Cult cars: The Pretzel Beetle
It has been given the name Brezelkäfer as a synonym: The Beetle with the split rear window. The reason for the two-part design was that a curved rear window, which would have had to follow the round course of the Beetle’s rear, was too expensive to produce for a small car. In 1953, the split rear window was replaced by a slightly curved one-piece oval window made of safety glass.
In 1958, a beautiful cabriolet was created as a counterpart to the classic with the oval window.
Here are a few impressions:
Copyright of the pictures: Volkswagen AG
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virtualdesignmagazine Michael Hiller
I bought a new 1956 Beetle in South Africa with the split rear window and the twin exhaust pipes color desert tan( cream) A friend had a 55, his had the single exhaust. Was the 56 the last year that the split window and first with dual exhaust?
Hello Claude,
the Beetle with split windscreen was only built until 1953.
After that, the bar in the enlarged oval disc was dropped, so the models up to 1957 were called “Ovali”.
From 1955 came the double exhaust top (after one million Beetles).
Many greetings Michael