One of the 20th Century's truly great automobiles, the Volkswagen 'Beetle' lived down its origin as Hitler's 'people's car', going on to become an all-time best-seller and cult classic.

The Beetle was continuously up-dated from the time post-war production commenced, under British military supervision, in 1945, acquiring subtly altered coachwork, improved running gear and larger engines.

Development proceeded slowly in the immediately post-war years; there were numerous detail improvements but the model range - standard and 'export' saloons plus the Karmann-built cabriolet - remained unchanged from 1949 to 1965.

The first major change to the original design occurred in 1953 when a larger, 1,192cc engine was introduced on the '1200' model.

Export models were built to a higher specification, incorporating hydraulic brakes and synchromesh gears, but even as late as 1962 the standard saloon was being built with cable brakes and a non-synchromesh gearbox! Greater window area and revised...