X-Nico

22 unusual facts about Volkswagen Beetle


1937 in Germany

28 May - Volkswagen, state-owned carmaker, is formed to produce the new people's car.

Aggieville Riots

Almost every building in Aggieville had its windows smashed, people climbed to the tops of several buildings, and a 1968 Volkswagen Beetle was rolled over and torched.

Bob Pease

His other interests included hiking and biking in remote places, and working on his old Volkswagen Beetle, which he often mentioned in his columns.

Con Lo Que Cuenta Este País

The restaurant was located in an alley corner, and Chevy would always arrive in his flamboyant Volkswagen Beetle listening to loud music.

Engineering traditions in Canada

Perhaps most famous amongst these is the hanging of a Volkswagen Beetle shell from the Lion's Gate bridge, as well other bridges around Vancouver, by engineering students at the University of British Columbia.

Engineering Undergraduate Society of the University of British Columbia

It organizes Engineering department events but is perhaps best known for practical jokes (STUdeNT projectS) it has played in the past, including hanging the frame of a Volkswagen Beetle off bridges.

Eric Staller

Eric Staller is best known for his Volkswagen Lightmobile, a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle covered with 1659 computerized light bulbs.

Erwin Komenda

Komenda developed the car-body construction of the VW Beetle, the most built car-body of the last century.

Fittipaldi Automotive

They went on to build customer Formula Vee racing cars and various successful one-off sports cars, including a twin-engined, fibreglass-bodied Volkswagen Beetle, as well as maintaining a car and racing accessories business.

Gadzooks

The company logo included the Volkswagen Beetle and all stores had a life-size version of part of a Beetle inside.

Gemini 5

Conrad, who had a reputation for frequently having a punchline on hand, called the mission "Eight days in a garbage can." (the garbage can referring to the small size of the Gemini cabin, which was about the size of the front seat of a Volkswagen Beetle.)

Helmut Krone

He was the art director for the popular 1960s campaign for the Volkswagen Beetle, which featured a large unadorned photo of the car with the tiny word "Lemon" underneath it; the series of "When you're only No. 2, you try harder" advertisements for Avis, and the creation of Juan Valdez, who personified Colombian coffee.

Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing

On February 2, 2009 several University of British Columbia engineering students were arrested while attempting to suspend the shell of a Volkswagen Beetle under the bridge as part of an "Engineering Week" tradition.

Königssee

Stepping on the ice, however, can be fatal, as it was for a motorist in the winter of 1964, who on his way back from St. Bartholomä drowned in his VW Beetle.

Licensed production

The German Volkswagen Beetle was assembled under licence in several countries.

Luke Montgomery

They then covered their Volkswagen Beetle in over 1,000 "Legalize Love" stickers in relation to President Obama's stance on same-sex marriage.

Mutoid Waste Company

In 1989, after a number of police raids on their warehouse in King's Cross, they left the country and travelled to Germany where they became notorious for building giant sculptures out of old machinery and car parts, one of which was 'Kaferman', a giant human figure with a Volkswagen Beetle for its chest, offering a Bird Of Peace sculpture that overlooked the Berlin Wall towards the East Berliners & the DDR regime.

Patrick Kearney

As time passed Hill and Kearney would more frequently argue, and Kearney would go out for long solitary drives in his Volkswagen Beetle or his truck.

Pygostyle

It may also refer to the licence plate light on early Volkswagen Beetles.

Strength Through Joy

KdF set up production of an affordable car, the Kdf-Wagen, which later became the Volkswagen Beetle.

The Eden Express

It continues with an account of his journey in a VW Bug to the wilds of British Columbia to build a commune with his girlfriend and college friends.

Wilbert Awdry

The story Belinda the Beetle was about a red car (it became a Volkswagen Beetle only in the illustrations to the paperback editions).


Autopia

The colorful Chevrolet Corvette Stingray-style cars were replaced by three different kinds of cars: Dusty, an off-road style car; Sparky, a sports car; and Suzy, a Volkswagen Beetle-style car.

Bob McAllister

This special was produced in conjunction with the personified Volkswagen Beetle's latest feature film, Herbie Rides Again.

Freeman Thomas

While at the Volkswagen Design Center in Simi Valley, California, he collaborated with fellow Art Center graduate J Mays on the design of the Volkswagen Concept 1 concept car, a modern re-interpretation of the original Volkswagen Beetle.

Porsche 114

After designing the Volkswagen for the German government's KDF program Ferdinand Porsche considered building a sports car version of the VW.