Volkswagen Type 18A was a German automobile specially 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. In total 482 were made, 203 by Karosserie Austro-Tatra

Austro-Tatra

The Austro-Tatra was a car made by Austro-Tatra-Werke, Vienna, from 1934 to 1948.After World War I and the subdivision of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the administration, and factory , of the Nesselsdorf, later Tatra, company, were divided by a new frontier and border...

. 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

Volkswagen Beetle

The Volkswagen Type 1, widely known as the Volkswagen Beetle or Volkswagen Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003...

 engine producing 25 hp, with a top speed of 100 km/h (62 mph). The brakes were mechanical.

The car was initially made by Hebmüller

Hebmüller

The coachbuilding company Hebmüller And Sons was founded in 1889 by Joseph Hebmüller, it was established in the town of Wuppertal in Germany....

, but in 1950 production was moved to Karmann

Karmann

Wilhelm Karmann GmbH, commonly known simply as Karmann, in Osnabrück, Germany was until 2009 the largest independent motor vehicle manufacturing company in Germany...

. 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 fixed cabriolet top and mostly used four cloth doors), 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 fixed cabriolet top).