bunch, it doesn't have quite the legendary quality of those we've mentioned so far. nor do the little KommissBrot, or the Trabant. just not enough of them, though the cars are full of character
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[Wamdue]

The beetle.. awesome car. As a kid I always wanted to own one when I grow up hehe. Now I havent had the time to get me a license, but I still want a beetle as my first car ;)
It was fun to read about its history, lance :)

[Lance]

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thanks, Wamdue; i'm always willing to babble just for my own entertainment, but if someone else gets something from it, too, that's better
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[Vasudeva]

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ahem... just to be picky:
''Audi is from the latin word meaning to listen or to hear.''
i said frOm the word, i didn't say it wAs the word. ;)
well, at least i got the Hark! right. :)

Woops, sorry.


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the Duckling? what is that? a Deke? [DKW]

we should also definitely mention in that list the Citroen Deux-Chevaux, the Ford model T.

Over here the Citroen Deux-Chevaux is called the Duckling. Or the Goat :).


. although i like the Renault R4 a bunch, it doesn't have quite the legendary quality of those we've mentioned so far. nor do the little KommissBrot, or the Trabant. just not enough of them, though the cars are full of character.

We owned an R4 for years, actually. Cute. But broke down when I was a kid. Afterwards we had a Honda Shuttle (the old model), which was a bit mocked in the neighbourhood and being referred to as the "pope mobile" because it was so high, and white. Now we have an ordinary Daewoo Nubira. I've always liked American cars, actually.

Peace,
V.

[Lance]

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i like many cars, but for some reason, i have a particular soft spot for european economy cars of the 50s and very early 60s. there is something pretty unique about almost every one of them. their designers never even heard of cookie cutters. aaaaah yes. Goggomobil T-400s, and Fiat 500s, and the Multipla, and the Isetta with the front door [yes the front of the car ahead of the driver opens], the Lloyd [a Welsh name on a German car. odd.], the NSU Prinz, the Dyna-Panhard with its 2-cylinder engine and aerodynamic body, the SAAB 93b. Messerschmidts!

the cars i just mentioned, and more besides, had engines of one, two, three, or four cylinders; and could be either 2-stroke or 4-stroke; air-cooled or water-cooled; front or rear engined; rear-drive or front-drive; one, two, three, or four doored. virtually every combination of those elements was used. you just don't see variety like that anymore. even bodystyle on modern cars lacks the variation one sees on those little cars of that era. ingenuity and individuality have no chance in the general market anymore; the combination of giant corporations and the need to comply with government structural regulations leads to ''proven'' designs, extreme conservatism, and the general dullness that produces. the U.S. is particularly cursed that way; only kit cars have any chance of being interesting. oops, i'm ranting. [stops]

sorry bout that
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[Thruster2097]

rant on, lance..
Look at my GM/Opel/Vauxhall corsa. To an american market its probably so odd it would make it desirable (being ultra compact and having a very small turning circle). However to us euros, the current market is flodded with "hot hatches" which fundamentally are the same car, just with a different badge. I reminisce about the time the swatch/mercedes MCC Smart Car came out. It was different because it was so tiny, but it was impractical, and had a habit of rolling over at every opportunity. Now, the Mercedes-Benz conglomerate are backing the car, it has a revised bodystyle, similar to the current mercedes line-up. Virtually telling us that its okay to buy the car now just because it looks like everything else on the road. Knowing that your car looks good must be so reassuring while youre driving it.. :lol:

It all comes down to personal opinion and current situation. But thats what made cars like the VW Beetle iconic. It combined everything into one package, so no matter who would look at the car, they would find something to identify with.

To prove that, who here (and be honest) can say they dislike everything about the beetle?

[Lance]

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ultra-compact with a small turning circle is absolutely the farthest thing from the average american car buyer's mind. the hot ride here is a 4000+ pound [weight, not cost] Sport Utility Vehicle that gobbles gasoline, but supposedly gives the image to its owner of rugged off-road machismo even if they're just a golf-playing overweight middle-management nebbish. it doesn't, but they're in denial of reality, and in the most ecology-damaging way.
[well, you did say to rant on ;) ]
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[Vasudeva]

Oh, I don't like these SUVs myself.

I guess that the grass is always greener on the other side in some way. Like Thrusty said I'm getting a bit tired too of these cars which all look the same. In American cars I kind of like the extravagant size. That doesn't mean I don't know they are pollution bombs, most of the time... ;)

Peace,
V.

[Lance]

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extravagant size is okay if there are only a few examples, but when the extravagant becomes the average by being the hottest selling item in a market of many millions of units per year....
nuh-uh
Evil
[starts a bicycle retailing business in Missouri. business fails in one week when the rent is due. toyota dealership across street buys another three acres on this side for display space for 4runners]
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