How The Volkswagen Beetle Came To Exist (And Almost Didn't)

I’ll be part of a show on National Geographic TV called Driving America that debuts on Monday, May 25th at 9:00 PM EST/PST and I’m glad the producers kept the often unmentioned story of how a bomb in VW’s factory nearly destroyed the car’s future. A little bit of that story in the video above.

This is just part of a larger show that’ll trace the history of America’s love affair (and dependence) on the automobile from its beginnings to today. Think of it as Cosmos for cars. We’ll also have a live chat with some of the people involved that evening here in the comments.

Contact the author at matt@jalopnik.com.