You’d never expect a car developed to Hitler?s specifications in Nazi Germany to eventually become an icon of the hippy counterculture, but that’s exactly what happened to the Volkswagen Beetle. The name Volkswagen is derived from “folks wagon,” in keeping with an official slogan that deemed it the “People?s Car.” The Beetle was designed to provide an affordable way for all Germans to travel, complete with simple mechanics and easily replaceable parts.
Sourced from BBC
Once the war was over, Volkswagen managed to open a few factories in Britain and America. In 1959, an ad campaign still considered to be among the best in history urged car buyers to “Think Small.” The idea?and the Beetle?s unusual design?quickly caught on. The hippies were able to turn a machine built for combat into a vision of peace and love. The Beetle made it easy for young people to take long road trips, but its small size made it hard for larger groups to travel together. By the 1970s, a few hippies with deeper than average pockets attempted to build a hybrid: a car that kept the Beetle’s design but provided the comfort and space of a Volkswagen Microbus. The result was the “Super Bugger,” a hilarious Bug-turned-RV creation that sold for roughly $6,000 in 1975. Also known as the Lil? Bugger or MiniHome, the original Super Bugger required a Microbus engine to be installed under the Beetle’s hood to sustain highway speeds of 50-55 mp...