CLASSIC CARS - THE VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE

The VW Beetle has had more incarnations than David Bowie, Madonna and Fatboy Slim put together. Ferdinand Porsche's original design brief was to create a vehicle to drive the German motor revolution by conveying the thousands of workers up and down the miles of autobahn that were being laid as fast as the concrete could be produced. The car needed to be powerful, nearly indestructible but most of all, affordable.

The result was unlike anything that had ever been produced before. If you had two spanners, an adjustable wrench and two screwdrivers, most of the car could be taken apart and stacked away within a day. Powerful enough to climb large hills with a full luggage load, yet efficient enough to cruise the autobahns for hours without a pause, the Beetle soon became the mode of transport in 1940s Germany. The Beetle as we know it nearly disappeared after the war due to the destruction of the factory by Allied bombers, but English Army Major Ivan Hurst kept the production lines rolling and kept the dream alive.

The 1960s saw the biggest explosion of Beetles in this country. Immortalised by Walt Disney's 'Herbie', the Beetle was driven by everyone from hip students to families with four children and a dog who appreciated the deceptive size of the car and the durability of the rear-mounted, flat-four air-cooled engine (engines routinely go on for over 150,000 miles with little more than regular servicing).



Although the Beetle has been altered cosmetically over the years, much of the construction is identical to the very first Kraft durch Freund Wagens - the Strength through Joy Cars - that powered Hitler's vehicle revolution. The KdF Wagens, now rarer that rocking horse fossils, had a split rear window, sloping front headlights, a 6v electrical system and mechanical brakes. The mechanical brakes disappeared in the 1940s to be replaced by a more modern hydraulic system, and the split window became an oval at the end of the decade. The Splits and Ovals, as they have become known, are among the most highly sought after cars on the market. The wings became upright in 1964 just after the rear window became rectangular and the wiring doubled in voltage - meaning that drivin...