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...

Theme : Volkswagen Beetle - 18a

I doubted to post this, as it's not a stamp, not a banknote, not a coin...
but since collectors go 'broad' in their collection, I decided to add these items to the blog anyhow.

It's in fact a set of magnets, on the topic of Volkswagen Beelte.

I know that many people collect door magnets too, and I get many requests to bring them along when I abroad.
I don't collect them myself, but in this specific case, I did buy them for myself.
Of course, you 'll understand why...

On of the first designs was Porche's type 12, a car he developed for the German motorcycle manufacturer Zundapp in 1931.

Type 12

This design, as being a prototype, was further on reshaped to get a better result.
At the same time, in former Czechoslovakia, the Tatra company developped a prototype of a new car too.
This prototype, known as the V570 had an air-cooled flat-twin engine engine mounted at the rear. The second version of that V570 had a more streamlined body, similar to that of the Porche Type 32 that was designed in 1933.

Question is, if Porche got his Columbus's egg from his own imagination or if the czech Tatra car helped him.
In fact the similarities are clear.

Tatra V570

Porche's Type 32

The magnet tells us : Volkswagen 1933.
The word 'Volkswagen' however was not yet in use at that time.
In fact the type 32 drew the attenion of Hitler and he instructed Porche to go on developping a car.
In his propaganda campain he wanted a car, affordable for each German family.
The idea of a 'volks' (people's) wagen (car) was born.

To promote the idea, a handful of German representatives of the Third Reich used a car to show the new design to the Germans, who could start to dream of having their own private car.

model 1936

convertible model 1937

The whole idea was to make a car that could be sold for less then 1000 Reichsmark.
In 1933, an average family income was about 32RM per week. The price of 990 RM was similar to the price of a small motorcycle at that time.

The Volkswagen was officially named the KdF-Wagen by Hitler when the project was officially announced in 1938. The name refers to Kraft durch Freude ('Strength Through Joy').
By saving 5 RM per week, this KdF-Wagen was within reach of each family now.
Little they knew that no one would ever see their KdF-Wagen.

model 1938 - KdF-Wagen

Meanwhile in Czechoslovakia, Tatra noticed that Porche became the developper of this new car and that it was clearly based on their original designs. Just before the start of the Second World War, Tatra had ten legal claims filed against VW for infringement of patents. Although Ferdinand Porsche was about to pay a settlement to Tatra, he was stopped by Hitler who said he would "solve his problem". When Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938, the problem was 'solved' in a rather unorthodox way.

Convertable KdF-Wagen, with Porche at the back

back side of all magnets

to be continued...