This sofa has been made from the backend of a Volkswagen Beetle, it’s been upholstered in black vinyl, it has space for two people, and it sits on four black-painted wooden legs.
The rear of the sofa is essentially the rear of the original Beetle, with the fenders, engine cover, tail lights, dual exhausts, and Palm Beach license plate all in place.
Part of the reason for the incredible success and pop culture impact of the Beetle was possibly its incredible ad campaigns – many of which are now studied as an example of exemplary ad design. Image courtesy of Volkswagen AG.
The Volkswagen Beetle enjoyed a remarkable life when you look back and remember where it came from – a request from Adolf Hitler to Ferdinand Porsche in 1934 to design a cheap, simple car to be mass-produced for the German people – “volkswagen” means “people’s car” in German after all.
The Beetle threw off the darkness of its inception and became one of the most important cars of the 20th century, if not the most important outright. Over 21 million of them would be made over a production run that spanned from 1938 to 2003.
Thanks to its affordable price and low running costs the car became the backbone of many developing nations, from Brazil and Mexico to Yugoslavia and Nigeria. Many of them remain on the road today decades after they were first built.
One side of the Beetle story that’s rarely told is the story of all the other cars it made possible – from the first Porsches to the Meyers Manx, Baja Bugs, and untold numbers of kit cars recreating everything from the Lamborghini Countach to the Ford GT40.
In more recent years the Beetle has become a more collectible car, with prices surging in many developed nations, particularly for earlier models in largely original condition.
VW Beetle print ads had a way pf stopping you in your tracks and getting you to read the caption – in fact they were perhaps better at it than any other ads in history. Image courtesy of Volkswagen AG.
The Volkswagen Beetle sofa would make a great addition to a garage, shed, or warehouse working space – preferably somewhere the back could be seen as well as the front. The rear is finished in the original light blue, and the sofa shows some natural patina that only adds to its appeal.
If you’d like to read more about this Beetle sofa you can visit the listing here on Bonhams.
Images courtesy of Bonhams + Volkswagen AG
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
