Volkswagen Käfer 1500
Description
Be one of 22. million. Ordinary and yet special. Widely accepted and highly sentimental. For 65 years, the Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the assembly line. The car that officially received the most nicknames and was assembled in 20 countries.
The most visible and the most important modifications Volkswagen made to the Beetle for the 1968 model year were actually due to the Americans and their safety regulations. These included the new, higher-mounted bumpers, the now steeper front headlights, the larger taillights, but above all the safety steering column and the dual-circuit braking system.
In addition to the major modifications, there were also many minor innovations to the Beetle. However, in some cases only the more expensive 1.3- and 1.5-liter variants benefited from these improvements. For example, starting in the fall of 1967, it was possible to refuel the Beetle from the outside, the windshield wipers were able to run at two different speeds, the fuel level could be monitored by a display in the speedometer, the windshield could be cleaned by larger wiper blades, or rear traffic could be observed in a larger rearview mirror with a folding joint.
In addition, the gearshift lever had been moved to the rear, which meant that first and third gears could now be engaged without bending. The handbrake lever slid back at the same time and, like the gearshift lever, became shorter.