What if the Volkswagen Golf had never happened? Well, we might have been driving rear-engined VWs for a little longer. And they might have looked like this
How do you eclipse an icon? Well, for Volkswagen, it proved pretty difficult superseding the Beetle. There was the relatively successful Type 3 1500/1600, the ungainly 411/412 and the pioneering but ultimately dead end K70. Over in Brazil they had the Brasilia and the Gol, of course. But none actually ousted the aircooled legend. It wasn’t until the Golf came along in 1974, spawning a whole load of desirable front-wheel drive, water-cooled siblings, that VW could finally breathe a sigh of relief, knowing its future was secure. Well, secure so long as nobody tinkered with emissions testing several decades in the future of course…
Rearward thinking
However, one potential Beetle successor dating from the late 1960s never made it into production. Which is rather a shame because Project EA266 was an intriguing example of ingenious engineering, a collaboration between Volkswagen and Porsche that proved a curious missing link between VW’s aircooled and water-cooled offerings.
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Esta historia es de la edición April 2017 de Volks World.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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When it comes down to rating the most desirable air-cooled VWs, I think it’s fair to say that a ’50s Karmann Cabriolet is gonna’ be pretty close to the top of the list. Now add some accessories, Fuchs and a decent stance and you’re talking about the stuff dreams are made of…
Car of the month
Car of the month
A TASTE OF DEUTSCHLAND
Inspired by a couple of renowned German VW events, the So-Cal Vintage Treffen attracted 200 of the oldest and most rare VWs stateside
