The video below is a product of Subaru, so obviously it pitches the 1966 beginnings of the Subaru boxer engine. But the more important point is that this video shows why the boxer is a superior design, both from a longevity standpoint, as well as from a performance and practicality standpoint.
Josef Kales, under the direction of Ferdinand Porsche created the Boxer motor, a horizontally opposed four cylinder engine for the 1932 NSU Typ 32 protoype. The engine design was later evolved by Franz Xavier Reimspieß for the Volks-auto, later to become the KDF-wagen under Adolf Hitler's reign, and finally the Volkswagen, risen from the ashes of the Third Reich.
Sadly, Volkswagen AG came to see the boxer engine as a liability rather than a strength, conforming increasingly to other motor-trends such as inline overhead cam engines mated to transverse gearboxes which became popular in the late sixties and early seventies. While VW de México continued to manufacture and sell the venerable air-cooled boxer in their domestic incarnation of the VW Beetle through 2003, Volkswagen AG wanted nothing more to do with the boxer.
Ironically, just as VW was trying to abandon the boxer, Subaru was 'reinventing the wheel' with their new boxer engine which first saw production in 1966. While not the first or only Japanese company to build boxer engines, Subaru has remained at the fore-front of boxer development since it took over the crown from VW in the early 1970s. Today, boxers are used in many cars, including the new Scion (Toyota) FR-S, which uses a Subaru-built boxer with Toyota engineered heads.
It seems that the boxer is going to keep living a long and happy life. With or without VW.
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