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Triumph Dolomite (1976-80) Engine 11296cc S4 OHV
Production 204,300 all versions
Registration Number REA 17 R (Dudley)
TRIUMPH ALBUM
www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623847263736...
The Dolomite was the final addition to Triumph's small-car range (codenamed Project Ajax), which had started in 1965 with the Triumph 1300. The later model, introduced in September 1970 as the Triumph 1500, featured a remodelled front and rear, styled by Michelotti, and a larger 1,493 cc (91 cu in) engine.
In 1976, with the manufacturer effectively nationalised and following recommendations in the government commissioned Ryder Report, the Dolomite and other similarly bodied ranges were rationalised . Taking over from the Toledo model, the 1300 and 1500 Dolomites featured an identical looking body to the outgoing Toledo, except for the lengthened body which gave the larger boot of the original Dolomites. The 1300 and 1500 base models retained simplified fittings, including single, square, headlamps, basic instrumentation and seats, with the wooden dashboard and carpeting of the Toledo. There was no two-door option as there had been for the Toledo, and the shorter-boot bodyshell of the Toledo ceased production. Standard equipment included reclining front seats, cigar lighter, "fasten seat belt" warning light, driver's door mirror, twin reversing lights and a dipping rear-view mirror. The dashboard design was the same as that fitted to the facelifted Toledo of 1975. There was no overdrive or automatic transmission option. The Dolomite 1500 offered identical specifications to the Dolomite 1300, apart from the seats, but with a 1,493 cc (91 cu in) engine and twin carburettors. Overdrive and automatic transmissions were offered as optional extras.
The more luxurious 1500HL shared the same engine and transmission as the base 1500, and the luxury fittings of the 1850HL the extra spec included a rev counter, volt meter, separate fuel and temperature dials, clock, adjustable steering column and driver's-seat height adjust, head rests, front seat rear pockets, rear centre arm rest and walnut door cappings on all four doors and twin head lights
The new 1500 models replaced the previous front-wheel drive layout with rear-wheel drive, at a time when most manufacturers of smaller cars were concentrating on front-wheel drive cars, this change was widely considered a retro-grade move But left Triumph with a completely rear-wheel drive model lineup and significant cost savings.
Diolch am 79,528,905 o olygfeydd anhygoel, mae pob un yn cael ei werthfawrogi'n fawr.
Thanks for 79,528,905 amazing views, every one is greatly appreciated.
Shot 05.01.at Bicester Heritage Centre, Bicester, Oxon 144-437
Happy ‘May the 4th’!
For this year's Star Wars Day, I have created a new build from one of the newer Star Wars Universe stories, the 2018 film - 'Solo - A Star Wars Story'.
One of the notable vehicle was a navy blue speeder. This vehicle exhibits design asymmetry, but on closer inspection, the design looks as though it is a vehicle that has been damaged along the left hand side, removing some of the external bodywork.
The vehicle I chose to reinterpret the design over is the classic 1963 Ford Falcon Sprint. This US design (different to the very similar car sold in Australia) was available with both a 2-door bodyshell, convertible and with a V8 engine, sort of a precursor to the Falcon-based Mustang launched the following year.
As well as sharing the 'Falcon' name with a future Han Solo vehicle, this model year Ford Falcon also exhibits the best representation of Ford's 1960 'Space-era' styling - rocket pod rear lamps, along with matched single lamp front end.
One styling theme not found on the earth bound car, but featured on the speeder is a kind of targa-top roof ring. I have placed this over the second row seats in an effort to balance the proportions.
This new build is created for #mocaroundgang #mocaround65 #starwars theme, hosted by @poppalars
The Travelling Post Office trains ceased as long ago as January 2004.
The vehicles were based on the Mark 1 bodyshell and had the TOPS code of NS. In this case supplemented by "A" to signify an air braked only vehicle dating from around 1977.
A pair of visiting Kleinbahn Re4/4s pause under the wires at "Claremont Road". These impressive vintage locos have both bogies powered by separate large motors crammed into the bodyshell. I have fitted their pantographs with modified Trix-pattern pickup skates to prevent snagging on the vintage Trix catenary system used on this layout. These locos can operate on 12 volts, but perform best on 14 volts DC supply. (For me, there's a kind of purity in model locos which use electric traction in the same way as their full-sized counterparts....!)
4th October 2013
456013 arrives at Clapham Junction towards the end of the fleet's time on the South Central/Southern, and before transfer to South West Trains in 2014 to allow 10 car operation on some routes before their final withdrawal at the start of 2022.
These 2 car units were a curious mix of equipment, with bodyshells substantially based on Class 321, but with front end jumpers to operate with Class 455, two traction choppers as Class 319 but with two EE507 traction motors recovered from Class 405 4-SUB units instead of the G315 as used on 319.
Production of cars ceased over the war years, but by 1946 a new vehicle was offered, the Jensen PW (a luxury saloon). Few were produced since raw materials were still in short supply. Also in 1946 body designer Eric Neale joined the company from Wolseley and his first project was the more modern coupe which followed in 1950, named the Interceptor, which was built until 1957. In 1955, Jensen started production of Neale's masterpiece, the 541, which used the then-revolutionary material of fiberglass for its bodywork. The 541 was replaced by another Neale design, the CV8 in 1962, which replaced the Austin-sourced straight-6 of the previous cars with a 6 litre American Chrysler V8. This large engine in such a lightweight car made the Jensen one of the fastest four-seaters of the time.
For its replacement (the Interceptor, launched in 1966) Jensen turned to the Italian coachbuilder, Touring, for the body design, and to steel for the material. The bodyshells themselves were built by Vignale of Italy and later by Jensen. The same 383 cu in (6.3 L) Chrysler wedge-head powerplant was used in the earlier cars with the later cars moving to the 440 cu in (7.2 L) in engine. The Interceptor was offered in saloon, convertible and coupe versions. The saloon was by far the most popular with its large, curving wrap-around rear window that doubled as a tailgate.
Related to the Interceptor was another car, the Jensen FF, the letters standing for Ferguson Formula, Ferguson Research being the inventor of the full-time all wheel drive system adopted, the first on a production sports car. Also featured was the Dunlop Maxaret anti-lock braking system in one of the first uses of ABS in a production car. Outwardly, the only differences from the Interceptor were four extra inches of length (all ahead of the windscreen) and a second row of air vents behind the front wheels. The small number of 320 FFs were constructed, and production ceased in 1971.
Class 47 diesel-electric D1661 "North Star" leaves Blue Anchor on the West Somerset Railway with a service for Minehead during the 2010 Mixed Traffic Gala.
The class 47 locomotive was an evolution of the earlier British Railways "Peak" (class 44, 45 and 46) designs, using a lighter bodyshell. 512 of these ubiquitous type 4 diesels were built between 1962 and 1968 by Brush Traction and Crewe Works. Quite a number are still in service today (notably with WCRC and DRS).
D1661 was one of the few examples of the class to be named during the 1960s. In 1974, it took the TOPS number 47077 (the guise under which I first encountered it), before being again renumbered to 47613 in 1984 (following ETH conversion) and 47840 in 1989. Prior to preservation it had been leased to First Great Western.
For more information on the class 47 locomotives, please see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_47.
Doncaster Railway Station South Yorkshire Virgin East Coast Japanese Hitachi Azuma Train passing the EMPTY factory where Sir Nigel Gresley used to build the finest BRITISH Steam Trains in the world. Virgin Trains should be ashamed at buying Foreign Trains.
VTEC plans to take delivery of its first four Azumas from Hitachi in 2018. The Class 800 Super Express is a type of electro-diesel train to be used in the United Kingdom based on the Hitachi A-train design. They have been built by Hitachi. These trains are being assembled at the Hitachi Newton Aycliffe facility from bodyshells shipped from the Kasado plant in Japan; NO body construction takes place in the UK.
A Trainspotting Nightmare these Japanese trains have NO NUMBERS. To add insult to injury they have Japanese writing. Shame on VTEC
Subject Description: Introduced in 1966, the Hillman Hunter was part of the Rootes Group ‘Arrow’ family of cars, designed to replace an older generation of Hillman, Humber and Singer models. It was a ground-up re-design within a brand-new, three-box bodyshell that was a foretaste of the Ford Cortina Mkll that was to become its biggest rival. In model terms, the Hillman Hunter has been poorly represented with, prior to the recent announcement by Oxford Diecast, only Corgi’s 1:43 representation of the 1968 London to Sydney Rally car. Introduced in 1969, this was one of the final models from Corgi’s golden age. It was a strong seller, helped by publicity in the Daily Express, which sponsored the race. It came with stickers to allow purchasers to decorate the model with sponsorship logos themselves.
AI Notes: This is largely an AI creation as, whilst I have plenty of Hillman Hunter images, it was easier to simply tell AI what I wanted than to go round endless loops to get it to place my work into an appropriate scene. Whilst I can’t vouch for its accuracy, I’m not aware of any obvious howlers (05-Mar-26).
All rights reserved. Not to be posted on Facebook or anywhere else without my prior written permission. Comments on this image are welcome here but for everything else, please send a Flickr mail. Further information about my Flickr images can be found here:
www.flickr.com/photos/northernblue109/6046035749/in/set-7....
Passing the site of the long gone Madeley Court Station on the Ironbridge Branch, is 2Q08 Darby to Shrewsbury via Ironbridge Power Station worked by Network Rails Track Assessment Unit 950 001. 950 001 was built in 1987 using the same bodyshell as the Sprinter 150 units
1/32 slot car Bugatti Type 59-50B c.1939, car #3 Prescott International meeting, driver J.P. Wimille. PP resin bodyshell and nickel chassis.
2014 "Chevrolet Camaro" in the paddocks of the 2014 CRAA classic race in Aarhus.
Driver: Elling Sebastian Aarvik (N)
Racing class: Auto-G DTC
Race number: 27
Race results in 2014 event:
Training (fri.): 17 (of 18)
Qualifying (sat.): 10 (of 19)
Heat 1 (sat): 18, RET (of 19)
Heat 2 (sun.): 18, RET (of 18)
Heat 3, final (sun.): DNS
Photo taken after heat 1.
One of the norwegian drivers, having a weekend to forget. After doing quite well in qualifying, he crashed instantly in heat one, retired early in heat two and did not make the start of heat three.
DTC stands for Danish Thundersport Championship. The cars follow the CCR MkI and MkII regulations. They consist of a chassis built by Performance AutoMotive Scandinavian AB (PASAB) fitted with a clip-on bodyshell. The engines are 5,7 litre V8s, delivering 445 hp. The available bodyshells change a little from year to year, but in 2014 there were 3 options: Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger.
Each race weekend consists of a free practice, qualifying and 3 heats, of which the last one is considered the "final"
After heat one, the top 8 will normally get reversed for the heat 2 starting grid, which often causes interesting results and is a guarantee for highly entertaining racing.
Races take place mostly in Denmark, but with occasional visits abroad. 2 races per year take place on street circuits: this one in Aarhus at the CRAA and one in Copenhagen during the Historic Grand Prix there.
Most drivers are danish, but there's always a few norwegians in the pack as well.
The driver line-up is incredibly mixed and features star drivers (past and present) like Jan Magnussen, "Super John" Nielsen, Ronnie Bremer and Casper Elgaard alongside some of Denmark's finest young racing talents with full backing from big teams, as well as a bunch of privateers, who primarily take part for the fun of racing.
At the end of each season, a driver's 3 worst results get discarded to get the final overall result.
The DTC class is widely regarded as the pinnacle of racing on danish soil and is followed intensely by media as well as spectators.
There have been some voices against the DTC being included in the CRAA, saying that this class is anything but "classic racing", which is, of course, true, but no class causes the stands to be as packed as DTC, so it certainly helps attract people (and media interest)
DTC may not be "classic racing", but it plays a major part in making the annual CRAA event so successful.
The Travelling Post Office trains ceased as long ago as January 2004.
The vehicles were based on the Mark 1 bodyshell and had the TOPS code of NS. In this case supplemented by "A" to signify an air braked only vehicle dating from around 1977.
Electric locomotive 2707 at Gent St Pieters showing the unusual front-end on this otherwise bland type of bodyshell (which features on classes 11, 21 and 27 in Belgium).
Estimated : € 6.000 - 10.000
Sold for € 44.548
The Renault Icons
Auction - Artcurial
Renault Manufacture
Flins-sur-Seine
Aubergenville - France
December 2025
- Replica inspired by the runner-up in the 1989 Supertouring Championship
- Displayed at the 1991 Bangkok Motor Show
Started in 1976, the Production, then Superproduction and Supertouring Championship quickly became very popular as the saloons competing looked similar to the standard production versions. In 1987, Renault decided to enter it with its newly introduced 21 Turbo. Totally modified, the car received a partly tubular chassis, a lighter body, four-wheel drive and an engine prepared by Sodemo, taking its power from 175 to 430 bhp. Driven by Jean Ragnotti and Jean-Louis Bousquet, the R21 brazenly dominated the 1988 season, Ragnotti winning the title and the two drivers together notching up six wins over the ten rounds that year.
The following year, changes to the regulations led to the engine being installed longitudinally rather than transversely. The car was no longer in Renault’s colours but those of Philips Car Stereo, and despite a difficult start to the season, it finished as the runner-up with 11 pole positions out of 14.
The car offered today is a display model inspired by car number 21 from the 1988 season, with a stripped-out steel bodyshell, roll cage, bucket seat and the running gear from a standard R21. It was displayed at the 1991 Bangkok Motor Show before joining the collection at a very early stage. With no engine, it represents an absolutely spectacular show car for any Supertouring fan.
The Fiat 128 Special was launched in 1974 and featured the 1290 cc engine of the Fiat 128 Rally in a four door bodyshell. Headlights also differed from the rest of the range, at the time, in being rectangular.
The Southern Electrostar with its new cab in gloss white. The windows have yet to be installed. This was the first time the revised bodyshell had been fitted onto the chassis following conversion and is seen on the test track.
Another view of the Southern Electrostar with its new cab in gloss white. The windows have yet to be installed. This was the first time the revised bodyshell had been fitted onto the chassis following conversion and is seen on the test track.
47844 is seen at Crewe Works on Thursday 30th January 2003. It had arrived at its birthplace in September 2002 after being rejected from the Class 57/3 conversion programme. It had been due to become 57307 but structural defects were found with it at Loughborough.
As D1583 it derailed at Slough in 1969 and ended up on its side after hitting a BRUTE that had fallen off the platform. It was taken to Crewe Works and repaired before completing another 33 years service. It was donated by Porterbrook Leasing to Bombardier Transportation who had plans to restore the loco as a gate guardian. The work required to bring the erstwhile 47556 up to standard was deemed prohibitive and the project was shelved. It was cut up on site by HNRC in October 2004, the final Class 47 to be disposed of at the site. A spare Class 158 bodyshell and Class 47 bogies complete the scene.
Dynacorn 1969 Camaro Coupe Replacement Body Shell poster.
These save time and money for a rust free beginning to a brand new old car.
1/32 resin slot car Saab 96 c.1964 East African Safari rally - Erik Carlsson & Gunnar Palm. PCS32 chassis & resin bodyshell.
1972 MGB roadster.
Registered in May 1973.
Anglia Car Auctions, King's Lynn -
"V5 Present
MoT Mar 2019
Chassis number: GHN5291600G
Rebuilt on a Heritage bodyshell in 2004. This car has been meticulously maintained since. Fitted with overdrive, leather trim, mohair hood, chrome wire wheels, stainless exhaust, immobiliser, Motolita woodtrim, Weber carburettor, adjustable shocks and electric windows. With the last owner for eleven years. The history file contains Heritage certificate, service invoices dating from 2004 to recent, MoTs from 2000 to present and tax discs. First registered in 1973. Mileage recorded at 44,000."
Sold for £13,780.
The Series 2 version of the 127 debuted in May 1977. It featured a restyled front and rear, a new dashboard (although almost identical in layout to that of the Series 1), larger rear side windows (using rear quarter pressings derived from those used on the Brazil market Fiat 147) and the option of the 1049 cc engine - uniquely for the 127 this was the five-bearing OHC "Brazil" 124 series engine from the 147 rather than the Fiat OHC unit from the 128. The tailgate was extended and now reached nearly to the rear bumper, addressing complaints about the high lip over which luggage had to be lifted for loading into the earlier 127 hatchbacks.
There was also a "high-cube" panel van version, known as the Fiorino which was based on the Series 2 bodyshell, and this remained in production until 1984, when a new Uno-based Fiorino debuted.
In Scandinavia and the Baltic nations it was particularly successful, and there are still many in circulation today.
Southern California Regional Rail Authority formally unveiled its first F125 diesel locomotive at Los Angeles Union Station on July 18th 2016.
As launch customer for EMD’s Tier 4-compliant passenger locomotive, the agency has ordered 40 F125s from the Progress Rail subsidiary at a total cost of around $280m. The majority of the locos are expected to be delivered by mid-2017.
Part-funded by grants from the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the new low-emission locomotives are intended to replace the 1990s-built F59PH and F59Phi locomotives currently powering most Metrolink commuter trains. According to EMD, the F125 is the cleanest diesel locomotive in the USA, in terms of reduced particulate matter and NOx emissions. Exhaust gas recycling and urea-based selective catalytic reduction are expected to reduce emissions by around 85% compared to older commuter rail locomotives.
The F125 is 21 m long and 4 445 mm high, fitting the Amtrak D-05-1355 clearance gauge which would permit it to operate in the Northeast Corridor. The full-width, monocoque, bodyshell incorporating crash energy management was manufactured in Spain by Vossloh Rail Vehicles, now part of Stadler Rail. Total weight in working order is 127 tonnes.
The four-axle locomotive rides on fabricated high speed bogies designed for 200 km/h operation. It is powered by a 20-cylinder turbocharged Caterpillar C175 four-stroke engine rated at 4 700 hp at 1 800 rev/min. Starting tractive effort is 315 kN.
The AC traction motors have individual axle control and extended-range dynamic braking, which is blended with the traditional airbrakes. This configuration permits a degree of regenerative braking to supply head-end power for the train lighting and other electrical requirements, under a process described by EMD as ‘dynamic brake energy recovery’.
Railway Gazette
Didn’t check, but I’d imagine this was a diesel. Later-style grille, 2dr bodyshell and alloys was a new combination, but from comments on the photo of the earlier white RR I saw this does seem to be something France got as an official model.
Photo of another one still to come, RR fans.
1/32 resin slot car Saab 96 c.1964 East African Safari rally - Erik Carlsson & Gunnar Palm. PCS32 chassis & resin bodyshell.
The Volkswagen Beetle (officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in Germany the Volkswagen Käfer, in Poland the Volkswagen Garbus and in the U.S. the Volkswagen Bug) is a two-door, four passenger, rear-engine economy car manufactured and marketed by German automaker Volkswagen (VW) from 1938 until 2003.
The need for this kind of car, and its functional objectives, was formulated by the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, who wanted a cheap, simple car to be mass-produced for his country's new road network. Hitler contracted Ferdinand Porsche in 1934 to design and build it. Porsche and his team took until 1938 to finalise the design. The influence on Porsche's design of other contemporary cars, such as the Tatra V570 and the work of Josef Ganz remains a subject of dispute. The result was one of the first rear-engined cars since the Brass Era. With 21,529,464 produced, the Beetle is the longest-running and most-manufactured car of a single platform ever made.
Although designed in the 1930s, the Beetle was only produced in significant numbers from 1945 on (mass production had been put on hold during the Second World War) when the model was internally designated the Volkswagen Type 1, and marketed simply as the Volkswagen (or "People's Car"). Later models were designated Volkswagen 1200, 1300, 1500, 1302 or 1303, the former three indicating engine displacement, the latter two derived from the type number. The model became widely known in its home country as the Käfer (German for "beetle") and was later marketed as such in Germany, and as the Volkswagen in other countries. For example, in France it was known as the Coccinelle (French for ladybug).
The original 25 hp Beetle was designed for a top speed around 100 km/h, which would be a viable speed on the Reichsautobahn system. As Autobahn speeds increased in the postwar years, its output was boosted to 36, then 40 hp, the configuration that lasted through 1966 and became the "classic" Volkswagen motor. The Beetle ultimately gave rise to variants, including the Karmann Ghia, Type 2 and external coachbuilders. The Beetle marked a significant trend, led by Volkswagen, Fiat, and Renault, whereby the rear-engine, rear-wheel drive layout increased from 2.6 percent of continental Western Europe's car production in 1946 to 26.6 percent in 1956. The 1948 Citroën 2CV and other European models marked a later trend to front-wheel drive in the European small car market, a trend that would come to dominate that market. In 1974, Volkswagen's own front-wheel drive Golf model succeeded the Beetle. In 1994, Volkswagen unveiled the Concept One, a "retro"-themed concept car with a resemblance to the original Beetle, and in 1998 introduced the "New Beetle", built on the contemporary Golf platform with styling recalling the original Type 1. It remained in production through 2010, being succeeded in 2011 by the more aggressively styled Beetle (A5).
In the 1999 Car of the Century competition, to determine the world's most influential car in the 20th century, the Type 1 came fourth, after the Ford Model T, the Mini, and the Citroën DS.
HISTORY
THE PEOPLES CAR
In April 1934, Adolf Hitler gave the order to Ferdinand Porsche to develop a Volkswagen (literally, "people's car" in German, pronounced [ˈfɔlksvaːɡən]). The epithet Volks- literally, "people's-" had been applied to other Nazi-sponsored consumer goods such as the Volksempfänger ("people's radio").
In May 1934, at a meeting at Berlin’s Kaiserhof Hotel, Chancellor Hitler insisted on a basic vehicle that could transport two adults and three children at 100 km/h while not using more than 7 litres of fuel per 100 km (32 mpg US/39 mpg UK). The engine had to be powerful for sustained cruising on Germany’s new Autobahnen. Everything had to be designed to ensure parts could be quickly and inexpensively exchanged. The engine had to be air-cooled because, as Hitler explained, not every country doctor had his own garage (ethylene glycol antifreeze was only just beginning to be used in high-performance liquid-cooled aircraft engines. In general, radiators filled with water would freeze unless the vehicle was kept in a heated building overnight or drained and refilled each morning).
The "People's Car" would be available to citizens of Nazi Germany through a savings scheme, or Sparkarte (savings booklet), at 990 Reichsmark, about the price of a small motorcycle. (The average weekly income was then around 32RM.)
DEVELOPMENT
Ferdinand Porsche developed the Type 12, or "Auto für Jedermann" (car for everybody) for Zündapp in 1931. Porsche already preferred the flat-four engine, and selected a swing axle rear suspension (invented by Edmund Rumpler), while Zündapp insisted on a water-cooled five-cylinder radial engine. In 1932, three prototypes were running. All of those cars were lost during World War II, the last in a bombing raid in Stuttgart in 1945.
The Zündapp prototypes were followed by the Porsche Type 32, designed in 1933 for NSU Motorenwerke AG, another motorcycle company. The Type 32 was similar in design to the Type 12, but it had a flat-four engine. NSU's exit from car manufacturing resulted in the Type 32 being abandoned at the prototype stage.
Initially designated Type 60 by Porsche, the design team included Erwin Komenda and Karl Rabe. In October 1935, the first two Type 60 prototypes, known as the V1 and V2 (V for Versuchswagen, or "test car"), were ready. In 1936, testing began of three further V3 prototypes, built in Porsche's Stuttgart shop. A batch of thirty W30 development models, produced for Porsche by Daimler-Benz, underwent 2,900,000 km of further testing in 1937. All cars had the distinctive round shape and the air-cooled, rear-mounted engine. Included in this batch was a rollback soft top called the Cabrio Limousine. A further batch of 44 VW38 pre-production cars produced in 1938 introduced split rear windows; both the split window and the dash were retained on production Type 1s until 1953. The VW38 cars were followed by another batch of 50 VW39 cars, completed in July 1939.
The car was designed to be as simple as possible mechanically. The air-cooled 25 hp (19 kW) 995 cc motors' built-in oil cooler and flat-four engine configuration's superior performance was also effective for the German Afrika Korps in Africa's desert heat. The suspension design used compact torsion bars instead of coil or leaf springs. The Beetle is nearly airtight and will briefly float.
THE FACTORY
On 26 May 1938, Hitler laid the cornerstone for the Volkswagen factory in Fallersleben. He gave a speech, in which he named the car Kraft-durch-Freude-Wagen ("Strength Through Joy Car", usually abbreviated to KdF-Wagen). The name refers to Kraft durch Freude ('Strength Through Joy'), the official leisure organization of Nazi Germany. The model village of Stadt des KdF-Wagens was created near Fallersleben in Lower Saxony in 1938 for the benefit of the workers at the newly built factory.
The factory had only produced a handful of cars by the start of the war in 1939; the first volume-produced versions of the car's chassis were military vehicles, the Type 82 Kübelwagen (approximately 52,000 built) and the amphibious Type 166 Schwimmwagen (about 14,000 built).
The first Beetles were produced on a small scale in 1941.
WARTIME PRODUCTION
A handful of KdF-Wagen (Typ 60) were produced primarily for the Nazi elite from 1941 to 1944, but production figures were small because the factories were concentrating on production of the Kübelwagen (Typ 82), the beetle for the Wehrmacht (Typ 82 E), the Schwimmwagen (Typ 166), and a handful of other variants. The factory produced another wartime vehicle: the Kommandeurswagen (Typ 87); a Beetle body mounted on a 4WD Schwimmwagen chassis. The Kommandeurswagen had widened fenders to accommodate its Kronprinz all-terrain tires. 564 Kommandeurswagen were produced up to 1944, when all production was halted because of heavy damage to the factory by Allied air raids. Much of the essential equipment had already been moved to underground bunkers for protection, which let production resume quickly after hostilities ended. Due to gasoline shortages late in the war, a few "Holzbrenner" Beetles were built powered by pyrolysis gas producers located under the front hood.
POST-WAR PRODUCTION AND BOOM
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.
Mass production of civilian VW cars did not start until post-war occupation. The Volkswagen factory 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; an official report included the phrases "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. 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. 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 that 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. Knowing Germany needed jobs and the British Army needed vehicles. Hirst persuaded the British military to order 20,000 cars, and by March 1946 the factory was producing 1,000 cars a month (in Army khaki, under the name Volkswagen Type 1), which Hirst said "was the limit set by the availability of materials". During this period, the car reverted to its original name of Volkswagen and the town was renamed Wolfsburg. The first 1,785 Type 1s were made in 1945.
After World War II, it was officially designated the Volkswagen Type 1, but was more commonly known as the Beetle.Following the British Army-led restart of production and Hirst's establishment of sales network and exports to Netherlands, former Opel manager (and formerly a detractor of the Volkswagen) Heinz Nordhoff was appointed director of the Volkswagen factory in 1949. Under Nordhoff, 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 and 0–100 km/h in 27.5 seconds with fuel consumption of 6.7 l/100 km (36 mpg) for the standard 25 kW (34 hp) engine. This was far superior to the Citroën 2CV, which was aimed at a low speed/poor road rural peasant market, and Morris Minor, designed for a market with no motorways / freeways; it was even competitive with more advanced small city cars like the Austin Mini.
In Small Wonder, Walter Henry Nelson wrote:
"The engine fires up immediately without a choke. It has tolerable road-handling and is economical to maintain. Although a small car, the engine has great elasticity and gave the feeling of better output than its small nominal size."
There were other, less-numerous models, as well. The Hebmüller cabriolet (officially Type 14A), a sporty two-seater, was built between 1949 and 1953; it numbered 696. The Type 18A, a fixed-top cabriolet, was produced by Austro-Tatra as a police and fire unit; 203 were assembled between January 1950 and March 1953.
The chassis became a technological and parts donor to Volkswagen Type 2 (also known as Bulli) and external coachbuilders like Rometsch, Dannenhauer & Stauss, Wilhelm Karmann, Enzmann, Beutler, Ghia-Aigle, Hebmüller & Söhne, Drews, Wendler.
On 17 February 1972, when Beetle No. 15,007,034 was produced, Beetle production surpassed that of the previous record holder, the Ford Model T. By 1973, total production was over 16 million, and by 23 June 1992, over 21 million had been produced.
DECLINE
Though extremely successful in the 1960s, the Beetle was increasingly faced with stiff competition from more modern designs globally. The Japanese had refined rear-wheel-drive, water-cooled, front-engine small cars including the Datsun 510 and Toyota Corona, whose sales in the North American market grew rapidly at the expense of Volkswagen in the late 1960s. Honda introduced the N600, based on the space-efficient transverse-engine, front-wheel-drive layout of the original Austin Mini, to the North American market in late 1969, and upgraded the model to the Honda Civic in 1972. The Japanese "big three" would soon dominate compact auto sales in North America. In 1971 Ford introduced its Pinto, which had some market impact as a low cost alternative. As the 1960s came to a close, Volkswagen faced increasingly stiff competition from European cars as well. The Beetle was faced with competition from new designs like the Fiat 127 and Renault 5, and more robust designs based on the Austin Mini layout such as the Superminis. German competitors, Ford and Opel also enjoyed strong sales of modern smaller cars like the Ford Escort and Opel Kadett. Volkswagen's attempts to boost the power of their air-cooled motor to meet the demands of higher highway speeds in the late 1960s, then comply with new pollution control regulations, caused problems for reliability and fuel efficiency that impaired the reputation of the aging design. Safety issues with the Beetle came under increasing scrutiny, culminating in the 1972 release of a rather scathing report. During the early 1970s, sales of the Beetle in Europe and North America plummeted.
There were other models introduced to supplement the Beetle in the VW product line throughout the 1960s; the Type 3, Type 4, and the NSU-based and larger K70. None of these models, aimed at more upscale markets, achieved the level of success as the Beetle. The over-reliance on a single model, now in decline, meant that Volkswagen was in financial crisis by 1974. It needed German government funding to produce the Beetle's replacement.
Production lines at Wolfsburg switched to the new water-cooled, front-engined, front-wheel drive Golf designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro in 1974, sold in North America at the time as the "Rabbit". The Golf would eventually become Volkswagen's most successful model since the Beetle. The Golf would be periodically redesigned over its lifetime, entering its seventh generation in 2012, with only a few components carried over between generations, while the Beetle had only minor refinements of its original design.
The Golf did not kill Beetle production, nor did the smaller Polo which was launched a year later. Production of the Beetle continued in smaller numbers at other German factories until 19 January 1978, when mainstream production shifted to Brazil and Mexico: markets where low operating cost was an important factor. However, this shift in production did not completely end sales of the Beetle in Europe, although after this date sales of the Beetle in Europe were very low. Beetle sedans were produced for U.S. markets until July 1977 and for European markets until 1985, with private companies continuing to import cars produced in Mexico after 1985. The Beetle convertible/Cabriolet ended production (as 1979 models) as of January 31, 1980.
The last Beetle was produced in Puebla, Mexico, in July 2003. The final batch of 3,000 Beetles were sold as 2004 models and badged as the Última Edición, with whitewall tires, a host of previously discontinued chrome trim, and the choice of two special paint colors taken from the New Beetle. Production in Brazil ended in 1986, then started again in 1993 and continued until 1996.
The Beetle outlasted most other cars which had adopted the rear air-cooled engine layout such as those by Subaru, Fiat, and General Motors. Porsche's 356 series which originally used some Volkswagen sourced parts, continued to use the classic rear engine layout (which later became water-cooled) in the Porsche 911 996 series, which remains competitive in the second decade of the 21st century.
WORLDWIDE END OF PRODUCTION
By 2002, over 21 million Type 1s had been produced, but by 2003, annual production had dropped to 30,000 from a peak of 1.3 million in 1971. VW announced the end of production in June 2003, citing decreasing demand, and the final original Type 1 VW Beetle (No. 21,529,464) rolled off the production line at Puebla, Mexico, on 30 July 2003 65 years after its original launch. This last Beetle, nicknamed El Rey (Spanish for "The King" after a legendary Mexican song by José Alfredo Jiménez) was delivered to the company's museum in Wolfsburg, Germany.
To celebrate the occasion, Volkswagen marketed a final special series of 3,000 Beetles marketed as "Última Edición" (Final Edition) in light blue (Aquarius Blue) or beige (Harvest Moon Beige). Each car included the 1.6 engine, whitewall tires, a CD player with four speakers, chrome bumpers, trim, hub caps and exterior mirrors, a Wolfsburg emblem above the front trunk's handle, chrome glove box badge, body coloured wheels, tinted glass, a rear parcel shelf, and VW Última Edición plaque.
A mariachi band serenaded production of the last car. In Mexico, there was an advertising campaign as a goodbye for the Beetle. In one of the ads was a very small parking space on the street, and many big cars tried to use it, but could not. After a while, a sign appears in that parking space saying: "Es increíble que un auto tan pequeño deje un vacío tan grande" (It is incredible that a car so small can leave such a large void). Another depicted the rear end of a 1954 Beetle (the year Volkswagen was established in Mexico) in the left side of the ad, reading "Erase una vez..." (Once upon a time...) and the last 2003 Beetle in the right side, reading "Fin" (The end). There were other ads with the same nostalgic tone.
- Engine: Fuel-injected (Bosch Digifant) four-cylinder horizontally opposed, 1,584 cc, 50 hp (37 kW), 98.1 N·m (72.4 lb·ft) @ 2,200 rpm, three-way catalytic converter
- Rated fuel mileage: 32.5 mpg-US (7.2 L/100 km; 39.0 mpg-imp)
- Max cruising speed: 130 km/h
- Brakes: front disc, rear drum
- Passengers: Five
- Tank: 40 L (11 US gal; 9 imp gal)
- Colours: Aquarius blue, Harvest Moon beige.
PROTOTYPES
DIESEL
In 1951, Volkswagen prototyped a 1.3 L diesel engine. Volkswagen made only two of these air-cooled boxer diesel engines (not turbocharged), and installed one engine in a Type 1 and another in a Type 2. The diesel Beetle was time tested on the Nürburgring and achieved 0–100 km/h in 60 seconds.
DESIGN
The Beetle featured a rear-located, rear-wheel drive, air-cooled four-cylinder, boxer engine in a two-door bodywork featuring a flat front windscreen, accommodating four passengers and providing luggage storage under the front bonnet and behind the rear seat – and offering a coefficient of drag of 0.41; to this relatively good CD, the also streamlined rear of car was of help. The bodywork attached with eighteen bolts to its nearly flat chassis which featured a central structural tunnel. Front and rear suspension featured torsion bars along with front stabilizer bar – providing independent suspension at all wheels. Certain initial features were subsequently revised, including mechanical drum brakes, split-window rear windows, mechanical direction-indicators and the non-synchronized gearbox. Other features, including its distinctive overall shape, endured.
Its engine, transmission, and cylinder heads were constructed of light alloy. An engine oil cooler (located in the engine fan's shroud) ensured optimal engine operating temperature and long engine life, optimized by a thermostat that bypassed the oil cooler when the engine was cold. Later models of the carburetor featured an automatic choke. Engine intake air passed through a metallic filter, while heavier particles were captured by an oil bath. After 1960, steering featured a hydraulic damper that absorbed steering irregularities.
Indicative of the car's utilitarian design, the interior featured painted metal surfaces, a metal dash consolidating instruments in a single, circular binnacle, adjustable front seats, a fold-down rear seat, optional swing-out rear windows, front windows with pivoting vent windows, heating via air-to-air exchange manifolds operating off the engine's heat, and a windshield washer system that eschewed the complexity and cost of an additional electric pump and instead received its pressurization from the car's spare tire (located in the front luggage compartment) which was accordingly overinflated to accommodate the washer function.
Throughout its production, VW marketed the Beetle with a four-speed manual transmission. From 1961 (and almost exclusively in Europe), VW offered an optional version of the Saxomat semi-automatic transmission: a regular 4-speed manual transaxle coupled to an electromagnetic clutch with a centrifugal clutch used for idle. Subsequently (beginning in 1967 in Europe and 1968 in the United States), VW offered an optional semi-automatic transmission (marketed as Automatic Stick Shift and also called AutoStick[citation needed]), which was a 3-speed manual coupled to an electro-pneumatic clutch and torque converter.
While the overall appearance of the Beetle changed little over its life span, it received over 78,000 incremental changes during its production.
EVOLUTION AND DESIGN CHANGES
BEETLE CABRIOLET
It was in 1948 that Wilhelm Karmann first bought a VW Beetle sedan and converted it into a four-seated convertible. The Beetle Cabriolet began production in 1949 by Karmann in Osnabrück. After successfully presenting it at VW in Wolfsburg, production started in 1949.
The convertible was more than a Beetle with a folding top. To compensate for the strength lost in removing the roof, the sills were reinforced with welded U-channel rails, a transverse beam was fitted below the front edge of the rear seat cushion, and the side cowl-panels below the instrument panel were double-wall. In addition, the lower corners of the door apertures had welded-in curved gussets, and the doors had secondary alignment wedges at the B-pillar.
The top was cabriolet-style with a full inner headliner hiding the folding mechanism and crossbars. In between the two top layers was 25 mm of insulation. The rear window was tempered safety glass, and after 1968, heated. Due to the thickness of the top, it remained quite tall when folded. To enable the driver to see over the lowered top, the inside rearview was mounted on an offset pivot. By twisting the mirror 180 degrees on a longitudinal axis, the mirror glass would raise approximately 5.1 cm.
The convertible was generally more lavishly equipped than the sedan with dual rear ashtrays, twin map pockets, a visor vanity mirror on the passenger side, rear stone shields, and through 1969, wheel trim rings. Many of these items did not become available on other Beetles until the advent of the optional "L" (Luxus) Package of 1970.
After a number of stylistic and technical alterations made to the Karmann cabriolet, (corresponding to the many changes VW made to the Beetle throughout its history), the last of 331,847 cabriolets came off the production line on 10 January 1980.
1950–1959 MODELS
During this period, a myriad of changes were made throughout the vehicle beginning with the availability of hydraulic brakes and a folding fabric sunroof in 1950. The rear window of the VW Beetle evolved from a divided or "split" oval, to a singular oval. The change occurred between October 1952 and March 1953. Beetles built during this time were known as a "Zwitter", or "hybrid", as they used the split-window bodyshell with oval-model chrome trim, vent windows and dashboard.
1953 models received a redesigned instrument panel. The one-piece “Pope's Nose” combination license plate/brake light was replaced by a smaller flat-bottomed license plate light. The brake light function was transferred to new heart-shaped lamps located in the top of the taillight housings.
In 1954, Volkswagen added 2 mm to the cylinder bore, increasing the displacement from 1,131 (1100) cc to 1,192 (1200) cc. This coincided with upgrades to various key components including a redesign of the crankshaft. This increased power from 30 hp (22 kW; 30 PS) to 36 hp (27 kW; 36 PS) and improved the engine's free revving abilities without compromising torque at lower engine speeds. At the same time, compression ratios were progressively raised as, little by little, the octane ratings of available fuel was raised in major markets during the 1950s and 1960s.
In 1955, the separate brake lights were discontinued and were combined into a new larger taillight housing. The traditional VW semaphore turn signals were replaced by conventional flashing directional indicator lamps for North America.
For 1956, the Beetle received what would become one of its more distinctive features, a set of twin chrome tailpipes. Models for North America gained taller bumper guards and tubular overrider bars.
For 1958, the Beetle received a revised instrument panel, and a larger rectangular rear window replaced the previous oval design.
1960–1969 MODELS
1960 models received a front sway bar along with a hydraulic steering damper.
For 1961, significant technical advances occurred in the form of a new engine and transmission. The engine remained at 1200cc but the power increased to 40 hp (30 kW; 41 PS) primarily due to an increase in compression ratio to 7.1:1. The carburetor received an electric automatic choke and the transmission was now synchronized on all forward gears. The traditional semaphore turns signals were replaced by conventional flashing directional indicators worldwide.
For 1962, the Beetle received a mechanical fuel level gauge in place of the former fuel tap. At the rear, larger tail lights were introduced incorporating a separate amber turn signal section to meet new European standards (these turn signals remained red in the US market until 1973). The former hand-pump style windscreen washer was replaced by a new design using compressed air. A Schrader valve located on the washer fluid tank allowed the system to be charged at a filling station to the recommended 35 psi (2.4 bar).
1964 models could be identified by a widened light housing on the engine lid over the rear license plate.
The largest change to date for the Beetle was in 1965: the majority of the body stampings were revised, which allowed for significantly larger windows. The windshield increased in area by 11% and was now slightly curved, rather than flat. Door windows increased accordingly by 6% (and door vent window edges were canted slightly back), rear side windows 17.5%, and the rear window 19.5%. The result was a more open, airy, modern look.
For 1966, the big news was an optional new 1300cc 50 hp (37 kW; 51 PS) engine in lieu of the previous 1200cc engine that had been the sole engine since 1954. Models so equipped carried a "1300" badge on the engine lid. The 1300cc engine was standard for North America.
For 1967, a yet-again larger-displacement engine was made available: 1500cc, 53 hp (40 kW; 54 PS) at 4,200 rpm. 1200 and 1300 engines continued to be available, as many markets based their taxation on engine size. 1500cc Beetles were equipped with front disc brakes and were identified with a "VW 1500" badge on the engine lid. North America received the 1500 engine as standard equipment, but did not receive front disc brakes. These models were identified by a "Volkswagen" badge on the engine lid.
The rear suspension was significantly revised including a widened track, softer torsion bars and the addition of a unique Z-configuration equalizing torsion spring. On US, UK and Ireland models, the generator output was increased from 180 to 360 watts, and the entire electrical system was upgraded from 6 volts to 12 volts. The clutch disc also increased in size and changes were made to the flywheel. New equipment included a driver's armrest on the door and locking buttons on both doors. Safety improvements included two-speed windscreen wipers, reversing lights (in some markets), and a driver's side mirror. In accord with the newly enacted US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108, North American models received a dual-circuit brake system, the clear glass headlamp covers were deleted; the headlamps were brought forward to the leading edge of the front fenders, and the sealed-beam units were exposed and surrounded by chrome bezels.
1968 was a year of major change. The most noticeable of which were the new larger, higher mounted C-section bumpers. At the rear, new larger taillamps were adopted and were able to accommodate backup lamps, which were previously separate bumper-mounted units. Beetles worldwide received the '67 North American style vertical headlamp placement, but with replaceable-bulb headlamps compliant with ECE regulations rather than the US sealed beams. Other improvements were a new outside gas filler with spring-loaded flap, eliminating the need to open the trunk to refuel. The fuel gauge was integrated with the speedometer and was now electrically-actuated rather than cable-operated. The windscreen washer was now pressured by the spare tire, which was to be maintained at a pressure of 42 psi (2.9 bar). A pressure valve in the connecting hose closed airflow to the fluid reservoir if spare tire pressure fell below 30 psi (2.1 bar), which was above the recommended pressures for the road tires. A ventilation system was introduced, which drew fresh air into the cabin from louvres on the front decklid. For improved shifting, the shift lever was shortened, stiffened and moved rearward by
78 mm.
A number of safety improvements were made in order to comply with new American safety regulations: these included trigger-operated outside door handles, a secondary front hood latch, collapsing steering column, soft vent window latches, rotary glove compartment latch and instrument panel knobs labeled with pictographs. US models received a padded instrument panel that was optional in other markets. To meet North American head restraint requirements, VW developed the industry's first high-back bucket seat.
A new 3-speed semi-automatic gear box with torque converter and vacuum-operated clutch became available mid-production year. The semi-automatic models received a vastly improved semi-trailing-arm rear suspension (also known as "Independent Rear Suspension" although the earlier swing axle Beetles were also independent) and eliminated the need for the equalizing torsion spring. This new rear suspension layout would eventually become an option on later models. Beetles equipped with the automatic were identified with a "VW Automatic" badge on the engine lid and a matching decal in the rear window. In North America, the badging and decal were later revised to read, "Automatic Stick Shift".
For 1969, the only exterior change was the fuel filler flap no longer had a finger indentation due to a new interior-mounted fuel door release. For North America, the Beetle received a heated rear window, day/night mirror and the semi-trailing, independent rear-arm suspension as standard equipment.
1970–1979 MODELS
In 1970, A new "L" (Luxus) Package was introduced including, among other items, twin map pockets, dual rear ashtrays, full carpeting, a passenger-side visor vanity mirror, and rubber bumper moldings. The optional 1500 cc engine now came with an engine lid having two rows of cooling louvers, while the convertible's engine lid gained two additional sets for a total of four. For North America, the 1500 cc engine was enlarged to 1600 cc engine and produced 57 hp (43 kW; 58 PS)
For 1971, for the first time there were two Beetles, the familiar standard Beetle and a new larger version that was different from the windscreen forward. All Beetles received an engine upgrade: the optional 1500 cc engine was replaced by a 1600 cc version with twin-port cylinder heads and a larger, relocated oil cooler. The new engine produced 60 hp (45 kW; 61 PS). The ventilation system was improved with the original dash-top vents augmented by a second pair aimed directly at the driver and passenger. For the first time the system was a flow-through design with crescent-shaped air exits fitted behind the rear quarter windows. Airflow could be increased via an optional 2-speed fan. The standard Beetle was now badged as the VW 1300; when equipped with the 1600 engine, it was badged 1300 S, to avoided confusion with the Type 3, which wore VW 1600 badges.
The new larger Beetle was sold as the 1302/1302 S, offering nearly 50% increased luggage capacity. A new MacPherson strut front suspension was incorporated, similar to what was used in the Type 4, and the front track was widened. The new suspension layout allowed the spare tire to be positioned flat under the trunk floor, although the car had to be lengthened slightly to accomplish this. This also allowed a reduction in turning radius. To gain additional trunk volume, the under-dash panel was lowered, allowing the fuel tank to be shifted rearward. From the windscreen back the big Beetle was identical to its smaller progenitor, except for having the semi-trailing arm rear suspension as standard equipment. Overall, the big Beetle was 50 mm longer in length and 35 mm wider and rode on a 20 mm longer wheelbase than the standard model. Both Beetles were available with or without the L Package. The convertible was now based on the 1302 body. In North America, the 1302 was marketed as the Super Beetle and came only with the L Package and 1600 cc engine. While it lacked the front disc brakes that normally accompanied the larger motor, it was fitted with brake drums that were slightly larger than the standard Beetle. With the Super Beetle being sold as the premium model in North America, the standard Beetle, while retaining the same 1600 cc engine, was stripped of many of its earlier features in order to reduce the selling price. Bright window and running board moldings disappeared, along with the day/night mirror, horn ring, map pocket, locking glove box and miscellaneous other items.
1972 models had an 11% larger rear window 40 mm taller, larger front brakes[citation needed] and the convertible engine lid with four rows of louvres was now used on all Beetles. Inside the vehicle, a four-spoke energy-absorbing steering wheel was introduced, the windshield wiper/washer knob was replaced in favor of a steering column stalk, and intermittent wipers were a new option available in selected markets. An engine compartment socket for the proprietary VW Diagnosis system was also introduced. The rear luggage area was fitted with a folding parcel shelf. A limited-edition Commemorative model was launched in celebration of the Beetle's passing the record of the Ford Model T as the world's most-produced automobile. The Commemorative Beetle was a 1302 LS finished in a special Marathon Blue Metallic paint and unique 4.5 x 15 styled steel wheels. In the U.S., it was marketed as the Super Beetle Baja Champion SE.
1973 models featured significantly-enlarged "elephant foot" taillamps mounted in reshaped rear fenders. In the engine bay, the oil-bath air cleaner gave way to a dry element filter, and the generator was replaced with an alternator. The 1302/Super became the 1303 with a new taller wrap-around windscreen. The changes to the cowl and windshield resulted in slight redesign of the front hood. The instrument panel, formerly shared with the standard Beetle, was all-new and incorporated a raised speedometer pod, rocker-style switches and side-window defrosters. The limited-edition GSR (Gelb-Schwarz Rennen) was a 1303 S available only in Saturn Yellow paint equipped with special 140 mm wide sport wheels fitted with 175/70-15 Pirelli Cinturato CN36 high-performance radial tires. Front and rear deck lids were finished in matte black, as was all exterior trim with the exception of the chrome headlamp bezels. Inside were corduroy and leatherette high-bolstered sport seats and a small diameter three-spoke steering wheel with padded leather rim and a small red VW logo on the bottom spoke. In North America, the GSR was sold as the Super Beetle Sports Bug. The North American model had body-color deck lids and was available in Marathon Blue Metallic in addition to Saturn Yellow. In some markets, the sport wheels (in both 4.5-inch and 5.5-inch widths), sport steering wheel and sport seats became available as stand-alone options.
For 1974, North American models received newly required 8.0 km/h impact bumpers mounted on self-restoring energy absorbers, which added approximately 25 mm to the car's overall length. On the Super Beetle, the steering knuckle, and consequently the lower attachment point of the strut, was redesigned to improve handling and stability in the event of a tire blowout. A limited-edition Big Beetle was introduced based on the 1303 LS. Available in unique metallic paint colors, the car featured styled-steel 5.5 in (140 mm) wide sport wheels wrapped in 175/70-15 tires, corduroy seat inserts, upgraded loop-pile carpet, wood-look instrument panel trim and a padded steering wheel with bright accents. In the North American market, a limited-edition Sun Bug was introduced as a standard Beetle or Super Beetle. Both were finished in metallic gold and featured styled-steel 4.5 in (110 mm)-wide sport wheels. Inside were brown corduroy and leatherette seats, loop-pile carpet, and padded four-spoke deluxe steering wheel. The Super Beetle Sun Bug included a sliding-steel sunroof.
In 1975, front turn indicators were moved from the top of the front fenders down into the bumper. At the rear, the license plate light housing was now molded of plastic with a ribbed top surface. To comply with tightening emission standards, the 1600 cc engine in Japanese and North American markets received Bosch L-Jetronic fuel injection, a derivative of the Bosch D-Jetronic system formerly used in the VW Type 3 and Type 4. The injected engine received a new muffler and in California a catalytic converter. This necessitated a bulge in the rear apron under the rear bumper and replaced the distinctive twin "pea shooter" tailpipes with a single offset pipe, making injected models identifiable at a glance. 5 mph (8.0 km/h) bumper-equipped North American models retained fender-top front indicators. The 1303 received rack and pinion steering. In North America, the 1303/Super Beetle sedan was moved upmarket and was now christened La Grande Bug. Similar to the Big Beetle of 1974, La Grande Bug was available in blue or green metallic paint in the U.S. and blue, green or gold metallic in Canada and was equipped with the same features as the 1974 Sun Bug. Mid-year, the Love Bug was introduced for North America: based on the standard Beetle, it was available only in Phoenix Red or Ravenna Green (both colors shared with the VW-Porsche 914) with all exterior trim finished in matte black. A price leader, the Love Bug retailed for less than a standard Beetle. The "Volkswagen" script on the engine lid of all North American Beetles was replaced with a "Fuel Injection" badge.
In 1976, the 1303/La Grande Bug was discontinued, with the larger body continuing only in convertible form. To make up for the loss in North American markets, the standard Beetle was upgraded, regaining some of the features that were removed in 1971. In addition, the 2-speed ventilation fan was included, previously available in North America only on the larger Beetle. The automatic stickshift option was discontinued as well.
1977 models received new front seats with separate head restraints. This was the final model year for the Beetle sedan in North America. The convertible was offered in a Champagne Edition in triple white with the padded deluxe steering wheel, burled elm-grain dash trim and (110 mm wide sport wheels. Approximately 1,000 Champagne Editions were produced.
WIKIPEDIA
1 Of 31 made for the 1995 Judge Dread film.
Thirty-one 101s were converted by Land Rover with artistically styled bodyshells for the 1995 Sylvester Stallone film Judge Dredd. Land Rover is supposedly the world's only surviving vehicle manufacturer in 2139 when the film is set, and the green oval logo can be seen on the front of the vehicles, known as "City CABs". Several of these prop vehicles still exist in driveable condition and are often seen at Land Rover events.
Motorcycles and automobiles
IZh-2126 Oda.
The first IZh motorcycle was 1928's IZh 1, a 1200cc across-the-frame V-twin with shaft drive, designed by the Soviet engineer Pyotr Vladimirovich Mokharov (1888–1934).
The IZh automobiles were copies of Moskvitch models 412 and later AZLK-2138 and 2140, until the IZh-2126 Oda. The Oda, bore a very close resemblance to the Moskvitch AZLK-2141 Aleko, but had a completely different rear-wheel drive design.
AZLK 412 based IZh models, which were completely IZh own designs were 2715, 27151, 2125 and 21251. 2125 was built until 1982, when it was facelifted along with IZh 412 IE, 2715 and 27121. The newer version of 2125 was named 21251. All of the IZh own models were based on AZLK 412 and the bodyshell(with the exception of the rear part, witch were different on 2715/27151 and 2125/21251) along with mechanical parts were direct copies of AZLK 412.
Currently, IZh produces one Kia model and two Lada models.
"Second life" of an Izh bike
Between 1973 and 1979 IZh was one of the makes marketed by SATRA in the United Kingdom under the Cossack Motorcycles brand; the Planeta and Jupiter models.[3]
Izh Motorcycles now produces four models: the Yunker, Planet 5, Jupiter,and Cornet. They all have 350cc two stroke engines except the Cornet which has a 50cc engine. On the Yunker and the Jupiter the motors are Liquid cooled.
There are also Special Purpose motorcycles for police, cargo carry, and a "Swamp Rover" all based on other production models.
A 650cc Rotax-powered Sport the PS-S 650 Rotax, and what appears to be an updated Planet 5 aptly called Planet 7 are apparently entering production soon.
Upwards of 11 million motorcycles have been produced by the IZh.
IzhAvto, the car building branch of the company filed for bankruptcy in August 2009.
This uses the Airfix bodyshell and is mounted on a Penelope pitlane chassis. I've built the car for the 2013 Sprite proxy race.
2014 "Chevrolet Camaro" in the paddocks of the 2014 CRAA classic race in Aarhus.
Driver: Patrick Egsgaard (DK)
Racing class: Auto-G DTC
Race number: 8
Race results in 2014 event:
Training (sat.): 11 (of 18)
Qualifying (sat.): 8 (of 19)
Heat 1 (sat): 15, RET (of 19)
Heat 2 (sun.): 8 (of 18)
Heat 3, final (sun.): 8 (of 18)
Photo taken after heat 1, where the car retired, so it's probably being towed out in the back for "surgery"
DTC stands for Danish Thundersport Championship. The cars follow the CCR MkI and MkII regulations. They consist of a chassis built by Performance AutoMotive Scandinavian AB (PASAB) fitted with a clip-on bodyshell. The engines are 5,7 litre V8s, delivering 445 hp. The available bodyshells change a little from year to year, but in 2014 there were 3 options: Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger.
Each race weekend consists of a free practice, qualifying and 3 heats, of which the last one is considered the "final"
After heat one, the top 8 will normally get reversed for the heat 2 starting grid, which often causes interesting results and is a guarantee for highly entertaining racing.
Races take place mostly in Denmark, but with occasional visits abroad. 2 races per year take place on street circuits: this one in Aarhus at the CRAA and one in Copenhagen during the Historic Grand Prix there.
Most drivers are danish, but there's always a few norwegians in the pack as well.
The driver line-up is incredibly mixed and features star drivers (past and present) like Jan Magnussen, "Super John" Nielsen, Ronnie Bremer and Casper Elgaard alongside some of Denmark's finest young racing talents with full backing from big teams, as well as a bunch of privateers, who primarily take part for the fun of racing.
At the end of each season, a driver's 3 worst results get discarded to get the final overall result.
The DTC class is widely regarded as the pinnacle of racing on danish soil and is followed intensely by media as well as spectators.
There have been some voices against the DTC being included in the CRAA, saying that this class is anything but "classic racing", which is, of course, true, but no class causes the stands to be as packed as DTC, so it certainly helps attract people (and media interest)
DTC may not be "classic racing", but it plays a major part in making the annual CRAA event so successful.
Doncaster Railway Station South Yorkshire Virgin East Coast Japanese Hitachi Azuma Train passing the EMPTY factory where Sir Nigel Gresley used to build the finest BRITISH Steam Trains in the world. Virgin Trains should be ashamed at buying Foreign Trains.
VTEC plans to take delivery of its first four Azumas from Hitachi in 2018. The Class 800 Super Express is a type of electro-diesel train to be used in the United Kingdom based on the Hitachi A-train design. They have been built by Hitachi. These trains are being assembled at the Hitachi Newton Aycliffe facility from bodyshells shipped from the Kasado plant in Japan; NO body construction takes place in the UK.
A Trainspotting Nightmare these Japanese trains have NO NUMBERS. To add insult to injury they have Japanese writing. Shame on VTEC
- Delivered new in France
- Automatic transmission
- Owned by Bernard Fornas since 2013
- Only 7.500 kilometres recorded
Bonhams : The Zoute Sale
Important Collectors' Motor Cars
The Zoute Grand Prix Gallery
Estimated : € 45.000 - 65.000
Sold for € 49.450
Zoute Grand Prix Car Week 2025
Knokke - Zoute
België - Belgium
October 2025
With E-Type sales falling and an outright ban on convertibles looming in its most important export market – the USA – Jaguar addressed the problem of defining its successor as the 1960s drew to a close. Code named 'XJ27', the car that would evolve into the XJ-S was styled by Malcolm Sayer (the man responsible for the E-Type) under the fatherly eye of Jaguar boss, Sir William Lyons.
Conceived as a comfortable and long-legged Grande Routière, rather than an out-and-out sports car like the preceding E-Type, the XJ-S made use of the Jaguar XJ6/XJ12 saloon platform and running gear. Shorter in the wheelbase than its saloon siblings, the XJ-S debuted at the 1976 Frankfurt Motor Show as a V12-powered coupé with six-cylinder and soft-top versions following in the 1980s, the expected ban on open cars having failed to materialise.
One of the most important developments in the evolution of the V12-powered XJ-S was the introduction of the HE (High Efficiency) engine in 1981. Incorporating a new 'Fireball' cylinder heads, designed by Swiss engineer Michael May, this more fuel-efficient unit enabled the top-of-the-range XJ-S to meet tighter worldwide emissions legislation. Combined with a higher (2.88:1) final drive ratio, the result was an improvement in fuel consumption of up to 20% at some engine speeds. It is worth noting that that figure applied to the automatic transmission version, which with a top speed of 155mph (approximately 249km/h) was the world's fastest 'slush pumper'.
The car's 150mph performance was not achieved without penalty however, its prodigious thirst causing sales to nosedive as oil prices soared. However, the arrival of the HE (High Efficiency) V12 in 1981 and the introduction of the smaller six enabled it to weather the storm. The introduction of the six-cylinder model in 1983 coincided with that of the Targa-style cabriolet - the first open Jaguar since the E-Type's discontinuation - but it was not until 1988 that a full convertible became available.
Jaguar's first response to demands for an open-top XJ-S was somewhat conservative in engineering terms. The car had not been designed with an open version in mind, so a Targa-style arrangement was adopted for the XJ-S Cabriolet, which retained a substantial roll hoop in the interests of maintaining rigidity in the absence of a fixed roof. Essentially an exercise in niche marketing to test public reaction, the Cabriolet's production was entrusted to outside specialist contractors, with bodyshells being transported back and forth across the Midlands before returning to the Brown's Lane factory prior to final despatch. Following the Cabriolet's deletion, both the Coupé and conventional Convertible models lasted until the end of XJ-S production in 1996.
This left-hand drive, automatic transmission XJ-S V12 Convertible was manufactured on 6th August 1990 and delivered new to Jaguar France in Paris finished in Solent Blue metallic with Magnolia interior. Mr Fornas purchased the car from the well known dealer Jean Guikas (GTC Sarl) in July 2013 when it had a genuine total of 3,395 kilometres on the odometer. Reportedly, the car had had only one previous owner (Mr Jacques Delair, 8, rue du Treuil, 16160 Gond Pontouve) who bought it from Jaguar Bordeaux, the car being delivered to him on 13th July 1990. He never drove the car on public roads but only within the grounds of his French château, hence the minimal invoices accompanying it. The car also comes with a JDHT certificate and is presented in the excellent condition one would expect of a car that has covered a trifling 7,500 kilometres from new!
Chrysler New Yorker 1954. Chrysler and DeSoto shared bodies and both carried on with the 1949-52 bodyshell but freshened it up with new one-piece windscreen, wrap around rear windows and new rear wings.
Withdrawn CP Whitcomb A1A-A1A 1310 stands dumped in the small compound at the rear of Barreiro depot, next to the bodyshell of 1809. 29th August 1990.
The assembled bodyshell has had the doors refitted and the upper windscreen and rooflights fitted. The joint between the upper and lower sections of the dashboard has been fitted, sanded and repainted as it is visible through the windscreen
Class 47 diesel-electric D1661 "North Star" leaves Blue Anchor on the West Somerset Railway with a service for Minehead during the 2010 Mixed Traffic Gala.
The class 47 locomotive was an evolution of the earlier British Railways "Peak" (class 44, 45 and 46) designs, using a lighter bodyshell. 512 of these ubiquitous type 4 diesels were built between 1962 and 1968 by Brush Traction and Crewe Works. Quite a number are still in service today (notably with WCRC and DRS).
D1661 was one of the few examples of the class to be named during the 1960s. In 1974, it took the TOPS number 47077 (the guise under which I first encountered it), before being again renumbered to 47613 in 1984 (following ETH conversion) and 47840 in 1989. Prior to preservation it had been leased to First Great Western.
For more information on the class 47 locomotives, please see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_47.
1/32 slot car Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV 1960 Targa Florio. Driven by Vito Coco & Vito Sabbia to 4th in class and 20th place overall. Resin bodyshell and PCS32 chassis.
Bodyshell is almost complete now, just some minor bits to rectify. The job I’m not looking forward to is all the bare metal foil required for the window trims, door handles etc. It looks good once done, but does require some patience...
1/32 resn slot car Ford Cortina mk3 2.5 litre V6 in BTCC Motorcraft livery c.1975. Modified PSR resin bodyshell with PCS32 chassis & resin inserts.
The Classic saloon sported a two or four door bodyshell which came complete with a four headlamp front grille, Anglia style "reverse slope" rear window and large "gull wing" tail-fins. The overall look of the 109E Classic was too American for most tastes and combined with the cars lack of power, the model failed to sell. After only one year in production the model was replaced by a slightly improved 116E Classic.
NSU 368 - 1967 Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite Evocation
Sold For £12,320
From H & H Catalogue:
Reg Number: NSU 368
Chassis Number:HAN9-71982
Engine Number: 16205
Cc:1275
Body Colour: Green
Trim Colour:Black
MOT ExpiryDate:Jan 2014
Archer's Garage of Oldbury are renowned for their Sprinzel Sebring Sprite Evocations and were commissioned by the late Michael Sutton Esq. to do much of the preparation work on `NSU 368' including modifying a new Heritage bodyshell to accept authentic-looking GRP bonnet, fastback roof and rear shroud assemblies plus aluminium-skinned doors. Intended for `fast road' use, the Austin-Healey had its 1310cc A-Series engine and four-speed close-ratio gearbox overhauled / uprated by Peter May Engineering Ltd. Sporting a Safety Devices rollover bar, Radtec alloy radiator, bucket seats and upgraded front discs, the two-seater passed its most recent MOT test (January 2013) with no advisories. The four years (2001-2005) and circa £22,700 that Mr Sutton spent on the project are chronicled in two accompanying files.
321 311 is one of 66 4-car units were ordered from BREL York by Network SouthEast in 1987. The sets were based on the Mk.3 coach bodyshell, but unlike the earlier Class 317/318 design were not fitted with front-end gangways. The livery on the rear set identifies it as one of the ‘Renatus’ upgrades, undertaken by Eversholt Rail Group from 2013. This included a new livery, a completely refitted interior, air-conditioning, a First Class section, and a new Vossloh Kiepe traction package. A second upgraded set can be seen behind the formation, stabled in the carriage sidings.
The view is taken from the London end of Colchester’s Platform 3, with the train, 1Y.14, the 11.02 London Liverpool Street – Ipswich, passing the former diesel shed. This was refurbished in 2018 and was used to service DMUs for the Sudbury branch and diesel-operated services from Ipswich. The arrival of the FLIRTs may have changed this arrangement somewhat, but it was noted that a 32,000 litre fuel tank has been placed adjacent to the bay Platform 6, marked for the use of Class 755, so some servicing of the sets clearly continues at Colchester