Click Here to read all about this Volkswagen Beetle.
Source: vintagenews.com
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Second-built Samba discovered in a field, to undergo restoration
Photo courtesy WDR.de.
Had it not been for an ID plate that had remained with the bus – and a Volkswagen enthusiast with an eye for rare Wolfsburg tin – then a rare 1951 VW Microbus Deluxe left sitting in a German field for more than 50 years might well have become so much scrapyard fodder. Instead, it’s now destined for a 10-year restoration.
According to that ID plate, which current owner Florian Kalff of Bonn, Germany, ran by Volkswagen’s archives before buying the dual pickup loads’ worth of rusted metal, the 23-window Microbus – aka “Samba” – not only dates to 1951, the first year of production, it also dates to one of the first days of production. Reportedly, the Volkswagen archives only list one earlier chassis number for a Samba, which has since gone missing.
Introduced in April 1951 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the Microbus Deluxe featured windows up and down its length, including at each rear corner, along with windows cut into the sides of the roof and a sunroof that exposed all six rear passengers to the sky. More chrome trim adorned the Samba than any other Microbus (“a magpie’s nest of brightwork,” as author Richard Copping put it in his “VW Bus: Forty Years of Splitties, Bays, and Wedges“), and it featured a full-width dashboard that lesser Microbuses didn’t. Its superior visibility made it a favorite of sightseeing companies, and its deluxe trim bumped the pricetag a good 40 percent.
Kalff’s Samba has a rather murky history. Records show that it went to Fleischhauer – a dealer in Köln – as a demonstrator, and the lack of a TÜV sticker on the license plate suggests it came off the road sometime before 1961. How or why it ended up in a field in the Eifel mountains of Germany remains a mystery. Kalff, a Volkswagen restoration parts dealer, has a theory, however. As he told Bonn’s General-Anzeiger, Sambas built before August 1960 made do with the Beetle’s 24.5-hp engine and thus became obsolete when Volkswagen introduced the 34-hp engine and synchronized transmission in the Microbus; it wasn’t uncommon for owners of the older Sambas to abandon their wagons.
The Samba had laid in the field for so long, the field’s previous owner claimed not to have known of its existence. Only when the new owner of the field began to clear it did the Samba – well, enough of it to identify it as a Samba, anyway – resurface. The new owner happened to know a customer of Kalff’s, and Kalff claims to have bought the Samba’s remains, which included the drivetrain, the aforementioned ID plate, and even one of the plexiglass rear corner windows, for a four-figure sum.
Kalff has since carted the remains to his shop about 30 miles away and started planning the Samba’s restoration, which he said will require at least 10 years and another six figures; a British coachbuilder has been conscripted to replicate the missing parts of the body and incorporate as much of the existing body as possible. The result of the restoration, he told the General-Anzeiger, should document the Samba’s history rather than sparkle and shine.
Progress on the restoration will be posted to Kalff’s website.
Monday, June 5, 2017
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Volkswagen The Peoples Car
In
1934, looking to put a motorized vehicle in the garage of every
German family, Adolf Hitler contracted automotive engineer Ferdinand
Porsche to develop a “people’s car,” practically called a
Volkswagen.
The Volkswagen would need to be capable of carrying a family of five at sustained speeds of 62 miles per hour, with a fuel efficiency of 32 miles per gallon. It would also need to be inexpensive to fix and replace worn-out parts.
Ferdinand Porsche developed several prototypes of a model called the “Type 60.” Featuring a rear-mounted, air-cooled engine and a distinctive bulbous shape, the prototypes were test-driven for nearly 2 million miles.
A factory was built in Fallersleben (later renamed Wolfsburg) to mass produce the cars, with Hitler himself laying the cornerstone in 1938. During World War II, the factory was devoted to producing military transport vehicles.
After the war’s conclusion in 1945, British Army Major Ivan Hirst was tasked with controlling the bombed-out factory. He convinced the British military to order 20,000 cars, and soon the factory was producing 1,000 per month. The Volkswagen came to be known as the “Beetle” for its rounded appearance.
The Volkswagen would need to be capable of carrying a family of five at sustained speeds of 62 miles per hour, with a fuel efficiency of 32 miles per gallon. It would also need to be inexpensive to fix and replace worn-out parts.
Ferdinand Porsche developed several prototypes of a model called the “Type 60.” Featuring a rear-mounted, air-cooled engine and a distinctive bulbous shape, the prototypes were test-driven for nearly 2 million miles.
A factory was built in Fallersleben (later renamed Wolfsburg) to mass produce the cars, with Hitler himself laying the cornerstone in 1938. During World War II, the factory was devoted to producing military transport vehicles.
After the war’s conclusion in 1945, British Army Major Ivan Hirst was tasked with controlling the bombed-out factory. He convinced the British military to order 20,000 cars, and soon the factory was producing 1,000 per month. The Volkswagen came to be known as the “Beetle” for its rounded appearance.
Source: vwnews.com
Monday, April 3, 2017
Adolf Hitler And Volkswagen
Hitler gave his design to the head of Daimler-Benz, Jakob Werlin, and stressed its importance. "Take it with you and speak with people who understand more about it than I do. But don't forget it. I want to hear from you soon, about the technical details."
Source: hitler.org
Unusual Volkswagens
With over 20 million Beetles built since the 1940's, there has also been a fair share of chopped up and mutilated Beetles. Some Beetles get treated to chopped tops, a modification that was popular in the 1970's, but is still comon today. Some busses get unusual paint jobs, or become the tool of some wacko's imagination, while others are produced to be different than most busses.
One thing is clear. Volkswagens go beyond their stock forms almost always today. In some cases, they radically depart from their original states. In these pages, you can see almost all of the pictures I have of "unusual Volkswagens." Almost all of them are real enough that they can and are driven, some others are just built to look strange, but aren't ever used, and some are just examples of what can be done with modern photo editing programs.
This is just an example of what some people do to their cars. There are several Volkswagen Beetle limousines in existence (as of today, there aren't any New Beetle Limousines yet), there is at least one Microbus limousine, and, well, you can see for yourself what some people already want to do.
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What is there to say about this one? If you are already a Volkswagen fan (not literally, what are you thinking people?), then you've probably already heard about one of these. This one has been restored completely, and still drives. It is based in Europe, and at the time of this photograph, was letting adventurous people climb to the top of the rickety ladder. Needless to say, it isn't a Mack truck like most Americans are used to. Also, how appropriate that this firetruck can use all the water onboard to fight fires (not something a regular firetruck can do), since it is aircooled. | ||
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I have no idea how old this one is, but by looking at the car, it isn't super
old. The lights onboard are a nice touch, perhaps this one was intended for use
in Nevada, as a mobile lighted casino on the strip. Who knows! I guess the
stereo is out on this one, since all the juice the generator can provide is going
to those lights.
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This is what happens when you spill grass seed all over your Beetle after running
it through the mud in springtime. Sooner than you can say where's my herbicide,
the grass is there. Good luck finding a mower to keep this one trimmed. This
is one of the coolest Beetle pictures I've seen in a long time. Ch-Ch-Ch-ChiaBeetle!
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This is a good example of what happens when you are sitting in your garage,
with a beer and a blow-torch in hand, and are pondering the ways to increase
your gas mileage. This is a real car, and it is being serviced at a mechanic's
shop somewhere in Austria. I have heard about short Beetles like this in Mexico
too.
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This is a real Beetle used in Canada to transport crews to small hydroelectric
plants in remote areas. Since large crews and heavy equipment aren't necessary
in each case, this company developed a railroad version of the Beetle. It looks
like an easy conversion: just remember not to steer. I wonder what moose up there
think of this when it is coming towards them on the tracks...
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Several people have tried to float/boat their ways across large bodies of water with their Beetles. This can be done, since the Beetle is a well built car, and has excellent seals. The car in this picture had special double seals on everything, and special custom seals on cables and shafts that normally weren't water tight. This guy really has this Beetle floored in the English Channel... |
Source: westministercollege.edu
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