HISTORIA DEL VOLKSWAGEN timeline.

The future seemed bleak for the 1945-1947 Volkswagen Beetle. As it crawled out from the rubble of World War II, the Beetle seemed headed for an early death, not lasting greatness. Indeed, the car was defined more by its vices than virtues. Volkswagen Beetles that crawled forth from the Wolfsburg factory in 1946 were decidedly spartan conveyances: outmoded cable brakes and non-synchronized transmission, a measly 25 horsepower, waywardness in gusty crosswinds, little luggage space,

The 1950-1954 Volkswagen Beetle rolled out refinements at a regular place, but established the notion that advancements would take place with very little change to exterior styling. By 1950, the Volkswagen complex included four mile-long assembly halls, several other large buildings, a rail siding, test track, and even a power station.

The basic design of the 1960-1961 Volkswagen Beetle may have dated to Germany in the 1930s, but its attitude was just right for a new decade that would prove tumultuous. The world often seemed out of control in the 1960s. The Berlin Wall; the Cuban Missile Crisis; the escalating agony of Vietnam; the assassination of a young U.S. president, his brother, and two black civil-rights leaders; protest marches and fiery riots in U.S. cities; "hippies" and the "Generation Gap."

Another new engine was added to the range in late 1965 (67 model year), this time more like a type 3 1500cc engine, reworked to upright Type 1 spec, the new engine produced 44bhp, alongside the new engine, front disc brakes were introduced, with new wheels in a 4x130 PCD. Following complaints from buyers that having two keys was irritating, VW introduced a one key system which did doors, and ignition. A new deck-lid was introduced to cover the larger engine.

The 1955-1959 Volkswagen Beetle models well and truly established the little air-cooled, rear-engine car as part of the American landscape. America was becoming the Bug's home away from home, and in 1955, Volkswagen United States (later Volkswagen of America) opened its doors in a modest two-story building in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.