Volkswagen Type 1
The people's car with the engine at the back and the rounded profile – the Beetle.
Ferdinand Porsche's design office developed the car on commission from the Nazi regime, which wanted a people's car. The prototypes were ready in 1938, but the war came before civilian customers received any cars.
After the war production began under British management. With more than 21 million made, the Type 1 became one of the most produced cars in the world.
Materials: Sheet steel, air-cooled engine
Manufacture: Assembly line; in production in Germany from 1945, and in Mexico until 2003.
The profile in a single arc from bonnet to engine lid.
The engine at the back, with air intakes in the engine lid.
The separate wings with the headlamps in them.
The last Type 1 was made in Mexico in 2003.
The car has an air-cooled four-cylinder boxer engine at the rear and rear-wheel drive. The body is bolted to a platform with a central tube, and the same platform later carried entirely different bodies.
Round wings with the headlights set into the front wings, and a rear window that was split in two until 1953, oval until 1957 and then larger and rectangular.
Karmann built a convertible from 1949, and the Karmann Ghia and the Type 2 are based on the same technology.
Cars with a split rear window are the most sought after. The model years can be recognised by the rear window, the rear lights, the dashboard and the bumpers.