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Volkswagen Beetle
Model Year: 1958
Location of Manufacture: Wolfsburg, Germany
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.
Branding
The VW logo and name brand as it appeared on the 1958 Beetle.
“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
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
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
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