Classic car: VW Beetle
The VW 1200 and VW 1300 came onto the road a good 70 years ago under the nickname BEETLE and continue to delight classic car fans and veterans to this day
Automotive history: the VW Beetle as a classic car, a hit with a boxer engine
Wolfsburg - Munich - Herford. Beetle! In 70 years, a total of 22 million vehicles were produced from the VW Beetle, which was actually called the VW 1200 and VW 1300. Enthusiasts and fans have all Beetle models to this day. We can't go into the whole VW Beetle story here, just this much about its origins: The Volkswagen from 1935 had a whopping 22.5 hp and an air-cooled boxer engine. The boxer remained, only the horsepower increased a little ;-)) : a maximum of 50 hp. This weekend (January 11th and 12th, 2025) was the VW Beetle and veterans winter meeting at the freight station in Herford. For us, this is an opportunity to remember legendary Beetle models, because anyone who has ever driven a Beetle knows: “Love runs through the car”. For example, there was the Hebmüller Beetle convertible from 1949, which was built in 696 units. Another unique Beetle was the Stoll Beetle Coupé from 1952, which was built as a one-off edition 1 of 1. These variants can only be found in the museum. Their rarity and special bodies turned some unconventional models into high-quality collector's specimens and wrote VW history. By the way, the “Zeithaus” at the Autostadt in Wolfsburg (open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) has some on display and is always worth a visit! Our classic car weekend tip in this blog: VW Beetle Meeting 2025 in Herford: Classic car and gasoline discussions in January 2025 in Herford. The second weekend in January calls classic car fans to the 16th VW Beetle and Veterans Winter Meeting in Herford - vehicle show and spare parts market - classic car fans meet on the weekend - January 11th and 12th, 2025 in the Alten im Güterbahnhof
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| Pretzel beetles at the classic car meeting on the Theresienwiese in Munich, photo: Helga Waess (press archive) - The next "18th ACM classic car meeting on the Theresienwiese" is planned here for Sunday, April 27th, 2025 - INFO: Pretzel Beetle was called that because its back window was shaped like a pretzel |
There was even a beetle nicknamed the "Millionaire"!
It made company history because its outer skin was made of gold-colored paint, the bumpers were decorated with rhinestones and the interior was stylishly lined with brocade fabric for My Lady.
The Beetle was VW's successful car and in 1955 the millionth Volkswagen rolled off the assembly line here
Yes, you read that right. A nickname was also given to the “World Champion Beetle,” which rolled off the assembly line here on February 17, 1972 as the 15,007,034th Beetle. With these numbers, Volkswagen easily beat the production monster Ford from Detroit with its American T models.
Convertible history was made with the “Sliced Beetle” from 1947
The roof of the VW 1200 Beetle Cabriolet was simply removed, and from then on it entered the parlance of automotive history as the “Cold Beetle”. The Beetle cold cuts were then produced in a quantity of 120,000 copies. A convertible made history and was in demand from then on. To this day, classic Beetle convertibles still promise pure driving pleasure.
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| Vintage car - Beetle convertible in red, photo: Helga Waess (Pressefotoarchiv) |
Until the 1970s, the VW Beetle was one of the most frequently driven police vehicles
The Hebmüller Beetle convertible from 1949 was available in 696 copies. In addition to the convertibles, Hebmüller also came with a Beetle police version that had simpler door versions for better and quicker access during operations - sometimes just a thick cord! A few years ago, the Berlin Police School received a Beetle Peterwagen for its teaching purposes, which is of course also a wonderful museum piece.
The VW 1300 Peterwagen was used as a police vehicle until well into the 1970s. This dark green vehicle with white fenders and blue lights on the roof also had a megaphone on the right front fender and was quickly on the scene.
