TIL, the Volkswagen Beetle was assembled in Dublin from 1950 to 1977, built in a former tram depot at Eglinton Road in Ballsbridge – now a car dealership. The first Volkswagen built outside Germany was assembled in Dublin and is in on display at the Volkswagen Museum in Wolfsburg.

11 comments

1. So Ted Bundy’s car was in Ireland. Interesting.

2. My dad mentioned something about this last year. It was due to protectionism here I think. The cars were very nearly finished cars when they arrived.

   The wooden boxes the cars came in made great sheds so there was waiting lists just for the packaging.

   The whole factory was eventually disassembled and shipped to someonewhere in the middleeast for similar reasons of going around protectionism.

3. An old boss of mine has a beetle (77 I think, could have been one of the last) with only forecourt milage on it, maybe 50 miles.

4. My beetle had little shamrocks on the glass, that’s usually the tell tale sign it was irish assembled.

5. I wonder if being built here had any effect on VRT. Did they even have VRT back then?

6. Ballsbridge was also the location for the Swastika Laundry which used sophisticated electric vans for deliveries.

7. They cheaped out and the steel wasn’t galvanised so they’re rare as most dissolved years ago

8. Actually 162 Shelbourne Rd, now Ballsbridge Motors. Eglinton Road is residential.

9. Slightly off topic but the VW Autostadt in Wolfsburg is a theme park based on the VW brands so a little bit hail corporate, but still worth a visit if you’re into cars and for some reason in Central Germany.

10. Car dealership in Eglinton Road? There’s no dealership on the road in Donnybrook? Is that the site that’s now under an 8-story block of apartments on the corner with Donnybrook Road?

11. Mark Noble/ Nobby on Cars on YouTube has a recent piece on this.