News.

14 to 17 May 2015 . On the Ascension Day bank holiday weekend some 130 “Pretzel Beetles” with their split rear screens and the next-generation “Ovali” Beetles made the pilgrimage back to their birthplace. They were responding to the invitation from the Brezelfenstervereinigung e. V. (BfV), the Pretzel Window Club, to come to Wolfsburg for a joint celebration of its 40th anniversary. The start and finish for all the Club’s activities was the AutoMuseum Volkswagen, where attendees were visibly enjoying themselves and closely examining the evolutionary history of “their” Volkswagen classic. Members of the Käferclub Wolfsburg e. V. (the Wolfsburg Beetle Club) supplied the refreshments for their friends from the BfV. In glorious sunshine, the participants set off on Friday from the AutoMuseum on their 120-km excursion through the Elm hills to the former border crossing into East Germany at Marienborn. Saturday morning was the occasion for the traditional spare parts market and the presentation of the Beetles at the AutoMuseum. It was pleasing to see so many residents from Wolfsburg among the visitors. Younger members of the public were also visibly impressed by the swarms of Beetles. Even some of the amphibious Schwimmwagen models came into their own and were allowed to take a dip in the Allersee lake. The finale and highlight came with the grand parade of ancient arthropods through the factory grounds, where almost all the Beetles had rolled off the assembly line back in the 1950s. Also included were photo opportunities against a historic background on the southern road through the plant.