No, this book is not for people who are looking for information on the design of the engine, the maximum torque or the year-specific equipment of a VW Beetle. Or at least it doesn't answer these questions.
The beautifully bound work by Joerg Lehmann and Katja Volkmer aims to make the VW Beetle understandable from an emotional point of view, to find out why this particular car has become and remained so popular.
Stories about the Beetle
The result is a collection of stories and tales that do not center on the Beetle, but always focus on it.
Whether it's about decades of flings in the cramped back seat, or an imported means of transportation in an African country and the basis of an entrepreneurial career, the Beetle always has a special role in the memories that have been compiled on almost 200 pages.
A book with pictures
The book is not primarily intended to be a picture book, although it is actually quite extensively illustrated with over 150 photos. But the pictures are more of a supplement to the almost 30 self-contained stories. Sometimes they are perfectly chosen, sometimes they are simply good subjects that delight the eye. They are not the usual factory or professional photos, but almost without exception amateur pictures, collected at flea markets by co-car Joerg Lehmann, or from family albums of unknown origin.
These pictures have a very special charm!
There is no glossy printing, so the book is not intended to be a coffee-table book. It's more like a booklet to take with you on vacation or to put on your bedside table to travel back in time a little before going to sleep.
Almost autobiographical
Almost everyone in Central Europe probably has memories of the VW Beetle; there is hardly a household in which a VW Type 1 was not in service at some point. And because the Beetle was the first car for many people, there are naturally a lot of memories associated with the Beetle. Traveling behind the rear seat is one of those flashbacks that makes some 50- or 60-year-olds feel young again. That's exactly how it was, you think to yourself as you read and admire the well-formulated sentences in the short stories.
On the trail of the beetle phenomenon
The booklet probably reaches its peak in the story "Grandpa Knut's Pride and Joy", because this is where the beetle story and the stories about beetles come together. Here, the reader becomes an eyewitness to the success of the time. But most of the stories contribute to the attempt to understand what was special about the VW Beetle, a car that was actually outdated early on and yet continued to run and run and run tirelessly ...
EUR 24.90 is not cheap for this book and it is not necessarily a work that has to be categorized alongside the car books, but perhaps that is precisely why it is so much fun, whether as a gift or to read yourself is irrelevant.
Bibliographical details
- Title: The Beetle - car biographies
- Authors: Joerg Lehmann and Katja Volkmer
- Language: German
- Publisher: TeNeues
- Edition: 1st edition 2018
- Format: Bound, hardcover, 17 x 22 cm
- Scope: 208 pages, 70 color and 88 black and white photographs
- ISBN: 978-3-96171-080-5
- Price: EUR 24.90
- Buy/view: Online at amazon.de, online at the publisher TeNeues or at the relevant bookstore
