Small Wonder: The Amazing Story of the Volkswagen Beetle [Paperback]

Walter Henry Nelson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Volkswagen | Publication Date: April 2003

First published in 1965, "Small Wonder: The Amazing Story of the Volkswagen Beetle" is the most successful book of all time on the Beetle. Originally selling over 1.2 million copies, "Small Wonder" is often quoted as the source by many subsequent histories. Now, Bentley Publishers is releasing this new edition, with new foreword by the author, in honor of the new Beetle and the renewed interest in the original Beetle.

Given complete access to Volkswagen archives in both Germany and the U.S. at the time of writing, author Walter Henry Nelson gives a highly detailed account of the Beetle's development and success. Nelson gives many behind-the-scenes details and glimpses into the people who shaped the company, providing a rich picture of how and why Volkswagen and the Beetle evolved as they did.

Filled with numerous personal tributes and valuable insights, "Small Wonder" provides the reader with a better understanding of the Beetle's "cult car" status.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"For fans of the real Beetle, the '30s through the '60s are the important part of the company's history . . . Author Henry Nelson was given access to VW archives in [Germany and the U.S.] and his in-depth reporting reflect the wealth of material that was made available to him . . .it all makes for fascinating reading." -- Auto Restorer Magazine - February 1999

Product Details

• Paperback: 380 pages
• Publisher: Bentley Publishers (April 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0837601479
• ISBN-13: 978-0837601472
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,045,372 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely insightful on a car that shaped the industry., May 2, 2003

By 

J. I. Doumet (Gye, Ecuador) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Small Wonder: The Amazing Story of the Volkswagen Beetle (Paperback)

Just what I was looking for, and then some. This book starts at the very beggining, with the Beetle's mentor and VW's founder Dr. Porsche. (Did you know he was Czeck?)
It follow's the company's history (which is to say, the car's history) with just the right amount of coverage to its amazing journey from WWII to the car's EOP (end of production) in Puebla, Mexico. The cronology of this book is excellent. Worthdly of a movie script, this book is extremely enganging. As you read its history, names like Ford, Peugeot, Renault amongst others keep poping up narrating each one's influence on the company's history. (Did you know H. Ford II was offered the factory, for free?)
The only thing that I'd wish from this book was to have the author do either a follow up or a revised update. This book finishes with the beetle's last production car, but the company has certantly not. I wish I could get more info from the company's developement from that point forward, including the launch of the new beetle among other superb new VWs...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolute "MUST-HAVE" for a serious Beetle research, March 30, 2010

By 

Marco Lazarini "Tulio Lazarini" (Brasilia, DF Brazil) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Small Wonder: The Amazing Story of the Volkswagen Beetle (Paperback)

Do you want to understand why Beetle was created by Ferdinand Porsche, why did the project succeeded after World War II, why Nordhoff stayed in Germany to raise the VW plant? Do you want to understand how this car came to USA and Europe, why this car originates the big corporation Wolkswagen is today? Do you want to know more about the Beetle spirit, why this "little, poor, ugly car" selled 21,5 million units around the world, over 55 years (from 1948, Germany, to 2003, in Mexico)?

I proudly present to you the most detailed and comprehensive source of information about Volkswagen Beetle ever written. This book has a dozen pages with pictures - all the others contains text, lots of text, with backstage details, deals and bets about Beetle. It's a real historical reference, a "must-have" book for every Beetle enthusiast who wants to know, from the scratch, the whole story of Volkswagen and this first - and more glorious and classical - car.

I'm thinking right now: why this book doen't have a version translated to Portuguese, or Spanish? It will sell extremely well in Brazil and Mexico, countries which people has a strong emotional binding with Beetle... maybe I buy the rights to translate it to Portuguese and sell it in Brazil!

If you came here looking for a high-quality literature about our lovely bug, your search ends right now. Press 'buy' and wait for the delivery. You won't regret.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Small Wonder- Great result, November 13, 2002

By 

Frank Kern (Graz, Austria) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Small Wonder: The Amazing Story of the Volkswagen Beetle (Paperback)

On of the world`s most informative and well resourced books on the VW history.Gives an insight to the early vehicle development,political hurdles that had to be overcome as well as the generic industrial resistence that was present.H.Nelson, a gifted author,not only writes about the "first row" people but also about production personnel and production techniques.
Sales and marketing development & especially how the U.S. market was won not only fascinates the VW buff but everyone who ever had anything to do with the automotive industry.