我和甲壳虫有个约会

    我是婴儿潮早期出生的那一代人。像许多同龄人一样，我的第一台车是一台大众甲壳虫（Volkswagen Beetle）。我的大学是在佛蒙特州念的，当时校园里到处都是这种车，所以我也很自然地选择了它。大众富有创新性的广告宣传塑造了甲壳虫既时尚、又实用的形象，这也正符合我的个人形象，而且价格也正适合我。我当年刚满21岁，刚被允许可以在学校里拥有一辆车，我就立刻花了600美元，买了一辆1961年版的黑色甲壳虫。（现在想想，这真是一笔划算的投资，最近有人登广告出售黑色的1961版甲壳虫，叫价高达14,500美元。）

    那个时代的甲壳虫有硬顶式和敞篷式两种车身造型，不过动力系统却没得选，只有一款风冷后驱发动机，搭配三速手动变速箱。最早的甲壳虫没有我们常见的转向灯，而是转向时通过车身侧面一个摆动的灯光条来提示。在1961年版甲壳虫上，这种设计终于被后来常见的传统转向灯所取代，但是车里还是没有油表。我也像其他司机一样，车里随时备着应急油箱。每次车子没油抛锚的时候，我都暗暗祈祷事先没忘记把应急油箱装满。

    这台黑色甲壳虫几乎完美地服务了我好几年，后来我把它处理给了我弟弟，自己又买了一辆沃尔沃544S，不过这次升级远远称不上完美。我从不怀疑甲壳虫这款车型可以延续这么多年。1938年到2003年间生产的第一代甲壳虫是世界上历史最悠久、也是生产得最多的一款汽车。它的后继车型，也就是1999年版的新甲壳虫，在历史上并没有那么重要的地位，但它的设计同样特立独行。最近，我有机会试驾了最新款的2012年版甲壳虫，它让我回想了过去75年来，这款拥有汽车史诗地位的“汽车活化石”的前世今生。

Meet the Beetles

    Like many members of my early baby boom generation, my first car was a Volkswagen Beetle. My Vermont college campus was blanketed with them, which made it an easy call. The hip, utilitarian image created by VW's innovative advertising fit my own self-image, and the price was right. Right after I turned 21 and was allowed a car on campus, I paid $600 for a black 1961 Beetle . (What an investment that could have been! A black '61 was recently advertised for sale at $14,500).

    Beetles of that era came in two body styles -- hard-top and cabriolet -- and with one powertrain option: air-cooled, rear-engine, three-speed manual transmission. The flipper turn signals had finally given way to more conventional lights, but there was still no gas gauge. Like other drivers I relied on the emergency tank, silently praying that I had remembered to fill it every time I made a changeover.

    That black Beetle served me nearly flawlessly until I passed it on to my brother and graduated much less successfully to a 544S Volvo. Little did I suspect that the Beetle would remain alive as long as I have. The original rear-engined Beetle, produced from 1938 to 2003, is the longest-running and most manufactured automobile in history. Its immediate successor, the 1999 New Beetle, is less historically significant but equally iconoclastic. Recently, I got a chance to drive the latest edition of this automotive epic, the 2012 Beetle, and it made me think about all its incarnations over the last three quarters of a century.

呱呱坠地：1938—1953年

    大众甲壳虫的历史可以追溯到纳粹德国。1933年，希特勒命令保时捷之父费迪南德•保时捷研发一款大众化的轿车——这也是“大众”这个品牌得名的由来。尽管让费迪南德•保时捷扬名立万的是跑车，但是他当时却生产了一款造型别致的汽车，挡风玻璃是竖立的，车身采取独特的圆形造型，搭载了一款风冷式后驱发动机。几款原型车在二战前研发了出来，但它直到1946年才开始量产。这款车追求的重点不是性能，它的发动机只有34匹马力，需要27.5秒才能达到每小时60英里的速度，最高时速也只有每小时71英里。

The first Beetle: 1938-1953

    In 1933, Adolf Hitler ordered Ferdinand Porsche to develop a people's car -- literally "volkswagen" in German. Porsche, who would go on to design the sports car that bears his name, produced a two-door car with an upright windshield and a distinctive round shape, powered by an air-cooled engine mounted in the rear. A few prototypes were developed before World War II, but mass-production did not begin until 1946. Performance was not a priority. The 34-horsepower engine required 27.5 seconds to reach 60 mph, and the car had a top speed of 71 mph.

含苞待放：1953—1957年

    美国于1949年进口了第一台甲壳虫，一开始销售缓慢，到1951年也只售出390台。当时美国汽车厂商正在搞大干快上的战术，车型几乎一年一换代，反观甲壳虫的更新换代却相当缓慢。

    在量产六年后，甲壳虫的两片式小车窗被一片稍大一些的椭圆型车窗所取代，后来又在1957年换成了一片更大的全幅车窗。在1958款甲壳虫上，仪表盘经过了重新设计，转向灯也移到了挡泥板顶端。它没有美国车当时最流行的尾鳍，车身刷的是同一个颜色，也没有备胎。

Early Beetles: 1953-1957

    The first Beetle was exported to the U.S. in 1949, and sales started slowly, reaching only 390 by 1951. While Detroit was still caught up in annual model changes, alterations to the Beetle came only slowly.

    After six years of production, the small two-piece window was replaced by a slightly larger single oval window. In 1957, an even larger full-width window was installed. For the 1958 model, the dashboard was redesigned, and the turn signals moved to the tops of the fenders. No tailfins, two-tone colors, or Continental spare tire kits.

风华正茂：1958—1966年

    随着美国年轻人开始对正统文化感到反感，甲壳虫这款特立独行的轿车也“潮”了起来。Doyle Dane Berbach广告公司1959年搞了一个名叫“想想还是小的好”（Think Small）的广告宣传活动，后来被票选为20世纪百佳广告之首，正是因为它敏锐地捕捉到了这种正在生长的社会思潮。到了1965年，在德国沃斯夫堡的大众工厂，甲壳虫的年产量达到100万台。美国顾客要足足等上五个月才能拿到现车。

    甲壳虫的制造工艺也在快速变化。总体外观更加现代化，车内空间更加宽敞，同时还加大了侧面车窗和挡风玻璃。雨刷从前风挡右侧移到了左侧，后引擎盖只需按一个钮便可打开，而不是像以前那样需要扭动T型把手。另外车子也有了油表，从而取代了加油口的杠杆开关和备用油箱。

Trend-setting Beetles: 1958-1966

    As America's youth began their revolt against mass culture, Beetles became trendy. Doyle Dane Bernbach's 1959 "Think Small" campaign, later voted number one among 100 in the 20th century captured a growing zeitgeist. By1965, one million Beetles were rolling out of the Wolfsburg factory in Germany. Customers in the U.S. waited as long as five months to take delivery.

    Mechanical changes continued apace. The cabin grew airier, and the overall appearance got modernized when the side windows and windshield were enlarged. The windshield wipers now rested to the left side of the windshield instead of the right, the rear engine cover could be opened with the push of a button instead of the twist of a T-handle, and a conventional fuel gauge replaced the lever switch and reserve tank.

年富力强：1967—1974年

    1970年美国人一共买了50多万辆甲壳虫，这也是它销量的巅峰。美国的史密森尼博物馆（Smithsonian）珍而重之地收藏了第1,500万辆下线的甲壳虫，标志着这款车型正式取得了经典地位。它的发动机马力也在1967年增加到54匹，到1970年增加到57匹，不过性能上并没有明显的提高。《人车志》（Car and Driver）杂志测试了一辆1970版甲壳车，发现它的速度实际上还要比1968版稍慢一些。但这次评测丝毫没有减弱消费者的热情。

    随后又出现了一款长鼻子的甲壳虫，它有个新的名字，叫做“超级甲壳虫”（Super Beetle）。位于车前端的载货厢倒是不辜负“超级”两个字，因为它的尺寸是老款的两倍。此后大众公司一直持续对甲壳虫进行改进。1972年，它第n次扩大了后车窗，引擎盖也多了两排通风孔，倒车的时候尾灯还会亮起来。1973年，风挡变成了弧形。1974年，甲壳虫安装了能防每小时5英里低速碰撞的吸能减震保险杠。

Mature Beetles: 1967-1974

    Americans bought more than 500,000 Beetles in 1970 -- the high-water mark for sales. The Beetle officially attained icon status when the Smithsonian collected the 15-millionth car. Horsepower grew to 54 in 1967 and 57 in 1970, though without appreciably improving performance. Car and Driver tested a 1970 model and discovered that it was slightly slower than the 1968 version. The review does nothing to dampen customer enthusiasm.

    A new stretched-nose design appeared, with a new name: Super Beetle. The front compartment's cargo compartment was certainly super -- it was twice as large as it used to be. Improvements continued. In 1972, the rear window was enlarged for the nth time, two more rows of vents popped up on the engine deck lid, and the taillights now lit up when the car was put in reverse. 1973 brought a curved windshield, and in 1974 the Beetle got energy-absorbing five-mile-per-hour bumpers.

垂垂老矣：1974—2003年

    到1972年，美国大约已累计销售了400万辆甲壳虫。但大众的地位正逐渐被日本汽车厂商所取代，因为日本车的质量和技术更出色，而价格却更低廉。

    到1977年，随着组装成本的增加，加上大众公司把小型车的重点转移到了1974年推出的前驱车型大众高尔夫（Golf）身上，美国甲壳虫的销量已经下降到每年不足20,000台（1975年的销量还在90,000台以上）。自1981年开始，甲壳虫告别了美国市场。不过大众公司仍然在墨西哥继续生产这款车型，用来在某些南美国家销售。到2003年，甲壳虫的年产量已下降到30,000辆，与1971年的130万辆已有天壤之别。大众终于忍痛关掉了第一代甲壳虫的生产线。

The Aging Beetle: 1974-2003

    By 1972, approximately four million Beetles had been sold in the U.S. But VW was increasingly being overtaken by Japanese carmakers building vehicles with superior quality and technology at a lower price.

    By 1977, U.S. Beetle sales had declined to fewer than 20,000 a year (down from over 90,000 just two years earlier) as the cost of assembly increased and VW shifted its small-car emphasis to the front-drive Golf, introduced in 1974. The last Beetle was sold in the U.S. in 1981, though Volkswagen continued to build it in Mexico for sale in some South American countries. By 2003, annual production had fallen to 30,000 cars from a peak of 1.3 million in 1971, and the Beetle was finally laid to rest.

重获新生：1998—2010年

    为了答谢消费者的热情需求，大众公司又于1998年推出了新款甲壳虫（也就是第二代甲壳虫）。它的概念车在1994年的底特律车展上展出，因其复古风而深受消费者喜爱。新甲壳虫的底价为15,200美元。那高高拱起的车顶、倾斜的大灯以及亲民的个性，都让老甲壳虫的车迷们兴奋不已。不过这种怀旧更多的只是种姿态，新甲壳虫只是在外观上与老甲壳虫相似，内在却截然不同。新甲壳虫实际上是基于大众高尔夫平台，而且它是一款前驱车。这种旧瓶装新酒的做法必然意味着在某些方面要做出一些妥协，比如驾驶位置与众不同，以及保养零件稀少等。

    全新甲壳虫甫一面世就大受欢迎。它在1999年售出了83,000多台。不过相当多的买主都是年轻女性，导致甲壳虫成了著名的“二奶车”。（新甲壳虫的方向盘后面还安了一个花瓶，或许这也是它吸引年轻女性的原因之一）但这并不妨碍它取得巨大的成功。在量产的这13年里，新甲壳虫在美国卖出了60万台（包括硬顶版和敞篷版），在全球卖出了120万台。

The New Beetle: 1998-2010

    Bowing to popular demand, VW introduced the New Beetle, based on a crowd-pleasing retro-themed concept car that was unveiled at the 1994 Detroit Auto Show. Base price was $15,200. The high arched roofline, sloping headlights, and approachable personality thrilled old Beetle fans. But the similarities were more nostalgic than real, since the New Beetle was based on a modern Golf platform and was powered by an engine in the front. The combination of old body style and new platform necessitated compromises, such as an unusual driving position and poor access to maintenance items.

    The New Beetle was a hit right from the start. More than 83,000 were sold in 1999. A surprising number of buyers were young women, leading the Beetle to become known as a "chick car." (A dash-mounted bud vase may have had something to do with it.) But that didn't stop it from becoming a popular success during its production run with just under 600,000 units (both hardtop and convertible) sold in the U.S., and about 1.2 million worldwide, during its 13-year life.

青春永驻：2011——

    2012款甲壳中也是基于一个新平台。讽刺的是，由于上面那一款已经抢先用了“新”字，所以2012款反而不能称作“新”甲壳虫了。甲壳虫的可爱风格也不见了。2012款甲壳虫造得更长、更低、更宽。它的硬汉风格有望吸引更多男性买家。它的操控仍然十分简洁，而且它的重点主要在于功能计设，而不是要打造成一款一般人负担得起的豪华车。甲壳虫的低价已经成了历史，2012款甲壳虫的起价为18,995美元。我的测试车搭载了一款200匹马力的涡沦增压发动机，起价为23,395美元。不过2012款甲壳虫还是保留了1938年第一版甲壳虫的一个特点：那就是它的卖点是个性，而不是性能。一如既往的是，甲壳虫仍然是人民大众的轿车。

    译者：朴成奎

Beetles Forever: 2011-

    Ironically, the adjective "new" disappears from the name of this reengineered model on a new platform. Also gone is the cute. Longer, lower, longer, and wider than the New Beetle, this Beetle's low-rider gangsta profile is expected to help it draw more male buyers. The controls remain straightforward, and the emphasis is on functional design rather than affordable luxury. Old pre-euro bargain prices are only a memory. The base Beetle starts at $18,995; my 200-horsepower Turbo test car kicks off at $23,395. The 2012 Beetle retains one characteristic from the 1938 Type 1: Personality rather than performance is still its strong suit. As always, the Beetle remains the people's car.