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Volkswagen Beetle

Model Year: 1958

Location of Manufacture: Wolfsburg, Germany

View of the dashboard

Dashboard

This view shows the dashboard of the Beetle. The dash, which would have been considered modern in 1958, appears basic and plain to our 21st century eyes. Note the absence even of a gas gauge! Drivers, sensing the car was running low on gas, would turn the handle of a spare tank that would provide a small known quantity of gas. This, one hoped, would allow the driver to find a filling station.

View of the Volkswagen brand mark

Branding

The VW logo and name brand as it appeared on the 1958 Beetle.

Cartoon referring to the removal of the Beetle from the new car market in Canada and the United States in the late 1970s – published in the Calgary Herald, 21 January 1978

“Let me tell you lad... there were millions of us on the road years ago.”

Tom Innes, Calgary Herald
21 January 1978

This cartoon refers to the removal of the Beetle from the new car market in Canada and the United States in the late 1970s. It also highlights how little the design of the car has changed over many generations!

Glenbow Archives, 8000-214

Photograph of VW Beetles forming the VW logo, Wolfsburg, Germany, 1955

Celebration of the one millionth VW Beetle

Wolfsburg, Federal Republic of Germany
1955

Look closely at this photograph – the VW symbol and surrounding space is created entirely using VW beetles!

Courtesy of Volkswagen AG

Photograph of VW Beetles at the drive-in, watching The Love Bug, 1969

VW Beetles “watching” The Love Bug

Las Vegas, 1969

The popularity of the VW Beetle increased after the 1968 release of the Disney film, The Love Bug. The star of the film was a 1963 Beetle named Herbie, a car with a mind of its own, which could also drive itself!

Courtesy of Volkswagen AG

Photograph of people squeezing themselves into a VW Beetle, ca. 1960

How many people can fit into a VW beetle?

ca. 1960

More common in the 1960s and 1970s than today, was the challenge of trying to pack a large number of people into one VW Beetle. The current record is 27 people who stuffed themselves into a New Beetle (Type 2) at Penn State in Pennsylvania, on 25 April 2001.

Courtesy of Volkswagen AG