Volkswagen Beetle - The Legendary Machine

Volkswagen is cited as one of the premiere automobile brands in the international platform. Perhaps the most famous model of car coming out of its garage has been the Beetle. In the circuit of automobile manufacturing the Beetle is still considered as, arguably, the most completed small car.

It was introduced to the world a year before the beginning of the First World War in 1938 (many say this particular point adds to some extent to its historic significance). It was called Volkswagen Type 1. An air cooled engine at the rear complemented by the special RR layout was used in it. The Beetle was a path breaking car as it was a near perfect example of an economy car and was the primary source of inspiration for a wide range of compact cars in the American domestic market. The success of the Beetle was factored by some prominent features like the top class quality of its built and the advertising strategies. It had a length of about 13 feet.

The Beetle had Kafer as its original name, a synonymous German word for its English name. Post August in the year 1967, the company of Volkswagen marketed materials in America under this specific name. In case of the UK, the Volkswagen Corporation never took into account the name beetle, but promoted the various makes of the brand under different model names such as Type 1, 1300 or 1600. It followed the same tactic elsewhere in the continent of Europe. The number signifying a particular Beetle model denoted the engine size of the car in terms of cubic centimeters.

During the year 1998, several years after Volkswagen stopped the production of the lovable original Beetle, Volkswagen presented the world with the New Beetle which had a close resemblance to the original model in terms of outer design. An exhaustive poll conducted internationally placed the Beetle as the 4th most influential car of the 20th century. Among the variegated models of the Beetles across a period of nearly 65 years, (Volkswagen officially discontinued its production in 2003) a good number of critics opine that the Volkswagen Beetle introduced in the year 1967 was arguably the most classic model.

The 1967 Beetle had a 1500 cc engine with feature of 40 kilowatts horsepower at the rate of 4200 rpm. It possessed a bore and a stroke of dimensions 83 mm and 69 mm respectively. The transmission was a typical 4 speed manual with a compact wheelbase of 2400 mm. It weighed approximately 840 kilograms and had an official top speed of 130 km/hour. The unique design of the Beetle caught the attention of millions of people of different age groups all across the Western countries and continued its successful run through decades. It continued to remain an 'eye candy' for several folks in terms of style, design, service and the intensity of craze it garnered.