The VW Beetle: A Production History Of The World's Most Famous Car, 1936-1967 [Paperback]

Ryan Price (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 4, 2003

The world's most popular car, Volkswagen-or "the People's Car"-has earned its place in history. The VW Beetle chronicles the development and rise to worldwide popularity of the famed "punch-buggy," invented in Germany in the 1930s. This peculiar history includes the makings of all models, engines, and body styles through 1967-and the key people responsible for its development.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ryan Lee Price is the editor of VW Trends magazine and a noted authority on vintage Volkswagen Beetles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: HP Books (November 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557884218
• ISBN-13: 978-1557884213
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,860,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars VW Beetle revisited in an interesting way, May 2, 2004

By 

Wayne H. Dean (Toronto) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The VW Beetle: A Production History Of The World's Most Famous Car, 1936-1967 (Paperback)

The story of the Beetle never changes, but in this case, it gets more interesting to read. This book contains the production history of the "People's Car" combined with a section called Volkswagen by the numbers, which details year-by-year model changes. VW Beetle is a must read for anyone that doesn't know the story of Volkswagens' rise from the ashes of W.W.II. Author Ryan Lee Price makes the story as interesting as a novel and doesn't get stuck on minor details that tend to make this chapter in Volkswagen history tedious. The first nine chapters follow the Beetle from Porsche's dream to Hitler's reality. The Beetle then goes off to war and is rescued by the British. The tale continues as the Beetle crosses the ocean and comes to America. This rocky ride makes you realize that we are very lucky that the Beetle ended up staying on our shores.

Once you move on to Part II you can follow changes that turned the little car from Wolfsburg into a world-beater. Years 1945 - 1967 are covered with meticulous detail to even the smallest change. Each year is broken down by chassis numbers, engine numbers and the actual dates that the Beetle was produced. A paragraph discuses the particular production year in general and it is further detailed month by month with all the modifications and improvements that took place. I.E.. August 4, 1955 - Chassis/Unit Number 1-0929746 - The generator pulley is secured with a 31mm bolt instead of a 36mm bolt, making the 36mm ring wrench obsolete and allowing the spark plug wrench to do double duty. After reading this book you'll be able to go up against almost any VW historian in the world. This book is an amazing accomplishment that you just won't be able to put down.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars There are better books than this, March 25, 2004

By 

"weikswagen" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The VW Beetle: A Production History Of The World's Most Famous Car, 1936-1967 (Paperback)

I found glaring errors just leafing through the book.

(1) Price says Beetle production ended in Germany in 1974 to make way for the water-cooled Volkswagens. Wrong! Production ended in 1978 with a special edition Beetle for the British market called the Last Edition. The standard Beetle was imported from Germany into the US through the 1977 model year. Furthermore, assembly of the Super Beetle-based Cabriolet continued at the Karmann factory (Germany) through January 1980. In fact, no Beetle was ever officially imported into the US from Mexico.

(2) Price says the Mexican-made La Grande was imported from Mexico. As stated above, no Beetle was ever officially imported into the US from Mexico. Furthermore, La Grande was a special edition Super Beetle for the US market in 1975. No Super Beetles were made anywhere but in Germany.

(3) Price lists the Bus, the Fastback and the Squareback as Beetle-based. Anyone worth their salt would not lump a Type 2 (Bus, Transporter, etc.) or a Type 3 (Fastback, Squareback, etc.) as being Beetle (Type 1) based. In fact, the original intent for the Type 3 was to phase out and replace the Beetle.

(4) In another photo, Price states these cars are obviously not intended for the US market because they have the so-called elephant's feet tail lights and a flat windshield. The standard Beetles of 1973-77 had flat windshields and the extra large tail lamps.

I would disagree with Price's premise of Hitler and Porsche being the two most important figures in VW history. I would place Major Ivan Hirst ahead of Hitler since (a) it was Hirst's duty to get the factory up and running so it could eventually be given back to Germany (oh, and it was offered to Henry Ford who rejected it, by the way) and (b) no Volkswagens--NONE--were built while Hitler was alive. KdF-wagen prototypes and war vehicles were built during Hitler's life. Volkswagen didn't actually start until after WWII despite the lineage to KdF and NSU.

And I found all this just leafing through.

But then again, what would one expect when the title of the book states "1936-67"? No wonder VW Trends has such a narrow focus most of the time.

Find a book by Seume, Meredith, Koch, et al if you want an accurate history.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A welcome Addition to any VW enthusist's Library, November 10, 2004

By 

Mr. Lee T. Noonan "68autobug" (SCONE, N.S.W Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The VW Beetle: A Production History Of The World's Most Famous Car, 1936-1967 (Paperback)

This book shows many photos I haven't seen before in similar publications. The early days in the factory with split rear window beetles on assembly lines going in all directions.
How they jammed every beetle & Bus into the car transporter ships is interesting. The book also lists the changes made during production of the famour Beetle from 1936- 1967..
If You are interested in Beetles, You will simply love this book, and will continue to use it to check out different year models.. I rate this book 5 out of 5... Its that good...
Lee Noonan