The original VW Beetle...

[Harry P.]

You all know the car in the lower right. But how many of you knew that the original Beetle's design wasn't very original at all? The three other cars all pre-date the Beetle In fact, the manufacturer of one of the other three cars even sued VW for trademark infringement because the Beetle looked a little TOO much like their car.

Can you name the other three cars?

[CAL]

You all know the car in the lower right. But how many of you knew that the original Beetle's design wasn't very original at all? The three other cars all pre-date the Beetle In fact, the manufacturer of one of the other three cars even sued VW for trademark infringement because the Beetle looked a little TOO much like their car.

Can you name the other three cars?

No, they say it was ripped off from Tatra.

[lordairgtar]

Brown car.............Benz

Red car................Tatra

Blue & Black car....Fiat

Edited August 24, 2008 by lordairgtar

[Nick F40]

Brown car.............Benz

Red car................Tatra

Blue & Black car....Fiat

nice! Tatra was the original!

stop copying my thread!

[Zoom Zoom]

Those bodacious Tatras

Didn't Tucker steal from them as well?

Most cars that are too unique tend to be the "Azteks" of their respective generations. Stray too far from center, and it gets ugly fast. That's why most cars end up looking alike.

[Harry P.]

Those bodacious Tatras

I wonder how many people have ever heard of Tatra cars. It's a pretty obscure make (at least here in the "west"). But they made some very unique looking cars back in the 30s. In fact, the Chrysler AIrflow also looks suspiciously like a Tatra...

[Zoom Zoom]

I wonder how many people have ever heard of Tatra cars. It's a pretty obscure make (at least here in the "west"). But they made some very unique looking cars back in the 30s. In fact, the Chrysler AIrflow also looks suspiciously like a Tatra...

I saw a video on "Lenos Garage" recently where he was driving a Tatra; Jay seemed to really like the car. I've only seen a handful of them in my entire life.

Lenos Garage Tatra T87

[Harry P.]

Do you think that maybe Preston Tucker got the "cyclops" headlight idea from them?

[Harry P.]

Man, I wish I was Jay Leno!

[Rob Hall]

I've heard of Tatra, never seen one. The much larger Chrysler Airflows had a similar shape. It's normal for many cars within a certain era to have similar styling cues.....look at American cars of the '40s... what made the Beetle iconic is it's longevity and that it didn't change style though the years--no fins in the late '50s, etc...

Look at mass market midsize FWD sedans today...they are more similar than different in styling cues..

[VW Dave]

I've heard of those copycat claims before, and it's hard to contest them especially when you see the 1937 VW30 prototype:

The same thing has been going on for ages, and it shows no sign of stopping - like the recent Ford 500 sedan, with a roofline I mistook for a VW Passat or an Audi A6 in a parking lot:

[JAFFA]

I actually saw a documentary about the Beetle a while back, where they said that Hitler personally added the finnishing touches on the Beetle, apparently he didn't like what Porsche had come up with, and seeing that the beetle was originally to be a staffcar for german officers in the army, he found it important that it looked "representable".

[Nick F40]

Oh Dave just told all you! It does look like the Tatra with those lights.

The VW Pass at and A6 similarity is weird

[Dragon7665]

I actually saw a documentary about the Beetle a while back, where they said that Hitler personally added the finnishing touches on the Beetle, apparently he didn't like what Porsche had come up with, and seeing that the beetle was originally to be a staffcar for german officers in the army, he found it important that it looked "representable".

Hilter was the biggest push for the car, he wanted a design that was affordable for the German Public.... When it came down to it, he did have a final say in the over-all design.. The car became Hilter's staff cars when the war broke out, as Ol'Adolf considered himself the next Alexander/Ceasar, so he wanted to proudly have his Officers driving his cars like the Romans/Greeks had their Chariots....

[Olle F]

I wonder how many people have ever heard of Tatra cars. It's a pretty obscure make (at least here in the "west").

I remember the Tatras from my childhood in Sweden, they were among the "prize cars" when our family was traveling and me and my brothers played car spotting (yep, that's what you did before they invented Nintendo DS and portable DVDs). The ones we saw were usually Tatraplans with a 4-cylinder boxer engine, and they sure looked weird even back then. There were plenty of bizzare looking cars on the roads, like Citroen, Simca, Goggomobil, Messerschmitt, Isetta, Vespa (yeah, they did make cars), Dyna Panhard and many others.

BTW: I searched the web to find a link for those who don't think Vespa made cars, and look what I found: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2006/10...little-big-car/

[Dragon7665]

There were plenty of bizzare looking cars on the roads, like Citroen, Simca, Goggomobil, Messerschmitt, Isetta, Vespa (yeah, they did make cars), Dyna Panhard and many others.

The Zundapp Janus was basically a 4 seater(Two Facing Forward, and Two Facing the rear) Micro Car similiar to the Isetta, and was given a front & rear Isetta style doors...

Janus

http://www.microcarmuseum.com/tour/zundapp-janus.html

1958 Goggomobil Transporters

1963 Vespa APE Delivery Scooter

Stock Vespa 400 MicroCar

This is the Fantasic Sites main page:

http://www.microcarmuseum.com/

Personally I have wanted a MicroCar since I was younger, but now I would be far from comfortable in driving one for too long!!!

[Nick F40]

I remember the Tatras from my childhood in Sweden, they were among the "prize cars" when our family was traveling and me and my brothers played car spotting (yep, that's what you did before they invented Nintendo DS and portable DVDs). The ones we saw were usually Tatraplans with a 4-cylinder boxer engine, and they sure looked weird even back then. There were plenty of bizzare looking cars on the roads, like Citroen, Simca, Goggomobil, Messerschmitt, Isetta, Vespa (yeah, they did make cars), Dyna Panhard and many others.

BTW: I searched the web to find a link for those who don't think Vespa made cars, and look what I found: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2006/10...little-big-car/

Nice. I love car spotting!

[Olle F]

Personally I have wanted a MicroCar since I was younger, but now I would be far from comfortable in driving one for too long!!!

I wanted one too, but I changed my mind after looking for them on eBay a while ago. Prices are obviously going through the roof and I can't justify a Messerschmitt if I can have a '60's Camaro for the same money. The sad thing about it is that I remember seeing huge piles of microcars in the junkyards back in the '60s and '70s, when they were so totally worthless that people didn't even bother to pick parts from them...