Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A Walk of Discovery: Volkswagen Beetle



I discovered this eye-stopper VW Beetle at a neighboring housing complex on my Sunday walk the other day. VW Beetle has always been one of my favorite cars, and its yellow color, which also happens to be my favorite color, had my heart skipped a beat. Needless to say, I instinctively took out my camera and, after asking the owner if I could take photographs of it, I began exploring the beautiful details of this car.

VW Type 1, the official name of this car, has different nicknames in different countries. It is called VW Beetle/Bug in English, VW Kodok (Frog/Toad) in Indonesian, and Kafer in German. What is it called in your country?

This is what I know about this car from some references I have read:
The Beetle was produced between 1938 until 2003, during which 21 million of it were produced. According to an internatinal poll, it is the fourth most influential cars ever produced after Ford T Model, the Mini, and Citroen DS. This car was designed by Ferdinand Porche upon the request of Adolf Hitler who wanted a cheap and reliable car for the masses.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love the VW Beetle too! In fact I have a miniature of it sitting in my display cabinet.

Anonymous said...

Wow, and with the steering wheel on the right!
In Hebrew it is called a chipushit, meaning beetle.

rob said...

We (in Italy) call it "maggiolino"! Wonderful car! One of my favorite as well.

Anonymous said...

I love the old beetle, great colors...

Layrayski said...

hahaha "pagong!" and smacks you on the head... lightly. hehehe this is the game that we have regarding this vehicle. pagong is a tagalog word for turtle by the way.

Unknown said...

I just love VW Beetles! In Mexico I saw them in every colour you can imagine. That yellow/white one is so very cool!

Mahmud Yussop said...

I will always have a second take whenever I came across this car in town. This is considered an antique car now. Here we sometimes refer it to as ' Wak's wagon'. Wak is a polite word to refer an elderly person.

Virginia said...

When I was a girl, we had a VW bug, we called it, that was a convertible! I use to get in the boot and sit when we went to the drive in movies. It was a rarity to see them back then and we always turned heads! I love your drop dead yellow bug today Eki!

Benjamin Madison said...

Lovely shot of a great car. We also call them "punch buggies." I have no idea why.

Marcel said...

Hi JM, great beatle. I used to drive one, but it became too expensive for me. The fuel he needed is to much. About the whale shoulder blade, I had the same thought, but the museum said it really was, must have been a very big whale, Cheers from Marcel

Anonymous said...

I like the Bug. Nice colors too. Though probably not original.

Dina said...

Eki, thanks for your good question. I answered it now over on my blog. I'll try to get some photos that show more about the subject.

Rambling Woods said...

There is nothing like a little bug Eki. They are fun and so cute...

escape said...

here in the philippines, there's a club of people using the beetle. it's indeed a classic but some people still love to use it as vintage collections.

Hilda said...

We've always called them Beetles in MM too. Though when Herbie became a star, they also got called Love Bugs. :D

I've always loved that little thing. My dad used to tell us that it actually floated so it would be ideal during Manila's floods. Just keep some oars inside.

Anonymous said...

I hope that car can survive~!, as we know car such as thing begins hard to find..

Horsoon said...

The Beetle is indeed timeless! Frankly I like it more than the 'modernized' model now being sold in the showroom.

Jane Hards Photography said...

Such an iconic car. My mom has was she calls Lennon!

Anonymous said...

I used to own one of these very old beetle bug. Cost me a few grand but did not keep long.

The legend still continue but in a slightly different shape....more modern.

Susie of Arabia said...

I've always called them a Beetle or a Bug, but I'm not sure what they are called here in Saudi Arabia. I used to have one myself many years ago - great little cars!

ramessag said...

Mas, itu mah foto VW saya.....ho..hoo...hooooo
Namanya CuPu. Cuning-Putih.Rumahnya di Kompleks Permata Cimahi.
kelahiran 1965 - seri 1300
Terimakasih sudah mempopulerkan cuPu di dunia maya..jadi exist,
dan saya jadi terharu sekali..
:D