Thinking small : the long, strange trip of the Volkswagen Beetle

460 Pages·2012·4.96 MB·English

by  Hiott

Copyright © 2012 by Andrea Hiott All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing
Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
BALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Hiott, Andrea.
Thinking small : the long, strange trip of the Volkswagen Beetle / Andrea Hiott.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-345-52142-2 (hardcover)—eISBN: 978-0-34552144-6
1. Volkswagen Beetle automobile—History. I. Title.
TL215.V618H56 2012
629.222’2—dc23 2011041090
www.ballantinebooks.com
FIRST EDITION
v3.1_r1
For all those driven
by hunger and love
Contents

Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Photo Credits
Epigraph
Introduction
Part One Wobbly First Steps
Part Two The Darkest Hours Come Just Before Dawn
Part Three Ooh … Growing Up
Part Four Like Pigeons from a Sleeve
Part Five Still Going …
… And Going …
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Notes
About the Author
Photo Credits

tp.1 From the archives of Volkswagen of America
itr.1 From Thomasmayerarchive.com
1.1 © 2011 DDB Worldwide
2.1 Private
2.2 Private
4.1 From New York World’s Fair 1939–1940 records, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The
New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations 5.1 From Porsche AG
(Porsche-Werkfoto)
5.2 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
6.1 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
6.2 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
6.3 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
8.1 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
8.2 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
9.1 From the collections of The Henry Ford
10.1 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
11.1 From Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft
13.1 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
13.2 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
13.3 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
15.1 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
17.1 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
17.2 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
17.3 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
17.4 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
17.5 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
18.1 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
19.1 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
19.2 From the Institut für Zeitgeschichte und Stadtpräsentation Wolfsburg 19.3 From the Institut
für Zeitgeschichte und Stadtpräsentation Wolfsburg 23.1 From the Institut für Zeitgeschichte
und Stadtpräsentation Wolfsburg 24.1 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
24.2 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
25.1 From the Institut für Zeitgeschichte und Stadtpräsentation Wolfsburg 27.1 From
Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft
28.1 From Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft
31.1 © 2011 DDB Worldwide
33.1 From the Institut für Zeitgeschichte und Stadtpräsentation Wolfsburg 35.1 From
Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft
37.1 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
37.2 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
37.3 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
37.4 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
44.1 From the Institut für Zeitgeschichte und Stadtpräsentation Wolfsburg 44.2 From Porsche AG
(Porsche-Werkfoto)
44.3 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
45.1 © 2011 DDB Worldwide, with permission from Kathryn Krone 45.1 From the archives of
Julian Koenig
45.1 From the archives of George Lois
46.1 From the Institut für Zeitgeschichte und Stadtpräsentation Wolfsburg 46.2 From the Institut
für Zeitgeschichte und Stadtpräsentation Wolfsburg 46.3 From the Institut für Zeitgeschichte
und Stadtpräsentation Wolfsburg 46.4 From the Institut für Zeitgeschichte und
Stadtpräsentation Wolfsburg 48.1 From Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft
51.1 From Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft
51.2 From General Motors LLC. Used with permission, GM Media Archives 51.3 From
Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft
52.1 From Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft
52.2 From the Institut für Zeitgeschichte und Stadtpräsentation Wolfsburg 54.1 Used by
permission of Klaus Gottschick, Wolfsburg 54.2 From Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft 55.1
From the Museum at Bethel Woods, © 1969/2009 Doug Lenier, all rights reserved (photo
has been cropped) 55.2 From the Museum at Bethel Woods, © 1969/2009 Doug Lenier, all
rights reserved (photo has been cropped) 57.1 Used by permission of Klemens Ortmeyer,
courtesy of the Phaeno Science Center 57.2 Photograph by Mark Henderson, courtesy of the
Autostadt 57.3 Photograph by Lars Landmann, courtesy of the Autostadt 58.1 From the
archives of George Lois
58.2 From the archives of George Lois
bm.1 From Volkswagen of America
bm.2 From Volkswagen of America
bm.3 From Porsche AG (Porsche-Werkfoto)
What is love? After all, it is quite simple. Love is everything which enhances, widens, and
enriches our life, in its height and in its depths. Love has as few problems as a motor-car. The
only problems are the drivers, the passengers, and the road.
—Franz Kafka
Introduction

In 1949, a ship called the MS Westerdam departed from the coast of
Europe, its hundreds of passengers headed toward U.S. shores. Nestled
deep in the ship’s cargo compartment, a pair of headlights peeped out of
a dark tarp; two wide, open circles leading to the soft curves of what
would soon be known as the world’s most recognizable car. Protesters,
rebels, dissidents, politicians, businessmen, the world’s corporate elite—
all would eventually become entwined in its story. By the end of the
1960s, it would do what no other car had done before: transcend age,
class, and country to become a symbol adopted by them all. Americans
would call the car the Beetle. In other places it would become the Flea,
the Turtle, the Vocho, the Foxi, the Buba, the Fusca, the Poncho, and the
Mouse.
Over the years, the car developed a cult following as well as a more
public persona. It had fan club after fan club created on its behalf; it
showed up in the films of Woody Allen and Stanley Kubrick; Disney
endearingly dubbed it “The Love Bug”; it was even driven—briefly—by
James Bond. For decades, the car filled college towns and campuses, the
choice of students and faculty alike. It appeared on the cover of Abbey
Road. John Lennon had a white one in his driveway. Packs of them
dotted the beaches of California, surfboards strapped to their roofs. A
children’s game even spontaneously developed around the car as kids
scanned the roads in search of it: Punch Bug red! No punch back! The car
became so ubiquitous that pop artist Andy Warhol included it in his
iconic series of silk screens, placing it in the company of personalities
such as Elvis and Marilyn Monroe.
Today the original Volkswagen is still known as the longest-running
and best-selling single car design in history, and it is the only car to have
been brought back by popular demand … twice. Sometimes referred to as
the world’s most huggable car, perhaps no other automobile has ever
been lavished with such attention and affection. But onboard the MS