Car stories written by a Beetle
04/07/2012
In 1949, a VW Beetle, chassis number 114479 (with pretzel disks), equipped with a 1,131 cm3 boxer engine, left the factory in Wolfsburg. It was purchased from the company "Nickel + Seitz" in Mannheim (original invoice available).
The Beetle was used by the road construction company, and after around 100,000 km the car was fitted with a replacement engine from a later '51' model, as was customary at the time. The speedometer stopped working at some point and was replaced by the instrument from a standard 52 Beetle, and the seats were replaced with matching ones from a 53 Beetle when they were worn out. The sturdy Volkswagen was also fitted with a gearbox lock in 1963.
The Beetle has covered over 500,000 km to date, it has been passed down through the family and the last owner had his first driving experience with it on the factory premises over 47 years ago at the age of 14. The Beetle was even repainted around 46 years ago, by hand and with a paintbrush!
Now the faithful Beetle, whose "winkers" are still in operation, is to change families for the first time and find a new owner, offered at the auction of the Oldtimer Galerie Toffen on April 28, 2012.
Oh yes, of course we don't want to withhold what a VW Beetle from 1949 looked like brand new in the best equipment version, shown in an exterior photo ...
... and an interior shot.
