VW TRIVIA

- By Herschel D. -

1. Q: In what year did the Beetle first get fuel injection?
   A: 1975 was the first year that the Beetle got fuel injection.

2. Q: What does "warmluftheizung" mean in German?
   A: "Warmluftheizung" means, in German, the warm air heating system of a VW.

3. Q: When did the "5 MPH" shock absorber bumpers get added to the Beetle?
   A: It was in 1975 that the beetle gained those "5 MPH bumpers."

4. Q: Was it Europe or the U.S.A. that first got Beetles equipped with disc brakes?
   A: They tried out disk brakes on European Beetles, before they let them be on the U.S. edition.

5. Q: In the early 1930s Ferdinand Porsche came to America to see how U.S. car manufacturers built cars. He visited where the Lincoln Zephyr was under development around 1934. At that early stage the car had a bug like shape, including a rear engine (when it came out in 1936 it had lost the rear engine!) The question is, did Porsche get the idea for the bug shape from that car?
   A: The earliest Porsche Design Office prototype to exhibit a "bug-like" shape was the 1931 Wander, a German car, which preceded the Lincoln Zephyr prototype, even though some historians have tried to claim that, that car was the inspiration for the VW’s bug shape.

6. Q: Did the 1968 manual transaxle Bug have IRS?
   A: The firs IRS Volkswagen transaxle was the 1968 automatic. The manual one didn’t go IRS until the next year!

1. Okay, what does "auspuff" mean in German? By the way, I use a reprint of the first (1938) VW owner’s manual as inspiration for my translation questions.

2. Here’s an easy one for many of you: Who is the "official" publisher of VW service manuals?

3. What was the first year of the VW Vanagon?

4. Which wartime VW model was the first to have 4-wheel drive: was it Kubelwagen? The Schwimmwagen? Or the Kommandeurswagen?

5. Did VW sell the Karmann Ghia as a sports car or a "sporty car?"

6. The Eurovan as a camper isn’t really a truck. Does VW make trucks any more?