The Volkswagen Beetle
The people’s car – generically, Volkswagen in German – is almost as old as the automobile, and the type was familiar in Germany long before the advent of the Volkswagen. Usually these “popular” cars were minimal cars, though size and simplicity did not necessarily bring them within the reach of the ordinary man in the street.
Henry Ford did build a successful universal car, to sell at a low price, but his Model T with its 2.9-litre engine was by no means a small car, nor was the Model A that followed it. When it was in production in the late 1920s, small “proper” cars in Germany ranged from the 700-cc DKW to the 1-litre Opel, with small Adlers, ...
Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers
|
Hitler. When the Nazi Party came to power in 1933, one of his pet notions was the concept of motoring for the masses, and a meeting with Porsche was to be a meeting of minds. Once again Porsche was commissioned to design a popular car, and when the first ludicrously tight financial limits were relaxed he accepted the technical challenge.
It is possible that Porsche received too much credit for the design of the Volkswagen, for most of the technical elements had been seen before in the work of such men as Ledwinka, Rumpler, Rabe and Nibel. The Volkswagen reflected the Porsche Buro’s earlier designs, but it was to reach production and eventually succeed beyond the wildest limits of the Thirties dream.
In 1931, the Porsche independent front suspension was patented. It interested many manufactures, and was to be important to the Volkswagen. It was devised around torsion bars, not new as such, but in this arrangement the two transverse bars were housed in tubular cross ...
Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.
Already a member? Login
|
CITE THIS PAGE:
The Volkswagen Beetle. (2005, October 12). Retrieved June 27, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Volkswagen-Beetle/34749
"The Volkswagen Beetle." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 12 Oct. 2005. Web. 27 Jun. 2025. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Volkswagen-Beetle/34749>
"The Volkswagen Beetle." Essayworld.com. October 12, 2005. Accessed June 27, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Volkswagen-Beetle/34749.
"The Volkswagen Beetle." Essayworld.com. October 12, 2005. Accessed June 27, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Volkswagen-Beetle/34749.
|
Save
Report