Fifth of six films about some of the 20th century's most enduring designs.
The Volkswagen Beetle
Hitler called it the 'strength through joy' car, and he meant it to be one of the engineering triumphs of the Third Reich. But it was the British army which put it into production, after the war. Rootes and Ford - offered the chance to manufacture it - turned the car down; they didn't think it had a future. Twenty million Beetles later, it's still being produced in Mexico.
How did the noisy, heavy, distinctly odd-looking motor car with its roots in a Nazi past become lovable, a family friend, the sort of car Walt Disney made films about?
So that it really did become a 'people's car'. Narrated by Jancis Robinson with Professor Christopher Frayling and Dr Carl Hahn Executive producer CHRISTOPHER MARTIN
Producer KEITH CHEETHAM (R)
* CEEFAX SUBTITLES