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Car Of The Day: June 8, 2008; Johnny Lightning '66 Volkswagen Beetle
Topic Started: Jun 8 2008, 12:50 AM (568 Views)
Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
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Today's car of the day is Johnny Lightning's 1966 Volkswagen Beetle.

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Wikipedia
 
In occupied Germany the Allies followed the Morgenthau plan, to remove all German war potential by complete or partial pastoralization. As part of this, in the Industrial plans for Germany, the rules for which industry Germany was to be allowed to retain were set out. German car production was set at a maximum of 10% of the 1936 car production numbers.

The Volkswagen factory at Wolfsburg was handed over by the Americans to British control in 1945, it was to be dismantled and shipped to Britain. Thankfully for Volkswagen, no British car manufacturer was interested in the factory; "the vehicle does not meet the fundamental technical requirement of a motor-car ... it is quite unattractive to the average buyer ... To build the car commercially would be a completely uneconomic enterprise." The factory survived by producing cars for the British Army instead.[10] Allied dismantling policy changed in late 1946 to mid 1947, although heavy industry continued to be dismantled until 1951. In March 1947 Herbert Hoover helped change policy by stating

"There is the illusion that the New Germany left after the annexations can be reduced to a 'pastoral state'. It cannot be done unless we exterminate or move 25,000,000 people out of it."

The re-opening of the factory is largely accredited to British Army officer Major Ivan Hirst (1916–2000). Hirst was ordered to take control of the heavily bombed factory, which the Americans had captured. His first task was to remove an unexploded bomb which had fallen through the roof and lodged itself between some pieces of irreplaceable production equipment; if the bomb had exploded, the Beetle's fate would have been sealed. Hirst persuaded the British military to order 20,000 of the cars, and by 1946 the factory was producing 1,000 cars a month. During this period the car and its town changed their Nazi-era names to Volkswagen (people's car) and Wolfsburg, respectively. The first 1,785 Beetles were made in a factory near Wolfsburg in 1945.

Following the Army-led restart of production, Heinz Nordhoff was appointed director of the Volkswagen factory, under whom production increased dramatically over the following decade, with the one-millionth car coming off the assembly line by 1955. During this Post-war period, the Beetle had superior performance in its category with a top speed of 115 km/h (71 mph) and 0-100 km/h (0-60 mph) in 27.5 seconds on 7.6 l/100 km (31mpg) for the standard 25 kilowatts (34 hp) engine. This was far superior to the Citroën 2CV and Morris Minor, and even competitive with more modern small cars like the Mini of the 1960s and later.

The engine fired up immediately without a choke, and could only be heard in the car when idling. It had excellent road-handling and was economical to maintain. Although a small car, the engine has great elasticity and gave the feeling of better output than its small nominal size. However, the opinion of some in the United States was not as flattering out of frustration that it was the top-selling foreign car in the US market. Henry Ford II once described the car as 'A little box'.

During the 1950s, the car was modified progressively: the obvious visual changes mostly concerned the windows. In March 1953, the small oval two piece rear window was replaced by a slightly larger single piece oval rear window. More dramatically, in August 1957 a much larger full width rear window replaced the oval one. 1962 saw the introduction of a widened cover for the light over the rear license plate. Towards the end of 1964, the height of the side windows and windscreen was slightly increased giving the cabin a less pinched look: this coincided with a the introduction of a very slightly curved windscreen, though the curve was barely noticeable. The same body appeared during 1966, with a 1300 cc engine on place of the 1200 cc engine: it was only in the 1973 model Super Beetle that the beetle acquired an obviously curved windscreen. The flat windshield remained on the standard Beetle.

During the 1960s and early 1970s, innovative advertising campaigns and a reputation for reliability and sturdiness helped production figures to surpass the levels of the previous record holder, the Ford Model T, when Beetle No. 15,007,034 was produced on 17 February 1972. By 1973, total production was over 16 million, and by 23 June 1992, there had been over 21 million produced.

The Beetle is the world's best-selling car design; though more units of the Toyota Corolla brand have been sold, there have been many total redesigns of the Corolla, each amounting to a new car design with the same name.


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For more information and pictures of the real car please visit: Volkswagen Beetle

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The VW Beetle- one of the most replicated models in small scale. Almost every manufacturer has done a Bug at one time or another. The Johnny Lightning casting seen here is is one of the best!

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This model is based on the real car owned by Garage member VWOwner. I've had the pleasure of seeing the real one in person, and this example was given to me as an RAOK at the Keystone CARnival. Thanks Ron! :)

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James
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Mr.Bowtie
THAT MY FRIENDS IS WHAT YOU CALL A REALLY SWEET CASTING!

only 1 thing they could of done to improve that was to tampo on a license plate on the rear.

Man oh man that bug is fab.

:wub: :wub: :wub: :wub:
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davidj94
Out hunting for JL
Here is a casting I have tried to acquire one of each issue. My parents had bugs when I was growing up, so I have a fondness for them for that reason. The one shown here i a nice representation without a lot of "stuff" to detract from the great design. Thanks, Swifty!
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jedimario
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RAWR
It's the best stock hardtop Beetle in 1:64 for sure, but the HW customized version is hard to beat.
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james_autos
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Minivan
I agree, it is a nice bug. But there are too many of them in 1:64 scale, and I sort of get sick of seeing them.

I've got the Matchbox, Siku and Maisto castings.
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be77bt
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be77bt
*In Memory Of*
:twocents: That is a nice bug. :thumbup:
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Sak
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Ezekiel 25:17
If I have a favorite, it would be the Revell 1:64 version. It is the truest, in my opinion, and has an opening boot, to boot. The JL is great, though, and has multiple, wonderful variations.

I like the Splitter even better!
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
Ten years ago, this was one of the best Bugs on the market. But the Beetle remains a popular subject in small scale. Has that changed? Has the JL fallen from its lofty perch? Or does it still set the bar? You tell me.
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pjedsel
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Muscle Car
Makes me wonder how many here at the Garage have not ridden or driven a Bug car? ;) The JL issue is a nice one - I don't have any of the newer castings from M2 or others so for me the JL casting is still a top notch offering in small scale. :toy:
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tksjohn
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Station Wagon
This casting was just recently seen in the Johnny Lightning garage :thumbup:
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juantoo3
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

:D
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Dean-o-mite
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Muscle Car
juantoo3
Jun 8 2018, 09:51 AM
:D
x2
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Pegers
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Pony Car
Dean-o-mite
Jun 8 2018, 01:53 PM
juantoo3
Jun 8 2018, 09:51 AM
:D
x2
X 3.
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94cadillacfleetwood
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Nothing good ever happens after midnight.
x4!

Nothing beats a Bug...well except in a race, when everything else beats a Bug.

I love this one (I have this one in blue) but the Matchbox one looks a little better.
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corvairjim
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Fullsize
Back inn the 00's, my wife and I went on a spree, buying every variation of VW Beetle in scale we came across (That included the New Beetle). I don't know why we stopped doing that but after about 3 months we had about 2 dozen different Bugs. I have a couple of these, but they came along later. They would sure have had a place of honor on our "Bug Shelf".
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