In Pictures: Beetlemania! Celebrating the Bug's oddball history
From its modest beginnings in the 1930s, this flawed but fun machine has captured the imagination of drivers worldwide
VW3, a prototype from 1935/1936.
German chancelor Adolf Hitler (seated in back) inspects the first Volkswagen "Beetle" produced in Stuttgart in 1937.STAFF/AFP / Getty Images
Picture taken in 1938 shows the first Beetles of the pre-production series VW 38 in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.HO/AFP / Getty Images
Undated picture shows various Volkswagen Beetles participating in a car race some decades ago.HO/AFP / Getty Images
1951: Beetle at the Frankfurt Motor Show Credit: Volkswagen
Peter Cheney's father, Major Ben Cheney, in his Vancouver Island garage with Peter's last Beetle, a 1967 modelPeter Cheney
1952 split-window Volkswagen Beetle
The MS Dyvi Atlantic arrived in Toronto in May 1968 loaded with 1,070 Volkswagens. The 484-foot-long vessel, one of Volkswagen's charter fleet of more than 60 ships, had seven storage decks connected by ramps. Cars were driven to berths and driven off at destination in a matter of hours through two 'garage' doors in the side of vessel.John Wood
A screening for Volkswagen Beetles was staged in 1969 in Las Vegas in conjunction with the release of Disney's "The Love Bug."WALT DISNEY PICTURES
VW Beetle: 1974 design
Peter Cheney in one of his Volkswagen BeetlesPeter Cheney
Peter Cheney's daughter Cate with a VW Beetle art car in Florida.Marian Cheney
The new Volkswagen Beetle rolls onstage as it introduced at the 2005 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.Andrew Cutaro
2003: VW Beetle 'Ultima Edicion'
2006 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible
2012 VW Beetle