Welcome at VEWIB !

Do you know anyone who knows about VW Beetles?

Even if not, you probably know someone who knows someone who does. The Volkswagen Beetle has the status of a modern icon – indeed, in Germany, it is something of a national institution. And this is both a blessing and a curse.

The myth and its stories

It has always been the case, and still applies today: when it comes to the VW Beetle, everyone considers themselves an expert – often for the sole reason that their aunt’s brother-in-law used to drive a bug, or perhaps their best friend’s parents owned one and they have fond memories of hitching a lift in the space behind the back seat. Nostalgia, hearsay and a more or less well-founded half-knowledge merge to form a general “VW expertise”, which, in terms of its validity, is about as historically accurate as the common myth that Hitler “built the motorway”. Hardly any other car has as much nonsense talked about it as the Beetle. Wild exaggerations regarding its alleged indestructibility are as widespread as are incriminations about its technical shortcomings – which often are merely down to the fact that, even if deprived of any form of care or maintenance, the Beetle just keeps on going, huffing and puffing, for another 100,000 kilometres, when every other car would have long given up its ghost.

The unique development of the beetle

"With a Volkswagen everything is always the same", used to be the common wisdom amongst Germany’s car mechanics well into the 1980s. Indeed, many still think this even today. The reason for this is that the VW Beetle was the only car that did not bring out a completely new model with radically altered appearance every few years. Instead, a continuous evolution took place in its details. A permanent development in the minutiae of the vehicle, leading to an inextricable maze of minor changes in parts and spares. This was Heinrich Nordhoff’s development policy (which, by the way, was highly controversial at the time) – an approach that remains unique in the history of the automobile. No layperson or interested hobbyist can possibly keep track of all these thousands of detailed changes – not helped by the fact that the car’s appearance hardly changed at all. However, this exactly was the Nordhoff principle, and this is now the cause of some confusion.

Which beetle are we talking about?

It starts with the Volkswagen terminology. Even a straightforward question, such as “which model are we talking about?”, can already lead to confusion. What exactly is meant by “Export Model”, “1300” or “Standard”? Why can you be almost certain that, when someone talks about a “1300 Cabriolet”, they rarely mean what the term, strictly speaking, refers to (namely the 1966 Cabriolet model only). And how many people know what “1303A” stands for? (It is an economy version of the 1303 model, with a 1200cc engine and minimal trim). Let’s not even mention the 1200S....

Engineering which inspires

Also, why is it that some easily refuted technical “facts” are so stubbornly maintained? Such as, for example, the persistent myth that “a steering wheel shimmy is caused by a faulty steering damper”. (The reverse is true: if the steering wheel shakes the damper is likely to get damaged. The cause of the shimmy is something else entirely). Or: “if the headlights are dim you need to convert to 12 volts”. (About as useful as saying, if your exhaust pipe is broken you need to install a bigger stereo so you can drown out the noise.) Or, the classic Beetle gripe: “the heating system is poor”. (Anyone who’s ever been lucky enough to drive a properly looked-after, one-owner Beetle knows that, even on a cold winter’s day, it will get cosily warm in there. The problem, as far as the Beetle’s image is concerned, is that it keeps going for another 50 years even if its heating system is broken, whereas, on most other cars, if the heating system breaks the head gasket tends to blow and the car no longer goes anywhere at all.)

VW expertise

So, as you can see, it’s one of those things with the “VW expertise”. It all looks very simple, and you may even be able to accumulate some basic knowledge quite quickly, but real mastery of the subject takes a very long time. In Germany, there are only about thirty known experts who have acquired that level of comprehensive and detailed Beetle knowledge (plus a handful of real specialists with expertise in a particular model, such as KdF-Wagen, Barndoor bus, Ghias or Schwimmwagen).

The crew

One of these experts is Florian Kalff, who has been working with Beetles for several decades, having turned his hobby into his profession when still a teenager. Florian Kalff is the expert behind the in-depth VW competence of VEWIB. A highly motivated team of colleagues, as Hagen Amyan and Wolfgang Vedder, is responsible for the business side of things, storage and administration, thereby creating the solid commercial base to transform the abstract wealth of Florian’s expertise into a tangible and marketable product.

What offers VEWIB?

Now you too can benefit from this unbeatable combination of serious boffin knowledge and sound business skills. VEWIB unites the two. We are able to offer you something that, economists are telling us, cannot exist: a genuine niche product, a top-quality antique coupled with optimum availability, expert knowledge and worldwide distribution – and all this at an affordable price. Click here to get to know more about the quality of VEWIB products.

How to buy your VEWIB-spare part?

We have built so far a wide net of VEWIB-partners from which you can buy easily your VEWIB-spare part. The VEWIB partners will send the spare part directly to you. Please click on the link to see who is your partner nearby. VEWIB will not send spare parts to end customers. For customers out of the Bonn region we do have a small sales counter.