What about Volkswagen's classic love?

In the National Classic Research 2016 we look at the classic love of manufacturers and importers. Today: Volkswagen.

You can only be successful as a brand if you know where you come from and are proud of what you do. Where some brands are already very happy when they make it to the Louwman Museum, Volkswagen can even be seen in the Rijksmuseum. The famous Ben Pon notebook in which he sketched the van can be found in the collection of the Rijks. It is admittedly not exhibited alongside the Night Watch, but still.

Volkswagen has also produced iconic models. In addition to the van, we call the Beetle and the Golf GTI. Moreover, the classics and youngtimers of the brand can still be found in huge numbers in the Netherlands.

For Volkswagen, everything naturally started with the Beetle. It is difficult to say how many of these are still in the Netherlands, because the license plate register uses so many different names for the model. For example, the names 1, Beetle, Kaefer, Beetle, 1200, 1300, 1302 and 1303 are used. However, it is clear that there are thousands of copies left.

The number of Beetles is amply surpassed by the number of Golfs - even if you only look at the Golfs from before 2002.

Other Volkswagens are also still present in large numbers. We mention a few.

However, it is much nicer to look at the rare types. There are, for example, another 370 Karmann Ghias in the Netherlands. However, the top versions of some volume models are also becoming rare. There are also 155 Polo G40s and 30 Passat W8s.

Worth mentioning is the self-building culture that prevails around the brand, of course especially with the Beetle as the basis. For example, there is a Volkswagen where the 'MG TD Replica' type is stated. Of the FT Bonito, a kitcar, there are 41 on the license plate.

For a small 1.600 car, the mention Buggy is sufficient. There are also countless buggy-like models where a type is indicated. With two specimens it is Woestijnrat, a buggy that came from Tilburg, and with 33 it is a Ruska, from Amsterdam.

However, the brand scored poorly. And had to tolerate more than ten other brands. What kind of rating did Volkswagen get from us? You can read that in the new AMK.

You can read more about the National Classic Research 2017 in Auto Motor Klassiek 2 from 2017 (on 20 January with subscribers, from 24 January in the store).