By the late 1940s, the Beetle was one of the best-selling cars across Europe. Its simplicity made it a great car for the everyman. Seeing as the Beetle was so successful, Volkswagen didn’t really consider creating different versions, perhaps because there was no need for it.
However, in 1948 Wilhelm Karmann bought a VW Beetle and converted it into a convertible. He then displayed his creation to the Volkswagen executives in Wolfsburg. Volkswagen then realised that by using Karmann’s design, they could successfully expand the Beetle into a different market. As such, VW commissioned Karmann to begin building the newly christened Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet in Osnabrück from 1949.
However, the Cabriolet was more than just a Beetle with a folding top. Karmann did extensive work to the Beetle’s body to ensure the structural rigidity of the car. The car featured welded, reinforced sills and a transverse beam fitted below the rear seats. The top itself was cabriolet-style, with all the mechanisms hidden under the inner headliner. The rear windows were tempered glass and the inside rear-view mirror could spin on a pivot to raise its height, to see over the top of the roof when folded away.
All these changes meant that the Cabriolet could not be produced in the huge numbers that the normal Beetle was produced every year. As such, Volkswagen decided to market the Cabriolet as a luxury version of the Beetle. To do this, Volkswagen added many features that the normal Beetle did not feature at that time. Some of these included dual rear ashtrays, twin map pockets and a vanity mirror in the passenger side visor.
To maintain exclusivity, Volkswagen only produced around 330,000 cabriolets, with the first ones being produced in 1949 and the final car coming off the production line on 10th January 1980. Between these two dates, the Cabriolet had become one of the most sought-after Beetles. Even to this day, the Cabriolet remains popular amongst classic car enthusiasts due to its rarity. In fact, two of the ten most expensive Beetles ever sold at auction are Cabriolets, selling for $72,800 and $82,500 respectively. The new Beetle revived the Cabriolet in 2003, which remained a popular model until the end of the new Beetle’s production run.
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