VW (air-cooled): Books - History and Models

The Complete Book of Classic Volkswagens : Beetles, Microbuses, Things, Karmann Ghias, and More

The classic air-cooled Volkswagen Beetle, officially the Volkswagen Type 1, is regarded as one of the most important and well-engineered vehicles of the twentieth century. It was the most popular imported car in America in the 1960s, and before that it enjoyed a humble beginning as "the people's car" in its native Germany.
In its heyday, the rounded Beetle was produced at a rate of more than one million per year. Today, with more than 23 million cars built, the Beetle holds the record as the most-produced passenger car of all time. But the Beetle is only one part of The Complete Book of Classic Volkswagens.

This book encompasses the evolution of the popular Beetle as well as other variations of Volkswagen's air-cooled cars, vans, and trucks. Thoroughly illustrated, this is an invaluable reference to Volkswagen's collectible and iconic cars.
The rest - from Type 2 vans, pick-ups, and campers to the Type 113 "Super Beetle" - is included here. If you're the owner of a Volkswagen or if you just love their iconic look and you're interested in their evolution, this book deserves a place on your bookshelf.

Volkswagen Cars 1948-1968

The story of the VW Beetle along with other air cooled variants. Using an excellent mix of period and modern pictures by acknowledged VW photographer Ken Cservenka, Richard Copping skilfully traces the history of the German 'people's car' from 1948 to 1968.

Volkswagen - The Air-Cooled Era in Colour

The incredibly popular sixties design classics, with their enduring appeal, the original air-cooled Volkswagen cars and Transporters are fully explored in this fascinating book.
A unique picture-led chronicle of the Volkswagen story through the fifties and sixties, this book makes extensive use of the artwork from contemporary promotional literature for a real 'retro' feel. A must have for motoring enthusiasts and VW devotees alike.

Features
- Re-lives the spirit of the fifties and sixties
- Includes rarely seen and valuable archive material
- Includes substantial sections covering the VW of the moment - the Transporter
- Unique format and retro style of presentation
- Includes the VW 1500/1600 models which are rarely covered in print
- An interesting text that questions long held opinions
- A collectable treasure in its own right for all VW enthusiasts.

VW Advertising - The Art of Advertising the Air-Cooled Volkswagen

From the '50s to the '70s Volkswagen's publicity and advertising material was among the very best issued by any motor manufacturer. Following the Beetle's launch brochures in the late 1930s, the 1950s saw extraordinarily strong artwork images from the brush of Bernd Reuters and other artists, depicting Saloon, Cabriolet and Transporter in such a way as to suggest more streamlined, spacious and powerful VWs than the reality.

In the '60s the American advertising agency Doyle Dane Bernbach took over, combining stark photography with sharp, witty text and endowing the Beetle with a cult status that took production to over a million for the first time, but VW's new Type 3 and Type 4 models were failing to impress the public, and only the arrival of the Golf saved the day.

Author Richard Copping has a vast collection of VW material and in this book he provides a selection of some 400 of the most striking or interesting images used by the company to sell us its products, taking in every model and variant.
The accompanying text guides us through the changing styles of the publicity material as well as through the range of vehicles and thus through the story of Volkswagen in the period.

Histoire complète des Volkswagen classiques

La Volkswagen Coccinelle fait partie de ces rares modèles de légende qui ont marqué l'histoire de l'automobile. Son incroyable carrière en fait aussi la voiture qui est restée le plus longtemps en production, de ses humbles débuts de "voiture du peuple" en Allemagne à la fin des années 1930 jusqu'à 2002 et l'arrêt définitif de sa fabrication au Mexique.

Au total, plus de 23 millions d'exemplaires de Coccinelle sont sortis des chaînes de montage dans plusieurs pays, sans compter les autres modèles mythiques de Volkswagen à refroidissement par air, dont les fameux Combi, Minibus et Karmann-Ghia.

Ce sont tous ces modèles et quelques autres qui sont décrits en détail dans "Histoire complète des Volkswagen classiques", véritable ouvrage de référence pour tout connaître de ces voitures de collection devenues des icônes du XX° siècle.

VW Personenwagen mit Heckmotor und Luftkühlung 1938-2003 (Typenkompass)

Ce livre de référence présente tous les modèles refroidis par air, produits par Volkswagen entre 1938 et 1985.

Présente les VW KdF, Coccinelle, Kübelwagen, Schwimmwagen, les 1500 et 1600 (Typ 3), Karmann-Ghia, 411/412 et des autres modèles.
Chaque type est présenté à l'aide d'une photo, d'une description historique et d'une fiche technique.

Die klassischen Volkswagen: von Wolfsburg in die Welt

Die klassischen Volkswagen - das sind die luftgekühlten Autos, die sich aus den bescheidenen Anfängen des ersten "Käfer" (VW Typ 1) entwickelten und vor allem während der 1950er und 1960er Jahren zum Inbegriff des deutschen Wirtschaftswunders wurden. Aus dem ursprünglichen Konzept wurden ganze Fahrzeugklassen wie Kastenwagen und Kleinbus, Cabrio und Coupé, Stufen-, Fließ- und Kombiheck abgeleitet.
Die klassischen Volkswagen eroberten nicht nur Deutschland und Europa, sondern die ganze Welt und insbesondere Nordamerika, wo der "Beetle" oder "Bug" sich zum beliebtesten Importfahrzeug mauserte; VW-Bus und Kurierwagen wurden zu Kultmobilen der Hippie-Ära.

"Die klassischen Volkswagen" zeichnet diese Erfolgsgeschichte nach. Üppig illustriert, vermittelt das Buch des amerikanischen Oldtimer-Experten John Gunnell, wie die luftgekühlten Volkswagen von Wolfsburg aus die Welt eroberten und die Amerikaner die zunächst belächelten, spartanischen Exoten in ihr Herz schlossen.
Die Zeit zwischen Zweitem Weltkrieg und erster Ölkrise wird im Spiegel von Motorpresse und Werbemitteln wieder lebendig. Alle Modelljahrgänge finden hier ihren Platz.