Love the Bug

For countless drivers who came of age between the late 1950s and the late 1980s, the iconic Volkswagen Sedan — popularly nicknamed the Bug and Beetle by its contemporary fans in the U.S. and U.K., respectively — served as a reliable and economical means of all-weather transportation. Those learning to master the art of rowing their own gears could hardly find a more forgiving vehicle in which to do so, and somewhere along the way, this car and its big brother, the Type 2 Microbus, became the poster children for the peace-and-love Woodstock generation. While the VW’s development was linked to one of the darkest times in the 20th century, it would ultimately prove one of the most unlikely and unusual success stories in automotive history.

The Dawn of the People’s Car

In the early 1930s, Adolf Hitler, then Chancellor of Germany, directed Dr. Ferdinand Porsche to begin development on a Volkswagen, or “people’s car,” to travel on his new Autobahn motorway. The car was a spiritual successor to Ford’s Model T, it was to be mechanically simple, and capable of providing reliable transportation for two adults