A Tangled Web: The Bugs in the Beetle Story

Time and again one hears that Ferdinand Porsche designed the Beetle at Hitler's request forever linking what was the favorite car of generations with the sound of jackboots on the stairs, torch-lit rallies, and nasty little men with bristly mustaches! The real story of who designed the Beetle is as intricately plotted as a mystery story,

In 1930, Ferdinand Porsche formed a design company that would eventually become known as Porsche Brothers. The company patented an unusual independent front-end suspension featuring transverse torsion bars with short trailing arms at the ends. Any VW buff will recognize this as the Beetle front end, which was lightweight and could be detached as a unit, serviced on the bench, and if badly damaged or rusted out, thrown away and replaced with another cannibalized from a wreck; one of the keys to the Beetle's longevity.

In 1931, Zundapp, a German motor-cycle maker, asked Porsche to design a car for them. Zundapp (Zunder-und Apparatebuau G.m.b.H.) was originally a joint venture by Fritz Neumeyer and Friedrich Krupp formed in 1917 to make detonators. They began making light motorcycles in 1921 introducing the Z22, marketed as the "Motorrad fur Jedermann", (the motorcycle for everyone). Porsche designed the Type 12, which already bore a strong resemblance to the Beetle. It was to be powered by a rear-mounted engine, Zundapp's newly introduced 1.2 liter 5-cylinder water-cooled radial engine. Three prototypes were made, but all were destroyed in a 1945 bombing raid on Stuttgart.

NSU Motorenwerke AG asked Porsche to design a car for them in 1933. Porsche designed the Type 32. While this car bears a pronounced resemblance to the Beetle, it bore an even stronger resemblance to the Tatra V570 . The resemblance was more than skin-deep. The Type 32 shared many mechanical features with the V570. Much of the design was the work of Porsche's chief designer, Erwin Komenda who was familiar with the innovative Tatra vehicles. After the war, Tatra sued Volkswagen over these infringements and received close to 6 million marks in compensation. This is a skeleton, Volkswagen prefers to keep locked in the cupboard. NSU lost interest in the Type 32 project.

Later in 1933, Adolph Hitler met with Ferdinand Porsche to discuss the possibility of building a people's car. The original proposal was for a car to seat 5 people, cruise at around 60 mph, get about 33 miles per gallon, and

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