KdF-Wagen

Vehicle Description

As part of Hitler’s “people’s car” project, the KdF-Wagen was developed by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche and produced by Volkswagen. However, only 630 KdFs were produced because the production of military vehicles took priority on account of WWII. The car in our collection is one of the oldest among the very few KdFs in existence today. The KdF-Wagen was prototyped in 1938 and went into production the following year. After a suspension of production due to the war, the car changed its name to Volkswagen Type 1 (Beetle). The Beetle was produced in Germany for about 40 years until 1978. Production of the Beetle continued overseas until 2003, with the aggregate production exceeding 21.4 million units. The Beetle nickname is considered by some to have been given in the U.S.

Vehicle Data