The Deutschland Dozen
Germany has had an outsized influence on the world of motoring since Karl Benz’s Patent-Motorwagen drove into history — on three wheels and with less than one horsepower — back in 1885. By creating a legacy encompassing everything from priceless exotics to people’s cars, as well as rugged trucks and motorcycles, Germany has remained at the forefront, profoundly reshaping design, manufacturing, and consumer perception in a way that’s uniquely… well, German. The same words always come to mind when we think of our favorite German vehicles: engineering (sometimes over engineering), precision, quality, durability. That last trait, durability, applies not just to the mileage (or amount of terrain) German vehicles are built to cover, but also to the staying power that they have with enthusiasts. As a segment of the collector vehicle hobby, German cars have an outsized influence and an outsized presence, driving market trends and often spurring new interest among people who’ve never owned a collector car before.
Elsewhere in this issue, we’ve covered a few of the major players, but here we’ve asked Hemmings editors to name a few vehicles from Germany that pique their curiosity. Some are familiar, others might not be, but all are distinctly German.
1949-’03 VOLKSWAGEN TYPE 1 “BEETLE”
How can any list of important German cars possibly exclude the humble Type 1 Sedan, commonly called the Beetle? It was a genuine world car, with plants
