Last night I buried my dog in the backyard and then toasted her with a couple of strong gin Gibsons, and as a result woke up with a banger of a headache, so please forgive the lateness of this Cold Start, which I promise you, is still quite cold. I want to talk about a specific steering wheel, a very humble and unassuming wheel used by Volkswagen for a shockingly long time. I’ll show you.
I’ve known about this wheel for a long time and hadn’t given it too much thought, really. It’s the very simple and spindly three-spoke wheel used on really early Volkswagens, even pre-dating the founding of VW itself, going back to the old KdF/Strength-Through-Joy era of WWII.
I found myself thinking about this steering wheel because I noticed it in a brochure for a 1971 VW Fridolin, VW’s purpose-built postal vehicle:
What amazed me is the sheer longevity of this steering wheel; this picture was from 1971, and you can see that same steering wheel used in some really early Beetles, like this 1942 example found in, of all places, Toyota’s collection:
I’m pretty sure this wheel goes back even earlier, though the earliest, finalized design Beetles from 1938 have somewhat different steering wheels:
The 1938 pre-production KdF Wagen had that strange four-spoke wheel there, and some very early production cars from 1939 had a somewhat thicker-looking three-spoke wheel, where the spokes seem to be covered in plastic, as opposed to the bare metal spokes of the spindly, long-lived wheel.
The wartime VW Kübelwagen used these wheels, too:
After the war, the wheel continued, of course:
That’s our friend the spindly wheel used on the earliest buses, as you can see in this 1950 owner’s manual image above.
VW used this wheel in their lowest-end cars for years, sticking it on their fleet Beetles for the German postal service and other bare-bones cars, which is why they’re so rare in the US, which got higher-spec export Beetles.
Think how long this same wheel was used! The 1971 Fridolin I think is one of the last applications of it, but I’m not sure. What other car in the 1970s had a part that was used on WWII cars? Especially a part that people actually touch and interact with?
That wheel must have had a four-decade long run, at least, or close to it. That’s remarkable. And a real testimony to how cheap VW could really be, when they put their mind to it.
“What other car in the 1970s had a part that was used on WWII cars? Especially a part that people actually touch and interact with?”
Well maybe not for normal people, but for us Autopians, the sealed beam headlights and the ol’ 1157 turn signal bulb come to mind. I “interact” with the 1157 bulb all the time, and have enough fondness for it to have that number in my brain while I can’t seem to remember the first names of my co-workers.
Been there – both times I’ve buried pet dogs we’d known their days were coming and both times I’d dug each one a grave literally months in advance. People thought I was morbid but the ground here is full of roots and rocks and during the long summer season is hard as concrete. It’s nothing you want to have to deal with when you are emotionally shattered. Both times I was glad I’d done it.
I like to say if we’re going to have ghosts, I want the ones who are on OUR side.
At least, with the cab forward vehicle, a collision won’t result in impalement by the steering column.
“And a real testimony to how cheap VW could really be…”
Or how sensible compared to other manufacturers constantly changing things for the sake of change and the whims of style.
That must have been very sad. But thing is Torch, when Cold Start is really late I, for one, worry that it’s another health emergency thing.
Since I’m on the West Coast and don’t read The Autopian the moment I wake up, I never notice when Cold Start is “late.”
I had to bury our cat, Sammich, in our backyard during a thunderstorm 3 days before Halloween.
I really hoped none of my neighbors saw me, because that’s an awkward conversation…
“TV Nation” – Michael Moore’s long ago TV show – did a thing where they got a house in a regular neighborhood and commenced to obviously do really sketchy things like bury drums at night and such. After a while they did a “Police thing” and had people hauled off. All this to do “TV News interviews” asking the neighbors if they suspected anything and true to form none of them did. All said versions of..”They seemed really nice”.
Honestly, you should have waited until you knew they could see you and gone out in longest, darkest rain-coat you had with the deepest hood. Then after finishing the burial, righted the shovel with the tip up and the handle in the dirt and raised a single index finger to point at them solemnly. Next lightning flash, duck behind the fence.
The 3-spoke spindly steering wheel is exactly the type of design that VW (and frugal Germans in general) were known for. Design something. Pare it down to its essence, leaving a robust, functional, but unadorned component. This is why Beetles were always popular and respected – they were a perfect transportation tool.
Why can’t VW build such things anymore (side eye at ID.Buzz)? I think there are several possible reasons:
Economics – Germany is not a poor war-ravaged place any more and their labor is expensive. They need to make expensive things.
Consumerism – Marketing has convinced everyone that the bare minimum is for losers.
Technology – With new materials and processes arriving every day, there is a temptation to change things that don’t really need changing.
That looks like the steering wheel from any Rolls-Royce before they started having airbags.
It’s like I said about our old John Deere tractor “what has the steering wheel of Rolls-Royce and the gearshift of a Ferrari?”
“Don’t reinvent the wheel” is an engineering cliche precisely because this one simple solution doesn’t need changing.
It’d be nice to have stereo controls on it though. And a thicker rim. Maybe a nicer feeling material. Also Styling called and would like it to have a flat bottom and a bunch of touch sensitive buttons for the indicators and whatnot.
I have a flat bottom wheel in one of my cars right now, it’s so freaking stupid and uncomfortable, why is this even a trend?
To be fair, this thing could probably find a dozen ways to hurt you in a crash. Sure, collapsible steering column (in later years), but still, that’s a lot of hard, unyielding material there.
Also to have it not impale you in the case of a crash.
Just don’t crash. /s
(I typed this with fingers that didn’t heal right after being broken by a steering wheel during a crash)
Yeah, what’s the deal with fat steering wheels? I like the old skinny steering wheels. I don’t wanna be wrestling with some sex toy. Is it a safety regulation?
No, just fashion, skinny wheels went away because thick, meaty ones were seen as sportier, and everything has to pretend to be a sports car now. I think the Phantom still uses a thin wheel by default, but they’ll do a chunky one as a special order
Yeah, I so much prefer the feel of a skinny steering wheel and for that matter, no power steering in old sports cars.
I feel ya, Torch. I’ve got three very good boys buried in the back yard. The azaleas have grown to cover their resting places in shade and, in the spring, bright pink blossoms. A living reminder of the lives that brought me unending devotion.
I’ve never been able to bring myself to bury a dog in a backyard because I keep thinking about relocation and redevelopment, so the two I’ve had as an adult have been cremated. One was tucked into my mom’s coffin when she was interred because my parents usurped my control and ownership about five minutes after I brought her home from the shelter; the aging Shih Tzu with several health problems lying next to me now belonged to them and my aunt, who’s still alive, so she has a future destination; and the dog I got when I bought my first house is in a wooden box in the living room waiting for my turn at bat.
We share our living room with the ashes of three Rottweilers, a Jack Russell and a Norfolk Terrier because my wife can’t bear the thought of burying them.
It does seem unlikely that such a pedestrian design would persist in use for so long (if it ain’t broke …?), but you’ve not ever given us a bum steer, so I’ll take this item as gospel.
Well spoked.
It’s rim and reason.