VW Beetle stays alive, but smaller

Press, 19 December 1981, Page 25

VW Beetle stays alive, but smaller

By

KEN COATES

in London

The Volkswagen Beetle, which went out of production in Germany two years ago after 19 million had been built, just cannot be killed off.

Britain will export a halfsized children’s Beetle to Germany where it airstarted with Hitler’s “people’s car” before World War 11.

The Mini-Beetle, looking rather like a modernised Noddy car, is the brainchild of a Cornish fisherman, Mr Pat Strike. After he was made redundant by a boat-building company, he decided to try his hand at car building, for children.

His idea gave employment to five other redundant boatbuilders and fishermen, and it has been so successful with orders from around the world that he has had to take on two more men.

The children’s car is a scale copy in almost every detail except that it has a glass-fibre body, instead of one of steel.

It has air ducts, wide wheels with knobbly tyres—it is a GT model—simulated leather seats, dip and fullbeam headlights, worksfit.led radio, ignition key, plus a choice of either petrol or diesel engine. It has a top speed of 20 miles an hour. Production has been

pushed up to 250 cars a year, with model changes just like the real world of motoringchildren want variety just like adults.

• In Germany the v baby Beetle has been received with such enthusiasm that the distributor, Mr Horst Rutgers, cannot cope with the rush of orders.

The car is about to go into Britain’s “Guinness Book of Records” as the most expensive production toy in the world. A kit costs $5500 including tax, but only value added tax—because it is a toy it does not carry 10 per cent car sales tax.

The Saudi royal family has ordered 14, all in different colours.