In the August 2019 edition of Auto Motor Klassiek we paid attention to Richard van der Bijl, his Siku collection and especially his VW 1200 Export. His 1964 Beetle, newly delivered and personalized today, is a Dickholmer. Fans and connoisseurs know that it is the last Beetle […] More
When owner Marc gladly informs me that we are allowed to photograph a great 50 year old 7 seater station wagon, it could be German, French, Swedish or American, but in any case something beautiful. When a few days later I'm in a neighborhood in Amstelveen where a garage door slowly has a pointed nose with a split […] More
Around the turn of 1972/1973, Volkswagen launched on the basis of the just released 1303 - the last highly modified European Beetle with, among other things, the panorama window, the safety dashboard and the 1302 technology - the Gelb Schwarzer Renner. More
The Volkswagen Polo developed into a crowd favorite after its birth in 1975. The Polo was positioned as the cheaper brother of the Audi 50, but it soon turned out to surpass it in popularity. The first series of the Polo sold well and laid the foundation for the current Polo success. The Spartan […] More
In 1968 the Beetle was highly dated and the market begged for a bigger, more luxurious and more modern car. And according to VW, the newcomer also had to seriously compete with, for example, the Opel Rekord, of which Opel sold about 300.000 on an annual basis. The Ford Taunus 17M and the Peugeot 504 were also […] More
In fact, tuning means 'tuning' (to the optimum). To us it sounds like 'make it faster'. A comrade's son had his Suzuki tuned… Chiptuned. The Swift had clearly improved. It grew from 125 to 141 hp. The torque increased from 148 to 166 Nm. And all that without […] More
Well. With the wind at the head of a 2CV, it is true that you now have to plan some extra travel time. Such a 2CV has its limitations. But Volkswagen made Beetles, Porsche 911s, Tatra air-cooled V8s and the Chevrolet Corvairs had air-cooled six-cylinder boxers. And now hardly anyone makes them anymore, […] More
Classics are regularly offered with 'the steering wheel on the wrong side'. That steering wheel on the right was once pretty common. The splitting of the minds came later. The approach is that classics from countries that drive on the right have the steering wheel on the left. Only in myramar it is apparently different. Left-hand drivers have the […] More
This week, Volkswagen reflected on an event that actually took place sixteen years ago. In Mexico, the last Beetle, in fact a retro version of VW's Typ 1, left the production line this week. That event was heralded as the end of an era. The NOS news reported in the week of July 8 […] More
In 1966 the American Kathleen Brooks signed the order form for the car, which she still owns. She bought her Beetle in December 1966 in Riverside, California. Since then she has driven more than 560.000 kilometers with Annie – as she calls the red Volkswagen. In other words, about fourteen […] More
What is the probability that the wife of 'Reichskommissar' Seys Inquart drove around in a 1940 Beetle sometime between 1945-1948? Beetle or monkey sandwich? When Eef Peeters, owner of the Arnhem War Museum 40-45 in Zeeland against the car of - according to say and according to various papers - the wife of […] More
Seventy years ago, Pon's Automobielhandel brought the first batch of six Volkswagens to the Netherlands. The first example of that batch of Beetles (the Beetle 337) still exists. The first delivery to Pon's Automobielhandel, which became the very first importer of Volkswagens in the world on August 8, 1947, consisted of six 'family cars' that, because of their […] More
