VW TRIVIA

- By Herschel D. -

1.       Q: What would you say is the first VW ever??

A: It doesn’t really matter whether you would say that the Dr. Porsche designed Beetle-like 1934 Zundapp “volksauto,” the “official” first prototype Volkswagen type 60 series V-1 of 1935, the finished prototype of 1938 or even the first (1945) post-war non KdF-Wagen, were the “first. They are all “right” from different viewpoints! 

2.       Q: Name a color that was never offered on the Beetle until the 1970’s?

A: Yellow!

3.   Q: Ok, I’ve asked this question before, but I’m including it again for newcomers. What does the term “barn door” bus refer, to?

A: It does not mean the side, swing open doors of the pre-’67 buses, it means the large rear engine lid of the pre-mid-’55 buses. That lid was up to the bus’s belt line because the spare tire was stored on a shelf above the engine.

4.   Q: Have you noticed that there are not nearly as many post 1967 Type 2 pickup trucks and vans at VW shows, as there are of the pre-‘68 split-window models? There is a reason for that. It was called “The Great Chicken war!” What was that all about? 

     A: In the early ‘70’s there was a dispute between the U.S.A. and foreign countries over the foreign charging a high tariff on what the U.S. exported while they got to sell us products like chicken for very little tariff fee. So the U.S. authorities raised the tariff on things like commercial vehicles imported into the U.S. in Retaliation. Thus, the price of a VW pickup and van got too high to market here while the passenger buses stayed free of that tariff hike because they are not considered trucks.

5.   Q: When did the U.S. Beetle first get turn signals mounted on the front fenders?

A: In mid-1955.

6.   Q: When did the European model get them?
A: In 1962.

 

1. During what years was the VW Scirocco made?

2. True or false, there was a factory built Type 3 panel truck?

3. Did VW ever offer the Beetle Cabriolet and the Rabbit Cabriolet at the same time?

4. What were the production years of the VW Vanagon?

5. The VW convertible top is so well made by Karmann, that it is the equal of the top put upon what luxury car?

6. In what city was the factory that VW operated here in the U.S. for a few years?

 Answers next month, along with new questions.