There are few people on this earth who, gearhead or not, are unaware of the Volkswagen Beetle. Whether one’s exposure comes from seeing Herbie on television, Vocho cabs in Mexico, or yards of the things at university parking lots in the ‘60s and ‘70s, the venerable Bug is familiar to most.

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Seeking a toehold in the North American market, the model was brought to our shores way earlier than most people think: 1949, in fact. With memories of WWII still fresh in the minds of many, shipping a German car across the pond raised many eyebrows. Funny how it, and the associated Bus, became a symbol of the peace-love-joy crowd just over a decade later.



1 - Small Start

Despite the model being most closely associated around these parts with the go-go 1960s, the first pair to reach America actually rolled off a ship in New York on January 17, 1949. A car dealer who had previously introduced VW to customers in the Netherlands is responsible for that move, with Volkswagen of America not being officially set up until 1955.

2 - A Milli, A Milli

In spite of those small beginnings, it didn’t take very long for the Volkswagen Type 1 to catch on. It took just five years for the brand to shift a half million of the things on this side of the world after officially setting up shop. Back at home, production was humming and Wolfsburg had made a million Type 1s by 1955.

3 - Record Breaker

On February 17th in 1972, the 15,007,034th Volkswagen Beetle was produced in Wolfsburg, surpassing a production record previously held by the Ford Model T. In celebration of that record-breaking achievement, VW released the commemorative World Champion special edition, which was sold through March that year.



4 - Sand Job

Bruce Meyers built a dune buggy out of a Beetle chassis to compete in the 1967 Mexican 1000. He called it the Meyers Manx and won the race, spawning an entire generation of off-road Beetle-based racers. Sparked by the Meyers Manx, a category of cars colloquially called the Baja Bug rose to popularity in the late ‘60s, showing up as a Beetle modified for the harsh environment of desert racing.

5 - Name Game

Despite everyone and his brother calling this car the ‘Bug’, that term was never actually part of the car’s official nomenclature. The title was apropos, given its unique insect-like shape and propensity for longevity - not to mention the actual name of ‘Beetle’. And even that truly didn’t show up until the mid-’60s.



6 - Der Neue Beetle

In 1998, the New Beetle showed up as one of the first adopters of so-called “retro” design language, a trend picked up by many other brands to varying degrees of success. The car reintroduced the familiar round profile to a new generation of drivers. An update in 2006 caused people to call that car the New Beetle.

7 - Final Countdown

Even after Volkswagen brought the ‘New Beetle’ to North America, built from the bones of a Golf and with its drivetrain in front of the passenger compartment, the company kept building the original Bug at its Puebla in Mexico. Production didn’t halt until 2003, some 70 years after that first team of engineers was instructed to build the first prototypes. Over its run, the Type 1 is said to have sold more than 21,000,000 copies.



8 - Man Up

While we’re all in touch with our feminine side around here, there’s no arguing the fact that the New Beetle was targeted by some louts as being only suitable for a particular demographic. This changed in 2011 when a third-generation Beetle (the ‘new’ word vanished) appeared, slightly more upright and hewing even more closely to the original design, at least in our jaundiced eyes.

9 - Share the Love

The humble Beetle shared its Type 1 roots with stylish cousins such as the VW Karmann Ghia. Like pairing a snazzy new top with the same pair of sturdy dungarees, that car was gifted a swoopy new coupe (or convertible) body on top of the Type 1 floor pan and basic mechanicals. Its name was a mash of the car’s assembler, German coachbuilding firm Karmann, and its stylist, Carrozzeria Ghia.

10 - Still Racing

In spite of, or perhaps thanks to, the Beetle’s longevity, there remains an official class of off-road racing dedicated to this model. Simply called ‘Class 11’ in the popular SCORE International series which includes major events like the mighty Baja 1000, anyone racing one of these rigs is afforded respect since the cars are stock with modifications limited to only safety equipment and ground clearance.

Let’s Talk Value

With the goal of seeing how much Beetle models are going for and how prices have changed in recent years, our friends at Hagerty have put together a chart showcasing what Beetles from the 1940s through the 1970s were worth in 2020 and what they are worth today.