I have written the content of my book out by using information from the book "Volkswagen Beetle" By Jonathan Harvey (Haynes Enthusiast Guide), this has given me a structure to work with, how I am going to set my book out and what information and topics I want to talk about to engage with my audience. I read through the book and broke down the information into simpler terms to understand and relate to and I shortened my content so that it would give me more space to work with on the designing of my pages.
I also used many references from off of the Internet and used my "Useful Link" websites as this gave me great information about the different Beetles and the years they were designed in.
For the quotes which I have included within my book, I have used these from Beetle brochures that I have, I read through the information and highlighted upon the important parts and made these into quotes which I will use to make my pages stand out more and to make the text of more interest for the reader.
Below is the content of my book, I will add in more relevant quotes and I will edit areas of text which I feel need rewording or need taking out:
The Content of A Bug’s Life
Introduction
Let’s face it, there is only one word that comes to mind that truly describes a Volkswagen Beetle – legend! It is the definitive motoring icon, which consistently ranks as one of the greatest cars of all time. Its instantly recognizable shape and simple mechanics alongside a stubborn refusal to wear out have endeared the Beetle to many millions around the world, not least the two and a half million people who bought one new.
A Bug’s Life unearths the development and production history of the Beetle, from its Hitler inspired birth through difficult early production under British military control and then its rise to worldwide fame under the leadership of Heinz Nordhoff.
The final German made cars rolled off the line in 1978, but Beetle are talked about from the early splits and ovals to later models with styling retouches, more powerful engines and revised suspension arrangements.
Last but not least, there is a dedicated chapter to all the Beetle enthusiasts out there along with a listing of regular Beetle shows.
This is the life of a bug!
History
The life of a Beetle is a fascinating one, its first ten years as a design, prototype and victim of war, logically it should not have survived, but then with the determination from one man brought the Beetle to life which was successful for twenty years and became of major interest to the public. The Volkswagen Beetle is a legend and is one of the greatest cars of all time.
The origins of the Beetle are entangled with the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi henchmen. For Hitler, motorcars always held a fascination, so much so that in 1923 he spent a large proportion of their funds on a large, expensive 60bhp Mercedes limousine. Hitler’s determination to push Germany forward was at the 1933 Berlin motor show, one of his first actions as chancellor, he demanded that the German automobile industry built him a small car for the people.
Ferdinand Porsche must have been one for whom Hitler’s words had special interest for he was one who had many attempts to produce a people’s car.
Hitler made it clear that his only interest was in a four wheel drive, front mounted, air cooled diesel engine vehicle to be sold at a price fewer that 1,000 Reichmarks. Porsche was shocked at the strict and precise practicalities, but nevertheless was keen to take on the challenge. Ferdinand designed an initial idea of what the car should look like and showed these to Hitler; Hitler was displeased with the design and penned a more rounded shape onto a napkin with the instructions “it should look like a beetle, you only have to look to nature to find out what true streamlining is”.
Checklist
Porsche’s definition of a people’s car:
“ 1. A Volkswagen should not be a small car whose dimensions are reduced at the expense of both handling and life expectancy, while it remains relatively heavy. Instead, it should be a functional car of standard dimensions but comparatively low weight, an objective that can be achieved by fundamentally new processes.
2. A Volkswagen should not be a small car with limited power at the expense of maximum speed and good climbing ability, but rather a practical vehicle with the necessary power to achieve normal maximum speeds and climbing capabilities.
3. A Volkswagen should not be a small car with reduced passenger space at the expense of comfort, but instead it should be a fully functional vehicle with normal, or rather comfortable, space within the bodywork.
4. A Volkswagen should not be a vehicle with limited uses, but instead should be capable of fulfilling all conceivable purposes by simply exchanging the bodywork, for use not only as a passenger car but also as a commercial vehicle and for certain military purposes.
5. A Volkswagen should not be fitted with unnecessarily complicated equipment requiring increased servicing, but should rather be a vehicle with as far as possible simple and foolproof equipment, reducing servicing to an absolute minimum.”
Strength Through Joy
The project car was named the Type 60 and was based around the early Type 32 NSU, which featured Beetle like styling.
Late 1935 the first prototypes were on the autobahns, a V1 Saloon (Sedan) and a convertible V2 (cabriolet), these cars had aluminum bodies mounted over traditional wooden frameworks. Daimler Benz made thirty prototypes but were not keen to make such a cheap car as they thought it would damage their high-class reputation.
In 1938, Hitler laid the cornerstone of the new factory called the KdF factory; it was here that the model would be known as the ‘KdF Wagen’ or ‘strength through joy’ wagen, this factory became and still is the biggest car factor of automobiles in the world. The production in September 1939 turned out to be the same month World War II was declared and the thousands who had their stamps from Hitler’s stamp car scheme never received their Beetles.
The war gathered pace so the KdF wagen was put on hold and production of the Beetle changed to military vehicles, this had much importance for the future of the Beetle as it had to sustain the hardest test which no other car had ever been submitted to before, it had to endure climatic conditions from sweltering Africa to icy Russia and in any sort of terrain such as mud, snow and sand, the Beetle never stopped. Due to this weather and ground type the Kubelwagen and the Schwimmiwagen were built.
British
After the Second World War, Hitler committed suicide in 1945 and the task was then to rebuild Germany. The country was divided into quarters and the KdF factory fell into the hands of the British and was under the management of Major Ivan Hirst where mass production of the Beetle started, he arrived at the factory and was ordered to take control, it was his belief and cleverness that ensured the Beetle’s survival, the factory was renamed and known as the Wolfsburg Motor Works. Whilst under the control of the British, two of the most ‘special’ cars, which were developed, was the ‘Radclyffe Roadster’ a two-seater roadster and a four-seater convertible, which was the personal transport to Ivan Hirst.
While it appeared that the British intended to run Volkswagen until further notice it was not Hirst’s decision to make, Hirst noted that ‘some people wanted me to fly a British flag over the plant! I said, “No, it’s not war booty. It doesn’t belong to the British.”’ With Heinz Nordhoff’s appointment in January 1948, Britain’s part in the Beetle story was more or less over, come September 1949 saw the hand official handover from the British Military Government to Heinz Nordhoff.
Heinz Nordhoff
Heinz Nordhoff ruled Volkswagen for a little over 20 years, after initial reservations, for his own words ‘the Volkswagen has more flaws than a dog has fleas’ he became the Beetle’s greatest supporter, its supreme ambassador and as the years went by, its most powerful defender.
Nordhoff says that ‘the car itself was “full of bugs” and it really was what you’d call an “ugly duckling”, I should change the name, design and everything about the car, weak points in the car had to be ironed out, material, quality control and personnel had to be solved and above all there was no sales organization.”
Nordhoff rose above all of these points and focused solely on Volkswagen and the audience that would be buying the Beetle, he goes on to say “So I have decided to stick to the policy that has served us so well. Based on Professor Porshe’s original design, the Volkswagen of today looks almost exactly like the prototype model that was produced more than 20 years ago, but every single part of this car has been refined and improved over the years – these will continue to be our “model changes.”’
Herbie
Herbie is known worldwide and is one of the most strongly associated Beetles with Volkswagen. He was born in 1963 in Germany and was an ivory coloured Volkswagen Beetle Type 1, he was famously distinguished by red, white and blue racing stripes and that big racing number 53.
In most of the Herbie movies, Herbie was a racing Beetle who had a mind of his own and was capable of driving himself and acted and moved on his own accord, but did not necessarily ‘talk’ with people. He could drive unlike any other race car driver could and he often executed unbelievable antics such as driving on ceilings, walls and jumping over or on top of other cars.
Herbie was also different from other cars as he fell in love, which we can see portrayed in his movies when he fell in love with a Lancia Monte Carlo and even a New Beetle. Herbie’s original film was called ‘The Love Bug” released in 1968, this was then followed by a series of other comedy films such as “Herbie Rides Again” and “Herbie Goes Bananas” along with many other films. The latest film released from Disney was in 2005, “Herbie: Fully Loaded”.
New Beetle – 1998
‘We all have dreams. Our dream was to capture the spirit of the old Beetle – its unique shape, its large smile and lovable character – and turn it into a new reality’
In 1998, Volkswagen launched the New Beetle, which caused immense interest with the public; the exterior design was inspired from the shape and appearance of the original Beetle along with the name.
The New Beetle was the car that started the retro-futurist design craze; it was a modernized version of the legendary VW Beetle and it connected with the consumers who had grown tired of the same standard car designs and had fond memories of the “Bugs” from popular culture. Volkswagen had made strenuous efforts to retain the retro spirit of the Bug, which had long been a cult classic helped by a series of Disney films featuring Herbie. However, this modern take on the original Beetle, which was far simpler in design, was prone to several mechanical and electrical faults.
Cabriolet 1949 – 2004
‘This exceptional car, really is the stuff of dreams’
The original Beetle Cabriolet began production in 1949 by Karmann, he bought a VW Beetle limousine and converted it into a four-seated convertible and presented it successfully in Wolfsburg where it started production shortly afterwards.
‘Life looks brighter with the hood down’
In 2004, Volkswagen used the body of the New Beetle and basically removed the hood and transformed it into a convertible, which was massively successful with the public.
“More Power, Less Flower’’ 2012
Volkswagen has unveiled there third incarnation of one of the world’s best selling cars, the Beetle and within no time at all, people were gushing about its bold and dynamic makeover.
The 2012 Beetle hopes to regain the luster of the iconic Beetle brand that remains one of the best-known auto brands by appealing to more men by aiming to shed the ‘chick car’ label. The designer claims that this Beetle is now characterized by a clean, self-confident and dominant sportiness and is a vehicle, which is sporty, dynamic and masculine. It is wider, lower and longer, it is sleek, slightly flatter and has still retained the cartoonish, triple bubble lines from the 1998 Beetle.
On April 18th, 2011, Volkswagen and MTV World Stage joined together to unveil the 2012 Beetle with a series of exclusive musical events, one of the most anticipated reveals in automotive history turned out to be one of the most entertaining parties in automotive history.
The structure of the book is going to follow a set format -
Double Page Spreads -
- Front Cover
- Quote
- Title of book
- Contents
- Introduction
- History
- Porsche's Checklist
- Strength Through Joy
- The British
- Heinz Nordhoff
- Herbie
- 1998 Beetle
- Beetle Cabriolet's
- 2012 Beetle
- Beetle Shows
- Back Cover
This is a rough guide of the structure of my book, the pages will include images of the specific book that is being talked about and will include a small amount of information to support the year of the Beetle. There will be pages that will break up the quantity of information and engage with the audience more and make it more visually interesting.
The pages will have experimental and grunge typefaces which will work with the body text and images and create a layered effect, I want the appearance to look very grungy and rough and use the white space that is available so that it makes it look strong and allows for the audience to move through the book easily and creates a constant flow through the book.
I want there to be a time changing feeling throughout my book, so that the book develops at the same rate that the Beetle changes. I will start the book off feeling very grungy and run down in appearance and use appropriate typefaces that reflect the era, I will then gradually fade the aged appearance out but not entirely and start to bring in modern and fun lively shapes and bold colours and make the layouts of the pages more fun and suitable to the content. I feel that this will look and work successfully and it will connect with my audience really effectively and won't be an obvious change nor will it be subtle.
I want there to be a time changing feeling throughout my book, so that the book develops at the same rate that the Beetle changes. I will start the book off feeling very grungy and run down in appearance and use appropriate typefaces that reflect the era, I will then gradually fade the aged appearance out but not entirely and start to bring in modern and fun lively shapes and bold colours and make the layouts of the pages more fun and suitable to the content. I feel that this will look and work successfully and it will connect with my audience really effectively and won't be an obvious change nor will it be subtle.
Imagery
From my blog, I have found some images which will be suitable to use within my book, I feel that I will further this research on to find stronger images that are better suited for my book as when I'm designing, ideas from the content and design process will influence me and make me be more creative and specific with the imagery I use. I intent to use my experiments throughout as these have been the main focus for the visual content of my book and feel that I will be able to use these creatively and in different ways and processes as I progress through the range of eras that I will be covering.
My Experiments
These are my experiments that I produced, I will use these throughout my entire book as they will be the backgrounds to the pages, they will appear strongly and more noticeable at the start of my book but towards the end they will fade out and more modern shapes and techniques will be used
