Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet

Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet

Specs Mentioned:

Make/ Model – Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet (1954)

Engine – 1192cc, in-line 4-cylinder, air cooled, rear mounted

Power – 33.8hp @ 3900rpm

Top speed – 68mph

The VW Beetle has become an iconic vehicle worldwide and has built a huge loyal following. It is known by numerous names, for example, in Germany it’s a Kafer, in the USA a Bug or salon, England a Beetle etc. As the floor pan and running gear can be used without the body being attached, they became a firm favorite of the kit car builders. They were turned into Porsche 356 replicas, beach buggies, and Nova kit cars to mention just a few. When production stopped in 2003 in Mexico over 21 million air-cooled Volkswagen Beetles had been produced.

Volkswagen’s Beetle is one of the oldest nameplates in automotive history still in use today. In the U.S., the Bug was sold between 1950 and 1979 and its history stretches all the way back to 1934, when development work started in earnest in Germany. The first batch of finalized cars were birthed in 1938, only to see the gleaming new factory built to assemble them pulled into Germany’s war effort and later bombed to near-oblivion.
European civilians wouldn’t get their hands on the car until 1947, after production was restarted to provide ground transportation for Allied occupying troops. U.S. importation grew from a trickle in the early ’50s to a flood a decade later, and eventually 21 million Beetles would be sold worldwide.

The featured Cabriolet was once owned by Carlo Perera, proprietor of the only petrol station in Colpetty at one time.