American reacts to the history of the Volkswagen Beetle

Thank you for watching me, a humble American, react to The Volkswagen Beetle
Original video: • The Rise And Fall Of T...
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[@1983simi]

In Germany the Beetle was not called Beetle but 'Käfer' (lit: beetle).

[@user-xi6nk4xs4s]

Yep, and kever in the Netherlands.

[@JC.Holland]

Hitler designed it for the masses . Shocking fact 🥶

[@Steffe]

Bubbla, in Sweden.

[@1983simi]

@@Steffe I LOVE this!

[@tangerine4665]

In my country it was “Buba” which translates tu “Bug”

[@supernova19805]

I had a 1968 beetle, and it was my most reliable car ever. You could drive those things forever. My sister had one too, and it rolled over the mileage counter 3 times and was still going, until she hit a patch of ice and landed upside down in a ditch. I used to live on top of a steep hill in Germany, and the Americans who were stationed nearby and had housing in my neighborhood, all drove big yank tanks. In winter it was a huge problem for them, their big yank tanks couldn't make it up the hill in the snow and I've seen many of them leave their cars stranded at the bottom of the hill, and they had to walk, slip and slide on foot up to their houses. I used to wave at them, driving by in my little beetle, making it all the way to the top.

[@AHVENAN]

"Where's the engine?" Please tell me you're kidding? xD

[@marvinlinnarz5856]

Especially after the Video told him Minutes ago that the engine is in the Back and they even showed him the engine🤣

[@TheWolvesCurse]

this guy generally doesn't have the best attention span 😂 you can tell from basically all of his videos, and the way he pauses then starts play for 2 seconds and pauses again.

[@steemlenn8797]

The Autobahn was not "invented" by Hitler. In fact the first one was build under mayor of Cologne Adenauer, the guy who was the first Chancellor of (West) Germany after WWII. Quite ironic, isn't it?

[@tigeriussvarne177]

Thank you, was about to write that. The Nazis used it as a giant work project and for faster, future war logistics.

[@steemlenn8797]

@@tigeriussvarne177 Yeah, and the Americans copied that with the Highway Act a quarter century later. History is a bitch, she is always repeating herself ;)

[@martinhotze4917]

Wrong, first was built in Italy

[@tigeriussvarne177]

@@martinhotze4917 If you refer to the Autostrada dei Laghi, it doesn't qualify as a propper "Autobahn".

[@paulkocyla1343]

Fun fact about Hltler: He took a body language coaching to appear mighty in his speeches. The stuff has been filmed, so he could watch himself and improve. He ordered the films to be destroyed, but some rolls made it, cause the coach hid them. Fun to watch.

[@blondkatze3547]

My father got his car driving license in Germany in 1956 and then bought a VW Käfer ( Beetle) as his first car. I still remember him raving about this great car and its quality. 🙂💜

[@cnikkor]

On the other side of iron curtain it was the "Trabi" ^^ basically the east german "volkswagen" :)

[@marion_R]

I love the design of the beetle. The engine was in the back of the car. Great video! Thank you!☀️

[@eaglevision993]

The thing why you can´t buy a 20.000$ Mustang today is that from the 40k it costs today, 25k go straight to the CEOs, executives, their entourage and advertising. Back in the 60s, a CEO was making 3-5 times the average company salary. Today it is up to 140x the average, depending on the company.

[@m.m.4645]

My husband is Canadian, we are living in Germany. His first car in 🇨🇦 was a British car - it did not survive the Canadian winter in the early 70's. His next car was a Volkswagen Beetle, driving it for many years until an accident happened. Next car - next Beetle! Drove that until moving to Germany in the 80's. Since then mainly driven Volkswagens.

[@jackychamber534]

that sound's great 👏👍

[@Xnhl]

So just as in one of their commercials: How does the snowplough-driver get to work?😅😅

[@m.m.4645]

@@Xnhl exactly!!!! This is the reason why he bought the first car! And it really paid off.

[@Bleed1987]

the car is called Käfer. not beetle. stop translating names

[@mirexxofdova9536]

You see how many Germans you piss of because you all call it Beetle not Käfer, but to be fair 1. In the english language the letter Ä/ä doesn't exist and 2. Volkswagen itself has called them Beetle, so its their own fault😂 But Im can't be a good german without being a Gramma-Nazi😂😂 So when you say "Since than mainly driven Volkswagens", you can drop the last s Volkswagen(s). Because Volkswagen is a combination of Das Volk(The people) and Der Wagen(The car or if you use the term "Wagen" in relation to Trains its a Waggon) In german "Wagen" is both singular and plural. So to be correct you should say: "Since than mainly driven Volkswagen"😂😊

[@MichaEl-rh1kv]

In the 1920s and 1930s there was much demand for a cheap car for the masses, and multiple manufacturers used the term "Volkswagen" (or similar, lit. people's car) in their advertisement for their low-cost models. In 1933 Hitler requested at the IAA (International Automobile Exhibition) in Berlin the construction of such a car for the Germans. The tender for the design of such a car by the VDA (German Association of the Automotive Industry) in 1934 was won by Austrian-Czechoslovak engineer Ferdinand Porsche (who then by request of Hitler gave back his Czechoslovak citizenship and accepted German citizenship). His first design was based on the Czechoslovak prototype Tatra V 570 by Hand Ledwinka as well as the Tatra 97 (the prototype Porsche Type 60 from 1936 looks still much like the Tatra designs), but also on Porsche's own prototype Porsche Type 12 (designed on behalf of motorcycle manufacturer Zündapp and looking much like the 1948 Citroën 2CV; the company Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche GmbH in Stuttgart was at that time only an engineering office) . The funding for the project was organized by the "Kraft durch Freude" (power by joy) organization of the Nazis (which also organized mass tourism events for factory workers); they created a crowdfunding system or "savings scheme" allowing up to 990 Reichsmark as the announced price of a "KdF car", about the same price as a motorcycle. (The Autobahn existed already at the time: This scheme had started under social-democratic administration (partly as job creation scheme), but the Nazis took this program over and extended it, forcing unemployed people into labor and changing priorities to building tank-worthy lanes between the different borders.) Since the established car manufacturers were not interested in producing the "KdF car", Hitler ordered the construction of a new factory for it. They choose an sparsely populated region near the village of Fallersleben and the castle Wolfsburg for it, but the factory was not ready before start of WW II in 1939. At that time some pilot series of the KdF car had been produced, but only used for marketing, exhibitions and so on - none of the savers got one, and the newly calculated costs per car were now at around 2,000 Reichsmark. As the war started, all existing cars were given to the army, and the production lines changed to the military light utility vehicles VW Typ 82, Typ 87 ('commander car' with 4 wheels drive) and Typ 166 ("swimming car", an amphibian car), which became the counterparts to the US Jeeps. Ferdinand Porsche then also designed different tanks like the battle tank "Tiger", the tank destroyer "Ferdinand" / "Elefant" and the super heavy battle tank "Maus" ("mouse", which was however to heavy for most battlefields; only 2 prototypes were produced). The factory was managed by Ferdinand Porsche and his son-in-law Anton Piëch. After WW II the site of the factory became the city of Wolfsburg (and Fallersleben an urban district of it), which had in 1945 already a population of 17,000 (now 125,960). In 1946 regular production started by decree of the UK administration, which also got most of the first cars (Typ 11 Brezelkäfer "bretzel beetle", after the split back window). The Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche GmbH had been moved in 1944 to Austria and was led by Ferdinand's son Ferry, who started in 1947 the construction of the Porsche 356 Roadster (while his father was still prisoner of war in French custody). In 1948, after Ferdinand Porsche got a contract as freelancing designer for VW, the company moved back to Stuttgart. Ferdinand died in 1951, the company was inherited by Ferry and his sister Louise (married with Anton Piëch). Ferry also redesigned the Porsche logo, which refers to the (former) state of Württemberg (the outer fields) and the city of Stuttgart (the horse in the middle, Stuttgart meaning 'mare's garden').

[@obelic71]

Lots of people don't know that Ferdinand Porsche got 2 civilian automotive assigments from that failed Austrian painter. 1 developing a family car for the people "Volks Wagen" 2 developing a tractor for farmers "Volks Schlepper" That Volks Schlepper became the Porsche Diesel tractor after the war.

[@jackychamber534]

And a tip for pronounciation: Here, we speak the "V" like an ""F" . Same with ,Volk, Volker ( male name) and so Volkswagen is like "Folkswagen". 😉

[@Winona493]

A tip for you: it is PRONUNCIATION. I didn't know this either for a long time, nobody does.😂

[@Schwuuuuup]

Follk's Vagen actually ... the L is not silent ;-)

[@jackychamber534]

Oh really ? 😀

[@Schwuuuuup]

@Winona493 I know this and I keep forgetting it ...

[@Attirbful]

and in addition, we pronounce the W as Americans do the V… Folks-vagen

[@s.b.907]

11:02 You got to listen to the videos also Ryan. I think they mention twice that the engine is in the back. 😂

[@spaltersar]

16:00 The Volkswagen beetle had an air cooled engine in the rear of the car - like most Porsches, 911 for example.

[@userhessenone1469]

Porsches arent air cooled for decades now

[@spaltersar]

@@userhessenone1469 If we take all Porsches ever built, still most of them had a rear air cooled engine. So what is your point? According to the timestamp, It's obvious I wasn't talking about actual Porsches neither actual Beetles.

[@danielle_283]

Hi Ryan, i'm still driving a Beetle from 1970, this car is even older than myself 😂 and when i'm driving through my hometown Stuttgart he's an eyecatcher between all the Mercedes, BMW and Porsches. I really love it 🥰

[@TimoWolf200]

My mom has a 1971 Beetle and my dad a, I think a 1979, one. I love these cars, they are so reliable and pure emotions. Like the advertise sad: "The Beetle, it's runs and runs and runds and runds..."

[@grimreaper-qh2zn]

Henry Ford was offered the Beetle after the end of WWII but said it wouldn't sell so turned it down. Ralph Nader an American noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. He became famous in the 1960s and 1970s for his book Unsafe at Any Speed, which criticized the automotive industry for its safety record and helped lead to the passage of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act in 1966. He heavily criticised the Beetle design on a number of counts. The two most important were firstly that as a rear wheel drive vehicle, it's petrol tank was at the front which he felt endangered the driver in the event of a crash. Second, as an air cooled engine it didn't have a water system that a heater could be run from and used heat exchangers around the exhaust. Nader felt this could lead to carbon monoxide poisoning (VW solved that by adding a petrol fired heater (!)).

[@m_amen]

a lemon product would be a monday product in germany.

[@Attirbful]

It’s not only an iconic car, but a Porsche! Ferdinand Porsche designed it. My father owned a cream colored one in the late sixties. It did not have the iconic “Brezelfenster” (pretzel window) in the back as seen in the one Hitler drools over, but it had a sort of tub behind the backseats in which I would often ride or even sleep in during long trips (this was before safety belt mandates) such as when we moved to Norway in 1971. Great car. My boyfriend owned an orange one back in Kentucky in the late eighties and it was great to drive in. Like a good old beetle, it ran and ran and ran….

[@slippin_tim]

Sry bro, das stimmt nicht ganz.. das Grunddesign des Käfers stammt von Josef Ganz, der unter der Leitung von Ferdinant Porsche gearbeitet hat

[@hape3862]

Haha, my little sister also slept in the tub behind the back seats as a toddler. And I still remember after almost 50 years the strange structure of the plastic covering of the seats.

[@shabbesgoj]

@@slippin_timAuch nicht ganz richtig, das Konzept stammt von Bela Barenyi.

[@MrOpacor]

@@shabbesgoj Porsche designed, or rather geenlight, a car very similar to the Beetle for none other than Mercedes-Benz (prototype W17, production W23, developed into W28). The actual design was by Hans Nibel. Bela Barenyi back then worked on a sister car to the W28. But he had shared his thoughts on a rear engined very aerodynamic car with Porsche prior so when Porsche was let go by Mercedes Benz and opened his own company, he took the ideas with him, knowing that Barenyi had failed to patent them. And despite being awarded patents later on, I do belive that Barenyi had more impressive and more important achievements in his life. If not for Barenyi, tens of thousands of deaths would not have been prevented, because it was he, who designed and introduced the modern crash safety design into cars. He should be better known than Porsche, but yeah, he was never fired, he did not befriend Adolf Hitler (despite being a member of NSDAP with a membership number more than 4.3 millions lower than Porsche's because he got into the party before they took over Germany) and he did not basically create two companies by defrauding people. And yeah, these to companies (VW and Porsche) have a history so strange that Hollywood would not dare to publish a film that implausible. So Porsche was in the spotlight, while Barenyi was not.

[@oakld]

Well, still not a complete history. It's somewhat a copy of pre-war Tatra designs and VW had to pay compensations for that.

[@simonc.6193]

To be fair: You can actually buy a new car in Germany for 11.300€. Dacia Sandero (from Romania). That's also a normal car for 4-5 passengers.

[@jackychamber534]

I like These small cars so much. And of course, remember the "Herbie" films. And the winner is: 53 ! 🚙 🥇 😄 Oh boy, I' m getting old. 🙂 And yes, I remember driving with this thing. Small, noisy, you never knew, if you will arrive, when you want to visit friends in the mountains, 😀 but they were very cute.

[@robfriedrich2822]

In Germany we had comparable movies, but in this case, the explanation wasn't, that a car has a soul. The man used the trunk in front for a computer.

[@robfriedrich2822]

Otshi

[@Winona493]

I remember Herbie as well, ja ja, this is a sign of slowly getting old.🙈 My mom's first car used to be a "Käfer" (I decide between the old Käfer and the "new" Beetle) and I loved it so much. "He" was light blue and was called "Wolki"! 😂 Wolki made us two "women" independent and was the start of a new era without my father. Wolki took us up to Yugoslavia when I was 13 and we were very proud of him. I still am when I think of him. What a car can mean to someone......😢

[@jackychamber534]

@Winona, thank you for sharing your Story. 🌻 Danke fürs teilen. Was für eine gute Erinnerung an "Wolki " 🚙 in einer so wichtigen Zeit. Das war schon eine beachtliche Strecke. Aber tapfer waren sie, die kleinen Käfer. 🙂

[@Winona493]

@@jackychamber534 😘

[@compphysgeek]

driving a beetle is the closest most people get to drive a Porsche

[@ryanwass]

hahaha

[@userhessenone1469]

technically its the closest you can get to driving the legendary Porsche 356 Nr1 which was built with a VW engine by Ferdinand Porsche in 1948

[@obelic71]

@@userhessenone1469 you forgot to mention the Aerocoup 64K10 build by Porsche in 1938. That car was the testbed for the KDF/ VW Type1 and 356 after WW2. You can clearly see both shapes of the beetle and 356 in that one car.

[@userhessenone1469]

@@obelic71 yes the Type 64 Berlin-Rom-Wagen , as Porsche Museum calls it, had already the basic shape of both cars. However the 356 Nr1 is a Roadster, the first KDF prototype was a Coupe.

[@buddy1155]

Laugh but you are very close to the truth, I drive a VW bus (T1) and a friend of mine drove a 911 Turbo 1986-ish. We swapped cars once we both drove each other car for the first time when we stopped at a gas station we both ran to each other and we both said the same thing, they drive exactly the same. Just scary.

[@davidklande]

Yes, smaller cars are still popular in Europe. The Volkswagen Golf (which was originally developed as the successor of the Beetle) has been a consistent best-seller in Europe and is still the overall best-selling car in Germany today. With over 35 million sold, the Golf has also outsold the Beetle over the years.

[@Rey-vm9it]

the golf isnt actually that small anymore, but yea the golf is still selling pretty good.

[@Carol_65]

I love the VW Beetle. It so nostalgic.❤ However, I only rode in one once. It was as a kid in the mid '70s. I let a new friend talk me into going with her to visit a relative. All I remember is how rock hard and uncomfortable the backseat was, no a/c, and her mom chain smoking the whole 2-hour drive. The only window she would open was the little triangle one in the front. Miserable trip. But I would consider buying an electric beetle.

[@zodiac7955]

August, 5th 1955 Volkswagen built the millionth beetle The car was painted gold and had rhinestone stones on its chrome parts. Today it is in the Zeithaus Wolfsburg. Disneys Herbie had a german counterpart called Dudu (Swahili for Insect or Beetle). 5 movies were made between 1971 and 1978. He can swim, drive sideways, climb up walls, can be converted into a helicopter, hitchhiking and so on. And had a child with a red beetle named Aphrodite. Fun Fact: In the first movie Ein Käfer geht aufs Ganze, the origin of Dudu is explained, that he is a movie prop from the first Herbie movie (Finish line Scene) and a broken white beetle with the number 53 on the side was shown on a trailer.

[@thegermangamer8018]

In 1974 the Golf was produced. Maybe that's why the numbers of the beetle dropped?

[@userhessenone1469]

Yes, thats the reason!

[@charlescorbee9498]

After WW ll in 1947 two Dutch brothers Wijnand and Meindert Pon contacted Volkswagen, which under English supervision, that they wanted to import Volkswagen. And became the first importer. On one of there visits to the factory Meindert asked them why they didn’t make a commercial version of the Beetle for transporting goods! He made a simple sketch of his idea 💡 This sketch resulted in the building of VW T1 bus. Which became iconic all over the world. The latest version are the VW T7 and ID Buzz The original sketch you can see in The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam My first car was a VW Beetle 1302 S, from 1972, colour green! Sinds 1977 I’m working for PON, whose still importing Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Seat, Skoda, Bugatti, Bentley, MAN trucks, Caterpillar and also Bicycles

[@userhessenone1469]

Well Pon is not importing Bugatti anymore since VW sold it to Rimac...

[@MiaMerkur]

Great he did. It is still my life dream to get a VW Bulli some day.

[@michaelgoetze2103]

A good friend of mine and his two brothers were mechanics and they all owned a beetle. When the oldest got married the other two took the engine out as a prank at the reception. After the laughs died down they simply put the engine back in and the couple drove off.

[@BanaJasotto]

the absolute sales hit would be an electric beetle that plays the old beetle sound from loudspeakers 😋

[@MaryRaine929]

🚗🔧 Maintaining your own car nowadays? Dude, I just tried to change the lightbulbs of my SMARTs headlights and it was simply impossible! 😆

[@nicostreeck8394]

Not.impossible, you might have to unistall the front bumper and I think with one frontlight also a door ... But I am not sure on that

[@user-xi6nk4xs4s]

Car design hasn't exactly improved.

[@MaryRaine929]

@@nicostreeck8394 😂😂😂 You are right and that‘s why I stopped immediately trying and took it to the repair shop. As a woman I am proud to be able of taking care of oil, water and inflating the tires and maybe I can do a tire change myself but beyond that, there are my limits and I won‘t even try.

[@userhessenone1469]

On my moms 2017 Skoda it actually was possible... But on most cars - no chance at all

[@MiaMerkur]

​@@MaryRaine929 As a woman you can do this , too. Because I did. While lightbulbs are changed from the outside normally ( open class, change, close glass, 2 minutes), you neet to go from the inside with the smart. 5 Minutes.

[@anjin-san]

Near my hometown lives a woman who bought a Beetle in the late 1960s. She still drives it today with the first license plate on it (the design is still the same, but the designation of the city has changed twice in the meantime).

[@MugiwaraRuffy]

"wait, wheres the engine? Maybe they just hadn't any". UH-HUH, sure, a car without an engine? That's called a carriage then. Jokes aside, they said at the beginning of the video, the engine was in the back.

[@timamoll]

Just look at the first VW Beetle and the Porsche 356 (of 1948). They look eerily similar. The Porsche looks like someone squashed a Beetle. It's flatter, but wider. The Autobahn was not invented by the Nazis. The first intersection-free, 4 lane road with a median was built from 1928 to 1932 between Cologne and Bonn. Initiated and inaugurated by the then mayor of Cologne and first post war chancellor, Konrad Adenauer. It was, later also done for the same reasons by the Nazis, an ABM (Arbeitsbeschaffungsmaßnahme, job-creation scheme).

[@neoplan6116]

Fun fact: Hippies were able to drive manual transmissions - but maybe because the shifting in a "Käfer" was more a kind of guessing and believing that you found the correct gear than every thing else.... 😉😂

[@Schwuuuuup]

Shifting gears is no secret - everyone may hear it!

[@neoplan6116]

It is only "Zähne putzen" - teeth brushing - in the gearbox....😂 @@Schwuuuuup

[@digger66a]

3:23 what a perfect impersonation of the Hillary neck flick, haha

[@kinxburn]

The engine is in the back. 😂

[@robfriedrich2822]

There is a new modern Beetle, but with front motor. In the 1950's there were some very compact cars like Isetta or Janus, the Smart brought the concept back, is enough for 2 people, parking is easy, ok, it's not legal, but possible to park turned 90°, as they did with Isetta and co.

[@Tezunegari]

The 90° parking is only "technically legal" in the Smart ForTwo Gen1. Any other model is too long for that (Gen1 Roadster + ForFour, Gen2 ForTwo+ForFour, Gen3 ForTwo+ForFour) And the new Smart #1 SUV and Smart #3 SUV Coupe (or Gen4) are only available as ForFour variant.

[@vHindenburg]

The last beetle was made 2003 in Mexico.

[@silviahannak3213]

We call the Love Bug Herbie !

[@martarillion]

I bought one in January this year, I wanted to own a Beetle at least once in my life :D

[@Cologne.1948]

We Germans didn't invent the Autobahn. The origin idea comes from Italy but we were quite big in propaganda in a certain era so we just claimed it.

[@philippprime6844]

You are so suprised of the fact that Porsche designed the Beatle.... Didn't you have ever recogniced the similar shape of Beatle cars and Porsche cars?

[@Spido68_the_spectator]

9:08 Well, in much of the world, including Europe, Dacia (under Renault badge outside Europe for some reason) used to offer a car for 7 990€. And multiple varaitions, including other models, below 10 000€. I don't know because inflation...

[@Moinie]

In Germany you can buy a new car for 12000 dollars the Dacia Sandero (Dacia is the second brand of Renault). But it is without a radio, no air condition, no automatic gearbox, the smallest engine. Plus If you only have 12000 dollars you have to go yourself to the factory in Romania. Transfer to your seller cost extra.

[@BlueHenning]

Autobahn was a good idea....ehm...It was designed to bring Tanks und military equipment as fast as possible from A to B, it was not designed for fast travelling tourists. Today we are glad we have the Autobahn, but the idea was to conquer the world

[@sandrap.3399]

The engine was in the back, Ryan^^

[@Mokrator]

funfakt: the old Beatle was called "Käfer" (wich means beatle) but the german newer version was called Beatle (so in english) and the new version was anything but the origin. The old Beatle was really simple and cheap. But the newer version was stupid because it was expencive not a "volkswagen" at all as it, very modern like any other "luxury" car with mordern electronics etc.

[@AHVENAN]

I think the main reason cars are so much more expensive today is because of all the technology and electronics that go into making them and into the cars themselves, that stuff costs alot of money, if a big, well established car manufacturer for some reason were to make a car like the original mustang today, with none of the modern features cars have nowadays, Im sure they could sell it much cheaper and still make a good profit Also, electric cars easy to maintain? Sure electric motors only have like one moving part but again, all the elctronics involved make it pretty much impossible for you to do any sort of mainetnance on it yourself. Back in the original beetles days there were people who could do some pretty major work on their cars in their own driveway, no chance in hell of doing that on an electric car today

[@siriosstar4789]

Good points .

[@barankartal2679]

The reason why cars nowerdays are more expensive than back then have a lot of reasons, but it’s Mainly due to safety regulations. Doesn’t matter if side impact structure, abs or as simple as airbags.

[@toomasargel8503]

10,03 back then was salary not 1000 until 3000 per week but 50 until 150 USD per week.

[@lszlpesti]

Also, Ferdinand Porsche was the designer of the Wartburg 311

[@haggihug3162]

I am driving a Suzuki Celerio. This litte car you can buy actually for under 11,000 $. So you see, it depends on the size and not on the time the car is beeing sold.

[@wasserglatte3696]

The VW Typ 11 (only Americans named it first "beetle") production in Germany stopped in 1976. Last was in Mexico.

[@jonathankolberg2706]

3:50 You fell for the typical trap, the autobahn was planed and the first one began (not sure if finished) construction before the nazis came to power.

[@tramper42]

9:20 „Bring back the original beetle“ … well, even if they rebuild a car WITHOUT Airconditioning and electric windows and steering, the costs of workers do rise compared.

[@olafborkner]

My first car was a Beetle, year of construction 1954. By the way Ryan, the Motor is in the rear.

[@alexamurawski4524]

even the sound of the engine was so typical.

[@berndmeiseberg3980]

Who else ??? 🙂 First beetle I know had 34 HP... Not very fast... about 120 km/h..... but that over 20 years... normaly not possible to destroy it.... To put out the motor was about 10 minutes. Realy. Made that more then one time.... With 2 people... The heating of this car was terrible, because it was not water cooled. Air cooled.... Later, 35 years ago, you can get it with about 60 HP.... It tooks 13l on 100 km.... a lot.... But at that time, gasoline was not so expensive.... Not much place for suitcases.... A lot of people driving on holidays to Italy. Over the alps. Big,high moutains. When other cars had problems, the beetle runs and runs and runs.... :-)

[@Apophis1966]

The beetle was supposed to be a chariot for the people, but it wasn't called a beetle, but rather a chariot of strength through joy. In order to offer the car to everyone as easily as possible, there were savings cards. Saving 5 Reichsmarks a week was supposed to help you buy the car in 4.5 years. (nobody ever got one on a savings card) Ferdinand Porsche not only developed the Volkswagen Beetle type 1 but also the Kübelwagen called the Thing in US. and many tanks for the Wehrmacht, like the Tiger P, Tankdestroyer Elefand (Ferdinand) and the heaviest tank Kampfwagen 7 Maus as well as parts of the E 100. After the war he founded Porsche because Volkswagen rejected him (it was under British administration). Greetings from Germany

[@cnikkor]

The Elefant or Ferdinand were actually repurposed Tiger P (or Porsche Tiger) chassis they were already made when Porsche lost against Henschel on the Tiger design, so they tried to make them somehow useful instead of melting them down again. The turret they end up using on the winning Tiger design was actually a turret designed for the Porsche Tiger.

[@Apophis1966]

@@cnikkor I know this, the Henschel Project goes in production. 54 already build Tiger P was converted

[@slippin_tim]

Ryan after watching 10mins of beetle content: wait wheres the engine? (11:01)

[@nephilim2582]

Hello from Germany! Yes, this car was the first car for millions of people, driven around with their first girlfriend, discovered the world and certainly millions of children were conceived in it! Greetings Nephilim 😅

[@UlliStein]

Yes my father also had a beetle for three years, then he couldn't stand it any more (it refused to start frequently) and got a little Opel. What a good progress. (Also Germany)

[@HrLBolle]

German equivalent to the murican lemon should be "Montagsprodukt"

[@thomaskneisel1854]

Some additions, the original version by Porsche was a platform system to change the chasis from a beetle to a "Kübelwagen" for millitary purposes without changing the base of the car. Like the Autobahn, it looks like a people thing but has always a second darker purpose. The "Diesel Skandal" is basicly that the system used for maintenance could detect if it runs under test conditions, like a emission test, and behave like a good schoolboy. And like the schoolboy, if nobody watches he went crazy. The intressting part of the story, the system that can detect the test conditons is used in many cars from a lot of manufacturers.

[@userhessenone1469]

Yes. The Diesel-Gate includes PORSCHE, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Seat, Skoda

[@MichaelBurggraf-gm8vl]

The weird thing about Diesel-Gate is the fact that the EPA had already successfully investigated and found the same manipulation method being used by american truck manufacturers in the 1990ies (?). It's absolutely insane how Volkswagen tried to deny that they were manipulating.

[@Vaati1992]

Why did they make profit at that time with those prices? Because back then companies were fine with being less profitable. Remember, back then corporate taxes were ALSO higher, going as high as 52.8 percent in the US in 1968. Today it's 21 percent. You can also look at the evolution of pay differences between the lowest-paid employees and the top brass of management. The gap has widened significantly since the 80s. The perception of what makes a company profitable has changed. Oh and the cost of making cars has gone up, mostly because of different conceptions of safety. And those changes are good, but the amount of profit that a car makes now has increased massively. And with the slow introduction of subscription-based services related to your car, e.g. unlocking seat heating or extra on-board entertainment options, individual cars will continue to become even more profitable for car manufacturers.

[@jonasholzhausen2801]

Yes you should look into the diesel- Skandal, but also consider the reasons why in the US SUV‘s and trucks are preferred. It’s very interesting and makes a lot more sense, if you know about the laws regarding this. It’s taking hold in the EU as well

[@sl66ls2006]

My first car was a VW Käfer (Beetle), red, most of the time cold inside 🥶😄, but i loved him.

[@reinhard8053]

Only a few years ago there was one (or more?) car with under 10K and several in the range of 10K to 15K in Europe. Now it's more starting at 16K . With new regulations concerning safety and environment you can't build the original anymore.

[@freewill8218]

VW, pronounced by many as V-olkswagen, the correct pronunciation is 'FolksWagen'.

[@norbertschaaf1943]

Hallo Ryan, the beatle and the 2CV were invented by Ferdinand Porsche. Greetings

[@Artzerus]

In germany we affectonatly say sometimes "Kugelporsche" in english "bullet porsche" but it means "Ball Porsche"

[@simsch97]

10:00 that is because the cars got much more complex. The electronics of the Beatle as an example were very simple compared to what the electronics of a modern car look like today. There are way more safety systems involved today. Testing and quality requirements got much more complex. So the entire development process got more expensive.

[@manub.3847]

Addition: What does Ryan think why the job title has changed (here in Germany) from motor vehicle mechanic to motor vehicle mechatronics (engineer)? ;) Certainly not because cars contain fewer electronic parts than before. And with the almost completely electronic systems, it becomes even worse to actually maintain the cars and keep them technically in working order.

[@justus6632]

I would also argue that its a pretty nice trend for car companies becuase the get so much more money out of it. There are cheeper brands like Dacia but its kinda unpopular today.

[@SiqueScarface]

Look at the Porsche 911 design! It shows its Beetle roots. The Porsche 356, the first mass produced Porsche and predecessor to the 911, was but a sporty version of the Beetle - with a beefed up engine and a flattened car body, but identical layout.

[@userhessenone1469]

The 356 Nr1 (which somehow still exists and can be driven) even uses a complete VW Käfer drivetrain

[@andreaseufinger4422]

One of the many nicknames for the beatle is "Buckel Porsche", buckled Porsche

[@TF2CrunchyFrog]

Note: In German, the letter "V" is usually pronounced as an "f" sound... unless it's part of a word which originated as a loanword with Latin or Greek roots (like "vertikal"), in which case it's a "w" sound. The proper German pronunciation of "Volkswagen", if written with an English spelling, is [folks-vagen]. The abbreviation "VW" is pronounced [fau veh].

[@Arsenic71]

You can't bring back the original beetle. It's lacking all sorts of mandatory safety equipment, it probably wouldn't even comply with emission regulations. I mean originally it didn't even have seat betls and the heating had a reputation of gassing the passengers (because it was heated by exhaust gases and if the exhaust rusted in the place where heat exchange took place...no good). The spare wheel was in the front because the beetle was a rear-engined car. Small cars is a very good point. Yes we still like small cars but the number of available "small cars" just keeps shrinking. The cars keep getting bigger and bigger and heavier and heavier, and hence, more and more expensive.

[@robertheinrich2994]

look into the dacia lineup. they actually tried to achieve a similar price (inflation adjusted). you get a dacia sandero for 16k€. 10 years ago, their cheapest model was actually at below 10k€, but it was a bit too bare bones for europe.

[@FaithlessDeviant]

I would say the new beetle wasn't aimed at the same consumers as the original beetle. They made it a hipster car and priced it accordingly.

[@stanleywiggins5047]

The VW bug (Australia) the spair wheel, fuel tank & luggage in the front, air cooled motor out back. A lot of dune buggies are VW based. If a 1938 VW still exists it would probably be the most expensive car on the planet

[@Nothin-but-the-blues]

There still exists some of the 1938/9 VW Beetles! One is in the VW Museum in Wolfsburg. In that period of time Ferdinand Porsche only built 14 Prototypes. kzbin.info/www/bejne/ioaYn4GVZbuihZY And btw.: The actually most expensive car is also made in Germany: A special edition of the Mercedes 300sl "Gullwing" produced for its constructor Rudolf Uhlenhaut: The MB 300 SLR Uhlenhaut-Coupé was sold for 143 Million US-Dollars. They only produced two of them and one you find in the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, and the other??????? kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIKmiYSabsmfp68

[@hellemarc4767]

The engine was in the back, for the Beetle. In France, we had the 2 CV ("deux chevaux") in the same vein: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_2CV

[@userhessenone1469]

Yes. The closest competion of the Beetle

[@florianlipp5452]

They skipped a little bit over some of the weirdest bits of its Nazi past: The Nazis orginally named the car (hold your breath) the "Kraft-durch-Freude-Wagen". ("strength-through-joy-car"). As it was part of a movement that was supposed to make German workers more prodcutive by giving them more joy in their lives. The Nazis acutally built a new city from scratch for the factory. And they named that city (hold your breath again) "Stadt des Kraft-durch-Freude-Wagens". ("city of the strength-through-joy-car"). But after a while, even long-word-loving Germans realized that they had gone to far with that name. And the city was renamed "Wolfsburg". ("Wolf" was actually a nickname, some close friends had for Hitler. "Wolfsburg" was therefore a nod to Hitler without naming the city explicitly for Hitler. Hitler wasn't really a fan of having streets etc. named after him. He thought it smelled to much of Sovjet Union with it's Leningrad and Stalingrad.) But Wolfsburg exists to this day, it is still the production center of Volkswagen. And nobody wants to recall that the city is secretly named after Hitler.

[@ozon8440]

The beetle engine was used in almost everything around the 60s. Especially as "Typ 122" Industrial Engine (technically the same engine with another number stamped on) in emergency power generators and firefighter water pumps. I just fixed one in an emergency power generator a few weeks ago. They still run today.

[@userhessenone1469]

They do. My T1 Transporter (ex firetruck) has its first engine after 400 000km, possible more.

[@ozon8440]

I just had problems with the magneto ignition system on these engines. But this type of ignition system is just in the industrial engine version.

[@JBOGermany]

Don't forget about the Claas Combine with the underpowered VW engine

[@blaumupi]

Cars were anything but cheap in the 60s! A German worker earned in 1965 about 4500 DM per year! A VW Beetle cost about 4400 DM - 5500 DM (about 9000 €). Almost a yearly salary! Today an average annual salary amounts to ca. 45000 €! If the people would work today for the wage of that time, then the prices would be smaller! 😉

[@anouk6644]

My grandfather drove a beige beetle, my dad’s first car was a green beetle and my first was a yellow beetle (with extended back fenders), shared with my sister. Today I driverless newest model Beetle convertible and I love it more than the BMW’s and even the Porsche 928 I had in the past.

[@onnasenshi7739]

warse thing about the beattle was the spare wheel, if you get a flat tire and want to use the spare wheel it happens that the spare wheel was flat to, because vw used the air pressure from the spare wheel for the windshield washer system

[@klausm5460]

In Germany during the 60s virtually everybody was driving a beetle. My father borrowed his brother in-law´s beetle occasionally, then got his own one, my mother later got a used one that kept breaking down (leading to her colleagues leaving the office early, because nobody wanted to be the one having to tow her). The popularity dropped during the 70s with more modern FWD compact cars coming up (first and foremost the VW Golf MK1), but the beetle convertible was still in fashion as a good weather car until the 80s, because it was so iconic and the drawbacks of having a slow car with bad heating and corrosion issues weren´t so problematic when mostly driving with the roof down in the sunshine.

[@Stephan-H]

6:37 Bill Bernbach was a genius with advertising. And yes it says "Lemon." and then continues to explain that "The chrome strip on the glove compartment is blemished and must be replaced ..." There are a lot of these old advertisements going the direct opposite of the typical American greater, bigger, better advertisements. They had really good ones, the ones I like best are "The Volkswagen Theory of Evelution" and "They said it couldn't be done. It couldn't." with 7'1'' Wilt Chamberlain.

[@PartikleVT]

why was a beetle 12k and a mustang 20? And why didnt the inflation adjusted price of things go down as things got more efficient? Well, if we follow the supply chain to the profits, the inflation adjusted profits didnt stay the same, they didnt go down either, they got exponentially larger, and not like two or three fold, more like 10 or 100 fold larger. The customer is always kept at the limit of its purchasing power in order to move the margins to the profit side.

[@kbittorf335]

I am surprised there was no mention of the VW “bus” ie, van. That vehicle sparked the creation of the Ford Econoline and the GM and Dodge variant styled vans.

[@userhessenone1469]

The best cars ever. Ive got a 1961 1200 Export Beetle and 1967 Type 2 T1 Transporter. Sadly i cant drive them at the moment...

[@kbittorf335]

@@userhessenone1469 oh, that’s too bad. I have left knee issues every so often and have to abstain driving my Jetta then because I cannot work the clutch.

[@philipkudrna5643]

The engine of the Beetle was in the back (as said in the beginning). And the spare tyre in the front was essential, because its air pressure actually powered the windscreen washer system! (no joke!)

[@Harrock]

9:00 well we have the Dacia sandero that starts at 9000€ and with some extras you can get a fully equipped Dacia for around 13k … it’s cheap it’s plastic everywhere but it doesn’t cost much … my mom has a Sandero that has allready over 200k on it

[@stef987]

I'm from Wolfsburg, the 'home' of VW and back in the 90s/early 2000s, even went to a highschool named after Ferdinand Porsche.🙈 Yet, I can't think of a single teacher since elementary school who wasn't pretty leftist and really hated the Nazis/warned us about their ideology. I also always went to school with many children from different countries/cultures, as VW at one point had hired guest workers from especially Italy and Turkey and many families stayed in the end instead of going back. But there have also been many people from many other countries living in the city for decades now. When you walk down the pedestrian zone now, you can see a lot of people from different ethnic/cultural groups. All that in a city that was once founded by the Nazis not even that long ago - and I think that's just absolutely amazing!😄

[@Zazu1337]

I don't know if you can trust those adjusted-for-inflation price tags. First of all, inflation can be different in different products/industries but when "adjusting for inflation" most reporters use the increased inflation average over the whole currency. Then the manufacturing got much more sophisticated in comfort and safety. The first beetle would have rock-hard seats and an interior without any cover, no AC, no navigation, the media system was radio only, no antilock braking system, no power steering maybe not even seatbelts. The cheapest car currently manufactured by VW is the UP! for about 13k-16k€ so even with all modern safety standards we can still produce cars for that price but there is not a big market for it. Even though Europeans drive "small" cars compared to American standards they still don't buy the smallest you can get. Even here in Germany people who have the money generally buy station wagons or SUVs.

[@MichaelBurggraf-gm8vl]

Immediately after WWII the allied command was contemplating demolishing or relocating the factory in Wolfsburg. However, the allied forces soon realized that they would need more cars for transport within Germany and since the Volkswagen works in Wolfsburg appeared to be repairable with reasonable effort, they did. With a british manager at first. Later a German manager, Karl Hahn, took over. Since some companies weren't allowed to continue their production under allied rule, eg. the manufacturers of fighter planes Messerschmitt, Junker, Heinkel and Dornier, some of them started production of other goods. So Messerschmitt was producing its Kabinenroller and Heinkel was introducing a similarly funny little car called "Heinkel Kabine". Other German cars of that era were the BMW Isetta, the Glas Goggomobil and the Zündapp Janus. In this era there were French and Italian manufacturers too which were producing iconic cars like the French Citroen 2CV (which was nicknamed "Ente"/duck in German speaking countries), the Renault R4 and the Italian FIAT Topolino and 500. Hence, at least in Europe, the Volkswagen Beetle wasn't the cheapest car available. However it had gained a good reputation quickly.

[@denzelpanther240]

1930s/40s USA never had a problem with germany. They didn't join the war because of them. Directly after the war NSDAP members hosted TV Shows in the states. And in the 30s the german army held recruiting rallies in madison square garden

[@janheinbokel3969]

The Car itself was a German invention - consider also Audi, Porsche, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Skoda (all Brands now under the Volkswagen company), BMW, Mercedes-Benz, MAN-Trucks (all Genuine German Brands)

[@autodach]

So quintessentially American to start off with “btw I confidently mispronounce this Name” XD

[@conbertbenneck49]

Ryan, Pronunciation correction: The "e" in PORSCHE is pronounced. The name is not Porsch. Ferdinand Porsche's sister married a Piech. The Piechs own most of the PORSCHE car business as well as the VW Dealerships in Austria. The Ferdinand Porsche family owns a large part of VW. VW also owns: AUDI; BENTLEY; BUGATTI; DUCATTI - motorcycles; LAMBORGHINI. VW also owns a major European heavy truck manufacturer Several years ago the Piech family almost bought VW.

[@mikelsoul1610]

Greetings from Wolfsburg...the Birth-Town of the Käfer..called Bettle ❤

[@icetwo]

It wasn't called Volkswagen. First it was called KdF-Wagen. And the name of Wolfsburg was "Stadt des KdF-Wagens"= "City of the KDF Car"

[@userhessenone1469]

No it was "Stadt des KDF-Wagens bei Fallersleben"

[@florianlipp5452]

Yes, Ferdinand Porsche designed the Beetle. Have a look at an old beetle and an old Porsche. When you know what to look for, you'll notice some shared design features, such as the size and shape of the lights.

[@Vojtaniz01]

He actually stole the design from the Tatra company, namely from the Tatra 87 model.

[@userhessenone1469]

@@Vojtaniz01 Yes, kind of. The 87 is bigger and has a more "complicated" design style