Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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

I just bought this book at a local bookstore and was totally impressed! Although kind of expensive, it's well worth the cost.
This book is a must have for the vintage VW Nut and contains some excellent information and vintage photos on theproduction of the Beetle that I have never seen before.
I own a large collection of VW reading material and I would rate this book as a "must have" if you're serious about the VW hobby.
The book starts off with an excellent well written history of the car from the Porsche design right up to the mid/late 1960's and then gives year by year break down information on the car showing changes and other important facts.
This book finally focuses strictly on the Beetle, although it does give the reader some basic info on other "vintage" models that is also interesting.
If you're serious about vintage VW Beetles, this book is the one!
It is in my top three for favorite VW based books!!

This is an excellent reference book for VW enthusiasts. There is a plethora of information and rarely seen photos for the different models. Amazon's used sellers offered it for a crazy low price, and this book is well worth the money.