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Remember When, Chattanooga? The Volkswagen Beetle swept the U.S. in the 1960s

This 1965 EPB photo features the Southland Volkswagen dealership on Brainerd Road, which had relocated from South Broad Street. Contributed photo from EPB courtesy of ChattanoogaHistory.com.
This 1965 EPB photo features the Southland Volkswagen dealership on Brainerd Road, which had relocated from South Broad Street. Contributed photo from EPB courtesy of ChattanoogaHistory.com. This 1965 EPB photo features the Southland Volkswagen dealership on Brainerd Road, which had relocated from South Broad Street. Contributed photo from EPB courtesy of ChattanoogaHistory.com.

By Mark Kennedy 3 min read

People forget, but the 1960s marked the decade of the Volkswagen Beetle invasion in the United States.

This January 1965 photo features a new Volkswagen showroom on Brainerd Road known then as Southland Volkswagen.

Visible behind the showroom glass are a Beetle, a VW Transporter (bus) and a Karmann Ghia, an Italian-influenced car with VW components.

The photo is part of a collection of EPB images at ChattanoogaHistory.com, a website curated by history buff Sam Hall and dedicated to preserving vintage images of the city.

By 1965 there were more than 900 Volkswagen dealerships in the United States, including this store at 5915 Brainerd Road near the South Chickamauga Creek Bridge. Southland Volkswagen had moved from its previous location at 2701 South Broad St. a few months before this photo was snapped.