The Volkswagen Beetle has many interesting stories behind it. As you may already know, the Beetle started life during one of the world's most troubling times: World War II. Originally dubbed as the "People Carno"; the rear-engined compact was purpose-built to be a cheap, reliable, and easy way to get more Germans into automobiles.

Because the car was meant to be affordable, the vehicle was engineered to be a no-frills experience. Basically, the engineers felt that fewer gadgets and gizmos equaled fewerlis things that could go wrong (and more money in consumers' pockets). Despite this mentality, the classic car was by no means undesirable. Between 1950 and 1960, Volkswagen was able to sell about 118,000 production Beetles.

As the Beetle moved into the 1960s, people began to crave more from the bug. Specifically, consumers wanted the ability to use a windshield washer system. Oddly enough, the engineers back in Germany never thought that such a "luxury" would be needed. Nevertheless, Volkswagen listened,ca and their solution was anything but ordinary.

Let's discuss the time that Volkswagen provided the most complex solution to one of the world's most simple automotive problems.

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At First, VW Believed A Manual Pump Would Be Best

Blue Beetle
Via: Flickr

The electrically assisted windshield washer pump had already been out for almost 30 years by the time the 60s rolled around. So, you would think that the German automaker would simply attach such a system to their Beetle and call it a day, right? Well, apparently, the answer was "no"; instead, the engineers back at the factory deemed that this set-up was too expensive and frivolous.

Alternatively, they decided to integrate a manual windshield washer pump into their 1961 Beetle. This meant that if the driver wished to have a squeaky clean slate of glass in front of their face, they had to push a rubberized button repeatedly. Each time the button was pushed, out came a squirt of windshield washer solution.

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Consumers Wanted More Convenience; So, They Used The Spare Tire

Spare TIre For Beetle
Via: Flickr

After less than a year of using this system, Volkswagen began to receive calls to have the procedure changed to something more convenient. So, back to the drawing board, they went. After talking things over, they came back with yet another unorthodox answer to the rather simple problem. Once again, they walked right by the conventional electric method. This time around, they decided that they would just put the air from the spare tire to good use.

The new system was made up of very basic components, which included: a nozzle, two hoses, a valve, a reservoir, and of course, the spare tire. The process worked by pushing the air through the hoses, into the reservoir, and out of the nozzles. This could all be accomplished via a simple push of a button.

Now, you may be saying to yourself something like that of "this sounds cool, but won't that use up all the air in your spare tire?". Thankfully, the brains back at Wolfsburg had already thought of that. To avoid this issue, the spare was overinflated to around 40 PSI. Later, once the tire had reached 26 PSI, a specialized valve stopped the tire from losing more air. In turn, drivers would notice that the fluid wasn't coming out as fast (if at all) and could then go fill up their tire.

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It Wasn't Just The Beetle That Got This Feature

Orange Thing
Via: Flickr

Volkswagen continued to employ this system throughout the remainder of the '60s and into the 70s. Eventually, they began to fit them into their other models to keep their costs lower. Models outfitted with this system include: The Thing, Ghia, Type 3s, and Type 4s.

Sadly, as with all cool retro ideas, the concept was eventually scrapped in the mid-70s. The air-powered system was then replaced with the much more conventional electric system. To this day, this is the go-to method for all car manufacturers; including, Volkswagen.

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