As the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, who conceived the original Beetle, he is determined to increase Volkswagen's size and its prestige.

And the original Beetle, he added, "was an icon; we'd be crazy to walk away from that heritage."

Most mystifying is that VW, whose original Beetle essentially invented the economy car, seems to have virtually ceded that market.

Unlike the original Beetle, the New Beetle has its engine in the front driving the front wheels, with luggage storage in the rear.

Introduced in 1939, the original Blue Beetle was a Fox Comics mystery man who drew mystical abilities from an ancient Egyptian scarab.

And, yes, the original Beetle really did float.

Idiosyncratic The original Beetle, sold in America between 1949 and 1979, was a cheap, stripped-down set of wheels.

The original 1946-52 Beetles - easily identified by their small two-piece rear windows - are known as the "split rear window" model.

She was primarily an enemy of Spider-Man and the original Beetle.

And driving one is particularly nostalgic now; VW said last week that it would stop making the original Beetle, a 70-year-old design still produced in Mexico, later this year.