The Volkswagen Beetle That Was Really A Porsche

While this Volkswagen Beetle may appear stock standard, not many people know that this particular car hides a secret. You see, unlike other Beetles made in the same era, this Volkswagen Type 39, an early prototype for the Beetle, was built at Porsche's plant in Zuffenhausen, not Volkswagen's plant in Wolfsburg.

The Volkswagen Type 39 also carried a 32 PS engine lifted from the Porsche Type 64 that was originally designed for the Berline-Rome race.

Back in 1939, the Wolfsburg plant was still under construction. Ferdinand Porsche and his son frequently drove the Type 39 to and fro between the production location in Zuffenhausen and the Wolfsburg plant's construction site.

This particular Volkswagen Type 39 with chassis number 1-00003 is the last surviving model of its kind and is currently kept in a museum in Hamburg.