Theme : Volkswagen Beetle - 18b

When the second World War ended, the Volkswagen factory, who hadn't been producing any civilian VW at all, was doomed to dissapear.
It came  under British control in 1945 and was supposed to be dismantled and shipped to Britain.
Unfortunatly, or luckily, no British manufacturer was actually interested in the factory.
The factory survived by producing cars for the British Army instead.

Major Ivan Hirst

The re-opening of the factory is largely accredited to British Army officer Major Ivan Hirst (1916–2000).
Hirst was ordered to take control of the heavily bombed factory.
Hirst persuaded the British military to order 20,000 of the cars, and by March 1946 the factory was producing 1,000 cars a month, which Hirst said "was the limit set by the availability of materials". During this period, the car reverted to its original name of Volkswagen and the town was renamed Wolfsburg. The first 1,785 Type 1s were made in 1945.

From that time on, the success story of Volkswagens started for real.

magnets from 1944 to 1949

The first Volkswagens that were produced are called the 'split windows', as they have a 'split window' at the back.

Once more, a picture of the Czechoslovakian Tatra from 1934.
Where would the idea of a split window came from?

luxurious Tatra model  with split window

to be continued...