The Volkswagen Type 18A is a limited production variant of the

Volkswagen Type 1 The Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, ...

made for the German police that started production in 1949. In German it was called "''Polizei'' Cabriolet" or ''Gendarmerier''. It was also used by East Berlin's fire department.''Hot VWs'', 7/84, pp. 38-39. In total 482 were made, 203 by ''Karosserie Austro-Tatra''.''Hot VWs'', 7/84, p. 101. The lack of doors made it easy to get in or out of the car, but made it uncomfortable during the winter. The floorpan was strengthened, but the engine was a stock Type 1 engine producing , with a top speed of . The brakes were mechanical. The car was initially made by

Hebmüller Hebmüller Sons (') was a coachbuilder founded in 1889 by Joseph Hebmüller in the town of Wuppertal in Germany. History Hebmüller initially constructed horsedrawn carriages, but after the death of its founder in 1919 his sons started building ...

, but in 1950 production was moved to

Karmann Wilhelm Karmann GmbH, commonly known as simply Karmann, was a German automobile manufacturer and contract manufacturer based in Osnabrück. Founded by Wilhelm Karmann in 1901, the company specialized in a variety of automotive roles, includi ...

. Later a version with doors ( 15A M47) was also produced. During the late 1940s, four different types of ''Polizei'' Cabriolet were made, based on either Type 1 sedans or VW running gear. by Karmann, Hebmüller (which had a

cabriolet A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...

top and mostly used four cloth doors),''Hot VWs'', 7/84, pp. 38 and 101. Papler (based in Köln, which differed in having four steel doors; only two are known to survive), and Austro-Tatra (which also used steel doors, and like the Hebmüller had a cabriolet top).

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Volkswagen Type 18a Convertibles Type 18A Cars powered by boxer engines Police vehicles