What you and I like to call a "Bug" is actually a Volkswagen Type 1, a two-door economy vehicle that has more ties with Hitler than it would like to admit. Initially developed by a Jewish engineer named Joseph Ganz, the idea was stolen by the Fuhrer and given to his trusted man, Ferdinand Porsche, who took four years to come up with a final design.
The model only really took off after the war, when the impoverished Germany needed a cheap, reliable car to take advantage of its great network of roads. However, even though Hitler was long gone by then, the connections with that part of Germany's history remain.
That being said, it's a bit weird to see a Bug (yeah, we'll stick to that and maybe throw in the occasional "Käfer," the German word for it) painted in the U.S. Army khaki, with the U.S. Army five-pointed star on its doors and even the U.S. Army name written in "army" font on its rear panel. Oh, and just to add insult to injury, it's also driving somewhere in Germany.
Somebody clearly knows the meaning of the word "irony" and isn't afraid to show it to the world. Ferdinand Porsche's deep involvement in the development of new military equipment for the Third Reich is notorious, as is Volkswagen similar activity, so an equivalent image for this would be a Jeep Willys painted in dark gray with a swastika on its hood. Have you seen that driving around in the U.S.? I'd be surprised if there weren't a few, actually.
But apart from any "historical inaccuracies," this Käfer looks absolutely beautiful. The Baja-style approach isn't overly done and, unlike this example over here, it still bears a very close resemblance to the original. And the best part comes at the rear where its hood had been cut away and the engine exposed. Whether that was for artistic impression or to help with the cooling will forever remain a mystery. All we know now is that we want one.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
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