1948 VW Beetle

The ethos of Volkswagen – the People’s Car – was simply that: to motorise the masses. This was one of Adolf Hitler’s few good ideas, as was a network of Autobahns criss-crossing the country. But it is the former – his foresight to produce a car the poorest citizen could afford and a way in which it could be purchased – that is the one we are most thankful for. That car was, of course, the Volkswagen and Hitler called upon Dr Ferdinand Porsche, the most qualified German in the field, to design a car to meet his brief. Following a series of prototypes and rigorous testing, the Volkswagen as we know it was launched, amidst much Nazi pomp and circumstance, at the 1939 Motor Show in Berlin, and Laurence Pomeroy and Gordon Wilkins of British magazine Motor were invited to the launch and to road test the car. The route to ownership was a saving scheme based around saving stamps. People bought stamps as and when they could afford them, and when they had collected the required amount they traded them in for the car.

While many Germans bought into this scheme, the actions of the German Reich in September 1939 set World War II in motion, which in turn meant the money was spent elsewhere and so no one received their cars. The factory built to produce the VW instead produced the Kübelwagen and Schimmwagen, along with armaments for the Wehrmacht. This work was carried out by forced labour under terrible conditions. Between the war years, less than 700 Beetles, or Kdf-Wagens (‘Strength through Joy’ cars) as they were called, were produced for high-ranking party members or industrialists in favour, along with a limited number of Beetle-based military cars such as the four-wheel drive Kommandeur-Wagen and Type 82E Beetle on a Kübelwagen chassis.

For the full story check out the February 2009 issue of VolksWorld magazine. On sale on 29 December and then available through back issues.

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