The story of the Volkswagen Beetle starts out in the 1930s when Adolf Hitler wanted to bring automobiles to the entire population of Germany. In 1934, Hitler had Ferdinand Porsche design the peoples car, which was the Volkswagen. He wanted the Volkswagen Beetle to reach speeds of 60 mph, get about 37 mpg for fuel consumption, and wanted there to be room in the Beetle for two adults and their children, all at an incredibly low cost.



The Volkswagen Beetle had the rear engine and rear drive design, the torsion bar in front and the air cooled engine. The car was to be lightweight with simple mechanics and an intricate design.

The Volkswagen Beetle had an air cooled alloy engine with a single carburetor and a compression ratio of 5.8:1. The engine produced almost 24 horsepower, which enabled a top speed of about 65 mph. The air cooled engine was also emphasized as a convenient advantage, because air cannot boil. The acrylic paint on the first run of the Volkswagen Beetle was a long lasting finish with anti corrosion properties in the body. The very first Volkswagen Beetles had a split rear window design.

In 1937, the famous German coachbuilder Reutter made 30 of the Volkswagen Beetles for promotional reasons. Hilter also increased the interest of the consumers by introducing a savings system wehre people could collect stamps that would pay for the car. A mass production factory was now needed, and the cornerstone for the plant was laid in 1938. Production was to begin in late 1939, but this ended up conflicting with the beginning of World War II. There were not very many of the Volkswagen Beetles that rolled out of the factory that year, and it has been said that not one person who saved those stamps ever got a free Volkswagen Beetle!

The Volkswagen Beetle at this point was re engineered for war purposes for the German military. The engine capacity of the little car had increased to 1.1 liters by 1933, giving the Volkswagen the increased horsepower of 30 and greater torque. At the end of the war, the production facility of the Volkswagen Beetle was given back to the public in 948, and it was placed under the direction of Heinz Nordhoff. He turned the Volkswagen company right side up, increasing production of the car to 19,000 cars in 1948. The growth trend would continue every year until the mid 1970s when it leveled off for a time before decreasing. And, of course, in the late 1990s came a revival of the car as the new Volkswagen Beetle, which is still incredibly popular a decade later.