In fact, the beetle was almost lost to the world because the molds and equipment used to make the car survived the war only by chance. Here's where the real kitch factor comes in. American hippies in the 1960s fell in love with the car because of its unusual look and its relative affordability, particularly if the car was brought overseas because of the exchange rate at the time. The end result was that leftists (and sometimes even Jews) ended up driving a car that was a direct product of Nazi Germany. This irony is the very epitome of kitch.