A Factory in Saxony Gets Demolished

kernals12

Banned
The Citroen 2cv would probably replace the Beetle as the pop culture icon and be the first one to outsell the Model T.
 
A. They later offered larger engines (which incidentally, under the tax horsepower system, made them 3cvs)
B. I was thinking of Latin America.

I think FIAT 500 would kill it.

The 2CV was a cheap car, but you didn't really get much for the money
 
I remember reading in Road & Track, sometime in the mid 60s, a story called "The Flight of the Thunderbeetle".

A couple of guys dropped a Porsche 356 Carrera engine into a beetle, and would go blow off unsuspecting big car drivers at the lights.

They got curious about what it would actually do, so late one night they hit the highway and floored it. A few miles down the road they saw flashing lights in the mirror, so slowed down to a sedate speed. Two highway patrolmen pulled them over and popped the hood, peering inside with flashlights. They didn't notice that what they were looking at was rather different from a standard VW motor.

"What seems to be the problem, Officer?"
"One of our guys at a speed trap back down the road a ways claims he clocked a beetle go through at 123mph. Musta been dreaming".
 
I remember reading in Road & Track, sometime in the mid 60s, a story called "The Flight of the Thunderbeetle".

A couple of guys dropped a Porsche 356 Carrera engine into a beetle, and would go blow off unsuspecting big car drivers at the lights.

There were a lot more guys putting Corvair Power into Bugs.
And yeah, they had awesome straight line performance, but were downright scary handling once you got over 75

18s0b0eock7v8jpg.jpg
 
The Fiat 500 wasn't able to carry a basket of eggs across a plowed field without the eggs breaking.

Might be able to, if you disconnected 3 of the 4 cylinders.

Amazing how much better cars move when limited to low speeds.

Honestly though, a 9hp car, less than half power of a Model T, had no future in the US, except as an oddity.
The weakest engine that saw some measure of success was the Crosley with 26HP.

Prewar, it was the tiny Bantam, 1100 pound, 22HP Monster, used as a joke car in movies

Buster Keaton in his
1928+Austin+Buster+Keaton.jpg

The 2CV was heavier than this, with half the power. The later engines, it's still not enough power.
 
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