Documentary - History of VW Beetle Classic

porsche-uh was a workaholic his engineering genius combined with an independent turn of mind that a time threatened to force a promising career in the German motor industry off the rails Porcia quarreled with ostrich Ambler and resigned in 1923 he left Austria to join the Daimler company in Stuttgart Germany Porsches design ideas were by no means as outlandish as many around at the time but he still managed to make many enemies in the conservative German motor industry he left Daimler after a disagreement in 1928 and when a new venture in Austria collapsed because of the Wall Street Crash Porsche decided he had no alternative but to establish an independent design team in Germany the shape that was to become the VW beetle first began to appear in a series of porsche designs of the early 30s this is the porsche type 12 of 1932 another element that would become a major component of the VW Beetle the Porsche torsion bar suspension was also a product of the early 30s in 1933 porsche designed this car the type 32 for the german motorbike manufacturer NSU only three were built before the project was abandoned but the type 32 with its air-cooled rear engine and distinctive body shape would be Porsches starting point for the design of a German Volkswagen or people's car when Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 he ordered the building of a new system of freeways known as autobahns he also wanted to build a small car that could be produced in large numbers and sold cheaply to members of the German working class Hitler summoned Portia to a meeting in the autumn of 1933 and set out his design parameters for an air-cooled family car that could be produced for less than a thousand German Rush marks Hitler knew exactly what he wanted that later meetings he even made his own sketches suggesting modifications to portions type 32 layered he said it should look like a beetle you only have to look at nature to find out what streamlining is the pH and it relates to the Constructors food the meteorites at the star is deliberate before a droplet Moshe called the project type 60 and signed a contract for its development in June 1934 in February 1935 Hitler optimistically announced that testing would be complete by the middle of the year II wrote to patina two prototypes were built in the garage of Ferdinand Porsches house one was an open-top Cabriolet the other a closed sedan Portia's biggest problem was developing a cheap simple air-cooled engine he tried several different formats including a two cylinder version before settling on the four cylinder layout that would go on to power more than 20 million Volkswagens it was called the e motor with a capacity of just under one liter Hitler's specifications were strict the car was to be very fuel-efficient capable of traveling a hundred kilometers on just seven litres of fuel from its front mounted tank that's better than 40 miles of the gallon in 1936 three more experimental prototypes were built they were prepared by Porsche to undertake a punishing test program which would be carried out by the German Automobile Manufacturers Association the cars were to cover a punishing 18,000 miles in the Black Forest through the Alps and on the new autobahns tests on the prototypes did reveal weaknesses but reports were generally favorable the manufacturers Association doubted that the car could be produced for Hitler's price Hitler took the project and gave it to the German labour front the front commissioned aim low bends to produce 30 cars to be tested by the Nazi SS Hitler was strongly influenced by Henry for he knew that Ford had built his factories close to the now river and sea transport he decided on a location in northern Germany close to major canals and the Rhine River in May 1938 a flamboyant Nazi ceremony was held near the village of phallus native to lay the foundation stone for a factory that Hitler intended to rival the Giants of Detroit at the same set of an Indian onst much to the dismay of Ferdinand Porsche that the car was to be called the KDF Vulcan the letters KDF in German stand for strength through joy worse still the town that would house the new factories workers would be called KD at town of the strength through joy cars the job of driving Hitler from the ceremony was given to ferry Porsche Ferdinand son this car was presented Hitler for his 50th birthday Hitler never learned to drive work began immediately on the KDF Factory by the spring of 1939 the first stage was completed the plan was to produce 150 thousand cars in 1940 with the output rising by 1943 to one and a half million this would make the KDF plant the largest european motor manufacturer by far its output would realize Hitler's dream of rivaling the great American automotive Giants an unusual system was invented to sell the output of this factory to the German public buyers were issued with a savings book payments were made by buying stamps and the cost of placing the order and ensuring the car were added to the basic price the only car color was blue grey by the end of 1938 almost 170,000 cars have been ordered distribution of the cars was also unusual not until the final stamp had been bought with the customer collect his car and they literally had to collect it from the factory there would be no agents or middlemen in this process if the buyer couldn't collect it there would be a delivery charge of around five percent of the purchase price two derivatives of the KDF entered development their purpose was much more related to Hitler's military plans than the people's car the Cuba bargain was a rough terrain vehicle able to carry three men and a machine gun it had reduced gearing so that he could be driven at the pace of a soldier walking with a full pack it's high ground clearance allowed it to cope with a variety of off-road conditions the second variant was more unusual it was the schwimmwagen the KDF body was replaced with a waterproof tub like shell the standard transmission was replaced with a four-wheel drive arrangement allowing the vehicle to combine the virtues of an amphibian and an off-road vehicle by the time Hitler invaded Poland in September 1939 the number of Germans ordering the people's car was swelling the kdf-wagen had now reached its production for the Spartan interior had to be big enough to seat two adults and three children to conform with Hitler's decree that the children and the parents should not be separated it could cover the autobahns at 100 kilometres an hour but the coming war would prevent the hundreds of thousands of German families who would place their order from ever receiving their cars this is the ultimate form of the KDF bargain a 1943 model now in the Volkswagen Museum that was the year in which Hitler had planned production to reach one and a half million cars the first KDF bargain came off the production line in August 1940 but by the time this car was produced in 1943 the total output of KDF bargains was a mere 640 most of them became personal transport for important members of the Nazi Party priorities of war diverted the resources of the factory to the war effort including parts for aircraft and the v1 missile the factory therefore became a target for Allied bombers which in the series of raids in 1944 managed to destroy three-quarters of the plant in the wreckage of Germany's post-war streets Hitler's grandiose scheme for the people's car seemed to be of another age the idea of a Volkswagen in every German garage was a remote fantasy from the mind of a dead dictator but something strange was about to happen the Allied forces occupying Germany needed reliable personal transport their own cars were in short supply and breakdowns were common part of the KDF factory still stood a young British major Ivan Hearst was asked to look at the possibilities my initial brief was virtually zero is to go to Baltimore and take charge of a factory Darryl exactly first had to assess the condition of the wreckage and decide what was to be done the most of the machine tools will stand around they be moved into cellars against possible bombing in the event did happen the big pressures were there and the best tool for there first found a workforce in X German prisoners of war from the British prison camps production of the Beatle really got going on a small strand of course but this was the time when no other manufacturing Germany was producing cars at all first got going in in March 1946 at a rate of a thousand cars a month which would be the limit set by the availability of materials the British Army placed an order for 20,000 cars by the end of 1946 more than seven and a half thousand Volkswagens and emerged from the factory Hitler's people's car was on the Autobahn fulfilling his specifications of speed and fuel consumption but under very different circumstances from those he'd planned the 1947 the time of complete change the political climate the Iron Curtain come down the Berlin Airlift comes on while Volkswagen and the rest of Europe coped with the Soviet blockade of Berlin major Hurst and his superior officer Colonel Radcliffe began to look for a German to take over the running of the expanding Volkswagen factory initially they found this to be a very difficult task we looked around Astra home to the German motor industry population to personal contacts found nobody who were prepared to take on the job eventually Heinz Nordhoff was appointed Volkswagens general manager in 1949 the ownership of Volkswagen was transferred to Germany Nordhoff was taking on an immense challenge the German economy was devastated and Volkswagen had the potential to be one of the major tools for its reconstruction nor tops background was in engineering and in truck manufacture for the oppo company he decided on a one model policy the Volkswagen factory would produce only the beetle and there'd be no radical changes in appearance production is in appearance production accelerated quickly by 1949 Volkswagen was by far the Federal Republic of Germany major manufacturer this vast factory conceived by Adolf Hitler destroyed by allied bombs and revived by the British Army was within four years at the end of the war producing 45% of the country's total industrial output export was essential in spite of major efforts American interest was slow an open Cabriolet version was developed max Hoffman the New York dealer pioneered the Porsche sports car market in America agreed to represent VW but by 1952 annual sales only numbered in the hundreds in 1953 Hoffman's franchise was canceled and North began planning the establishment of Volkswagen America but in Europe there was no question about the strength of demand in the early 50s production accelerated quickly the small Spartan Volkswagen Beetle was finding its place in the European car might some of Volkswagens promotion at the time may have slightly overstated the Beatles carrying capacity and this advertising film gave people an impression of greater towing power than was really available from the small four-cylinder Volkswagen engine instantly talent that ish I know miss Thatcher the yellow family mindful far not know cans and the red no no I am the my English fell apart and even the smell of burning turns out to be not a damaged clutch but the handbrake carelessly left on by the driver things I Bruton and brings about door hangers own in the early 50s Heinz nerd-offs policy of gradual refinement was carefully put into practice it was now almost 20 years since the basic design of this car had been established by Ferdinand Porsche and yet to the market it was relatively new its performance was slow even for the time its engine size had been increased to eleven hundred and thirty one CCS but top speed was still the hundred kilometres an hour demanded by Adolf Hitler just a shade over sixty miles an hour the split rear window was replaced by a one-piece oval in 1953 and more colors were available than in Hitler's time but no other obvious changes would be made to the look of the car until 1958 although the Volkswagen itself changed little in the 1940s and 50s it caused changes in post-war German society that few would have believed possible the first major change in May 1945 was the name of the town that housed the Volkswagen factory workers KDF start town of the strength through joy cars was no longer considered appropriate and the British nominated Town Council agreed that it should become Wolfsburg after the nearby 14th century castle Wolfsburg was to become home to a swelling population of post-war German families seeking peace and economic security after the turbulent years of the war Hitler had established his KDF start near a variety of forms of transport in the early 1950s his decision proved to be right as Volkswagen production expanded transport capacity was needed to bring the vast quantities of raw materials consumed in the creation of tens of thousands of beetles a month Hitler had dreamed of rivaling the Great American Automobile Manufacturers and now Heinz Nordoff found himself running one of the new industrial giants of Europe at one point in 1945 there'd been a good chance that the whole Volkswagen complex could have disappeared from Germany the French were interested in moving the complete facility to France as war reparations booty only protest from the French automotive industry prevented it happening for a brief period at the end of the war henry ford ii was interested in buying the plant but there were legal problems in establishing ownership and the location of the factory relatively close to the Soviet sector of Germany was discouraging also the small beetle with its air-cooled rear engine was far removed from the kind of car for traditionally manufacturing and the American public traditionally bought Henry Ford walked away from any deal but the legacy of Ford was still present in the Wolfsburg manufacturing plant many of the production tools were of American origin and its production philosophy was strongly influenced by the elder Henry Ford's ideas you by 1955 the Volkswagen engine had hardly changed from the design established by Porsches team 20 years earlier the cylinder war had been increased slightly improving power output but apart from that it was still the same flat for horizontally-opposed layout conceived in Hitler's time two pairs of cylinders opposed each other like fighters in a ring the format is known by Germans as a boxer motor in the mid-50s the Volkswagen plant at Wolfsburg was for its time highly automated but still an enormous proportion of the assembly line work was done by human hands and to keep up with production standards and the speed of the line those hands had to be highly-skilled because of the low power output of the small Volkswagen engine the gearbox and transmission were extremely important in getting power to the road as efficiently as possible the beetle four-speed transmission evolved from a simple crash gearbox to an excellent four-speed unit easy to operate fast in action and highly reliable the gear lever was located on the floor and because of the rear engine there was no transmission hump to take up room in the car small interior the efficient combination of engine and gearbox and its contribution to driving simplicity is one of the key elements of the Volkswagen Beetles success there was little handwork involved in making the cars body panels giant presents force flexible thin steel into rigid recognizable body shapes but putting the body parts together was a process of intricate human teamwork and cooperation depending on speed accuracy and economy of movement the familiar beetle shape emerged in minutes riveted welded and screwed together by human hands and while this team was doing its job dozens of others were doing exactly the same thing across the vast factory floor similar teams of human hands male and female fitted headlamps tail lamps turn indicator instruments and all the interior body trim as the lines moved on in the mid and late 50s demand forced the establishment of other plants in Hannover Brunswick and Castle from a small work force made up of German prisoners of war in 1946 less than a decade saw the development of a vast group of specialists contributing to an unlikely success story part of the explanation of that success lies in the Beatles rugged simplicity it had no frills it was structurally sound and hard to break it was different from any other car available at the time apart from the Porsche sports car but the beetle was no sports car it was a simple utilitarian revolution in transport by the end of 1954 the number of beetles that had emerged from the Wolfsburg Factory was approaching the 1 million mark it was short of Hitler's ambition to produce one and a half million in the three years to 1943 but for a factory that had been all but destroyed in the war it was a remarkable achievement the roads and railways that brought in raw materials carried out finished cars and took many of them far beyond the borders of the Federal Republic of Germany the cheap reliable beetle was finding enthusiastic buyers all over the world 1955 was a big year for Volkswagen Volkswagen of America was established and US sales only 600 and 1952 exceeded 30,000 for the year the American market slow to catch on was now beginning the move that would eventually make it Volkswagens most important outside West Germany Volkswagens climbed to the top was gathering pace the company based much of its promotion on the characteristics that had been designed into the car by Adolf Hitler Hitler had insisted on an air-cooled engine because most German working-class houses did not have garages and an air-cooled engine would be better able to cope with Germany's cold winters according to this 1955 Volkswagen promotion it was a great advantage climbing the steep passes of the Alps where it's water-cooled competitors would literally fall by the wayside boiling in keeping with the international success of the beetle the ceremony marking the occasion have a strong international flavor a vast crowd watched a lavish show in which every major customer country was represented the climax was unexpected Heinz Nora walked into the circular arena to begin a piece of automotive choreography in which the arena itself would become a giant Linette wheel the colors and the white ball would be represented by Volkswagen Beetles with the international success of the beetle Germany had indeed struck it rich but there was much more to come 1 million was a mere fraction of the number of beetles that would eventually be produced Volkswagen had been a linchpin of Germany's post-war economic miracle since 1949 the Volkswagens factory at Wolfsburg had provided an ongoing injection of employment wages and potential for export dollars as the biggest single entity in the German economy its effect on the country's economic health was profound workers found that they could once again by consumer goods even those who couldn't get afford a beetle of their own could pay for a motorbike the growth of Augsburg reflected a growth of new towns across Germany a new plant was built in Hannover to manufacture VW engines other plants within Germany were on the drawing board and in the meantime Wolfsburg was expanding to become the biggest automobile factory under one roof anywhere in the world young couples who'd faced a bleak future in the wreckage of post-war Germany now found themselves with access to new cars new furniture and few houses it was extraordinary that this surge of prosperity could be brought about by a strange little car with a design almost a quarter of a century old was even more extraordinary that many graduates of this new school would go to work at the factory that employed their parents building Volkswagen Beetles for years to come there was an exception to hein snort hogs one model policy the transporter was based on the beetle it shared the beetles engine and transmission it was introduced in 1950 but by 1956 its manufacturer was moved to the new plant at Hannover like the beetle the transporter and its many variants were unusual vehicles that found a strong market niche they were tough and simple and gained ready acceptance in many remote and difficult export markets they became an icon of the Lugg generation and the utility transportation of choice for the earthly and the spiritual alike the beetle message was spreading across the world in 1953 a manufacturing subsidiary was established in Brazil Australia also accepted the beetle with affection in 1957 Volkswagen competed successfully against a variety of world cars in Australia's Mobil gas rally and ruling event that took its competitors all the way around the island continent over some of the roughest and most difficult roads in the world the beetle made a strong impact in Australia and in the year of this rally Volkswagens second international subsidiary to set up their to manufacture the beetle Down Under in the 60s a third foreign manufacturing subsidiary was established this time in Mexico and the Volkswagen Beetle became a genuinely international car only two changes were made to the beetle in the 50s and early 60s front and rear windows were enlarged and the engine was redesigned for the first time in 1956 VW introduced the common here hoop a referred to by some as the world's slowest sports car it offered sports car appearance with beetle simplicity in 1961 Volkswagen introduced the 1500 their first new model with the apparent potential to replace the beetle it looked more up-to-date was more powerful but had nothing like the beetles appeal by the 60s the beetle was a cub car in 1965 a million were sold as well as some outlandish beetle based behavior the 60s saw two increases in engine size and continued success this smooth ride comparison shows how far suspension changes to the beetle had developed over three decades and the beetles evolution continued into the 70s in 1968 Heinz known off the architect of Volkswagens success died Nordhoff was replaced by dr. Kirk nots who inherited the tux job of finding a successor to the aging beetle only to go see showing us on the names and you come to show an asset in a photo lenticular the type for successor to the 1500 was not to be the answer it just never had the Beatles appeal Volkswagon now owned a majority share of algae and NSU and in 1970 Volkswagen launched an NSU design as the VW k70 it too was a disappointment davonne one's angry sapling outside in 1971 Rudolph lighting took over from Kurt Lots beetle development was continuing and so was the search for a replacement in 1973 came the Audi influenced Posada in 1974 the year of the arab-israeli war and rocketing oil prices Volkswagen made its first ever loss the Passat was no VW Saviour all hopes that year were pinned on an entirely new design which had nothing in common with the Volkswagen tradition the new car was released in Europe as the golf it was a front-wheel drive hatchback with a lot of catching up to do in October 1974 beetle sales topped 18 million making it clearly the biggest selling car in history the previous best-seller had been before Model T Fords original sales figure for the Model T was just over 15 million in 1927 when the beetle passed this in 1972 Ford discovered that more than 16 and a half million model teams have actually been built but by the end of 1974 there was no more argument the beetle was the most popular car of the century the new golf range included two and four-door bodies a choice of engine sizes and the sporting model with a completely different body the Scirocco the golf proved to be the right car the right time the beetle had taken more than five years to sell a million the golf did it in a mere 31 months it seemed that Volkswagen had at last found a worthy successor for the beetle beetle production was phased down in the seventies and on January the 19th 1978 the last beetle produced in Germany left the Emden factory to Volkswagen it was the champion of the world the largest selling car in history but all champions must eventually retire there was another sporting analogy the Beatles race had been running and the battle must be handed over it would be carried forward by the golf the golf appeared to be a worthy successor by late 1979 sales had reached 3 million and the 5 million mark was reached 8 years after the cars release milllion stead golf but enough an enticing mounatin aim for stunts if I gave him fun I strategist ed yeah golf's success did not quite signal the end for the beetle the golf continued to pour out of the ultra high-tech Volkswagen factories at Boasberg and Emden and in the USA where it had been introduced as the rabbit it was produced in Volkswagens Pennsylvania Factory but as the golf sales mounted around the world across the Atlantic in Mexico and Brazil the beetle continued to roll off Volkswagen production lines with half a century of development and in its time more sales than any other car in the world the Volkswagen Beetle is unique in the history of the automobile more cars follow tonight in the Rhode show including the classic Morgan three-wheeler on text against several modern rivals you you

Channel: Nano Fakhrur Rozy

Views: 208,585

Keywords: Volkswagen, vw, ve beetle, vw bug, beetle, bug, Käfer, germany car, germany, vintage, classic vw, vw classic, vw germany, History, hitler, adolf hitler

Id: Tz5wwiELbxw

Length: 42min 38sec (2558 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 04 2016