AutoCult VW Maxikäfer (1973) (Germany)

About the Original

Uniquely different

In the early 1970s, the German television channel ‘ARD’ broadcasted the lottery show ‘Ein Platz an der Sonne’ (A place in the sun), in which a large number of social institutions in the Federal Republic of Germany were financially supported by the foundation ‘Deutsches Hilfswerk’.

From 1971 the popularity of the ‘ARD’ show also promoted the actions of the partner cities, in which the city’s inhabitants were encouraged to participate in the lottery through various actions, such as a soccer competition with celebrities. In 1971, the city of Wolfsburg immediately made itself available as the venue for the premiere.

The collaboration between the VW plant and the ARD broadcast was very successful and was continued in the following years. It went so far that in 1973 the company set its own Beetle model on wheels for the broadcast. The purpose of the customized Beetle was to properly stage the German show business celebrities, who were involved in the lottery, in an open car.

To install a third row of seats, a VW Beetle was cut in half and was extended by fitting a centerpiece of exactly 750 millimeters. This would have allowed to seat in total eight people, but in the end there should be ten. In order to offer two more seats, an emergency bench seat with handholds for two more people was fitted onto the rear part. In the rear a standard 44 hp boxer engine did its job and accelerated the Maxi Cabriolet to 115 km/h. This may have remained a theoretical value, because the cornering behavior due to the long wheelbase most probably did not allow a very pleasant driving style.