Technology Īll Schwimmwagen were four wheel drive only on first gear (and reverse gears with some models) and had ZF self-locking differentials on both front and rear axles. Only 163 are known by the Schwimmwagen Registry to remain today, and only 13 have survived without restoration work. Given these numbers, the VW 166 is the most mass-produced amphibious car in history. 15,584 Type 166 Schwimmwagen cars were produced from 1941 through 1944 14,276 at Fallersleben and 1,308 by Porsche. VW Schwimmwagens were produced by the Volkswagen factory at Fallersleben / Wolfsburg and Porsche's facilities in Stuttgart with the bodies (or rather hulls) produced by Ambi Budd in Berlin. The large-scale production models (Type 166) were therefore made smaller, and had a wheel-base of only 200 cm (6.6 ft). This was unacceptable for an amphibious vehicle.

Pre-production units of the 128, fitted with custom welded bodytubs, demonstrated that this construction was too weak for tough off-roading, had insufficient torsional rigidity, and easily suffered hull-ruptures at the front cross-member, as well as in the wheel-wells. The earliest Type 128 prototype was based on the full-length Kübelwagen chassis with a 240 cm (7.9 ft) wheelbase. Komenda patented his ideas for the swimming car at the German Patent office. Erwin Komenda, Ferdinand Porsche's first car body designer, was forced to develop an all-new unitized bodytub structure since the flat floorpan chassis of the existing VW vehicles was unsuited to smooth movement through water. Volkswagen Schwimmwagens used the engine and mechanicals of the VW Type 86 four-wheel drive prototype of the Kübelwagen and the Type 87 four-wheel drive 'Kübel/Beetle' Command Car, which in turn were based on the platform of the civilian Volkswagen Beetle. A Schwimmwagen, preserved in Brazil, being demonstrated (2004)

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