Cars

By 1993, Volkswagen’s North American sales had dropped to a mere 50,000 total units. Two VW designers, J Mays and Freeman Thomas, believed the key to future success was to resurrect the Beetle.

The Volkswagen XL1 was a two-seat, limited production, diesel-powered plug-in hybrid produced that VW introduced in 2014. Volkswagen was developing PHEV (Plug-In Hybrid Electric) technologies, and wanted to test them in real-world scenarios. While 250 examples were reportedly built, only 200 were made available for sale to the public.

Here is an unassuming-looking Volvo 142 that has been modified for racing, and is raced by Jeff Lane. SCCA created the “Improved Touring (IT) class” race cars in the late 1980s.

The first production model Volvo was completed in 1927. Volvo car and truck production continued throughout WWII on a limited basis due to material shortages and isolation from foreign suppliers.

Former SKF Bearing executives Gustav Larson and Assar Gabrielsson saw an opportunity to build cars in Sweden after WWI, and approached their former employer about using an underutilized factory. SKF liked the idea, and backed the pair for years, even allowing them to use a trademarked name, Volvo (Latin for “I roll”) for the new venture.

Kenny Howard, aka Von Dutch, was a motorcycle mechanic, metal fabricator, artist, and, most notably, a ground-breaking pinstriper of hot rods and motorcycles from the 1950s until his passing in 1992. Along with Dean Jeffries and Ed ‘Big Daddy’ Roth, he is considered a founder of the Kustom Kulture movement of the 1960s and ‘70s.

The five-door Camping-Limousine seen here is but one of half a dozen body styles made available by the nationalized East German manufacturer. Seen as very much a “German Car” and upscale in comparison to the Trabant, which was the only other option available to the general public in the GDR, the 311 was still a far cry from modern designs emerging in the West.