Volkswagen makes history

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32885, 7 April 1972, Page 6

Volkswagen makes history

Volkswagen’s ‘Beetle’ has just made automotive history by beating the previous production record for a single type of car previously held by the famous ‘Tin Lizzie — the Model T Ford. The Model T was in production from 1908 to 1927, Reuter reports. In all, 15,007,033 examples of the Model T were made — a mark that the “Beetle” passed during February. Demand for the squat “beetle” continues, and there is no sign of it ending soon. Almost 36 years after the first hand-made VW with its whimsical shape, was put through its paces in Hitler’s Germany, the Volkswagen factory at Wolfsburg puts out 5625 a day. One West German motoring journalist quipped: “The world is big, and full of spots that are waiting for the "Beetle” invasion. If one should start digging a thousands years hence, one will first find either an old Ford, a Singer sewing machine, a Coca Cola bottle, or a Volkswagen.” Company statistics show that about 10 million “Beetles” have been exported from West Germany to date—more than four million to the United States. There are also three “Beetles” cruising the Antarctic, six in the People’s Republic of China, and 211 in the Soviet Union. What made the “Beetle” such a success is hard to define. One explanation is that buyers see certain hu-

man traits in the car—they can love it, hate it and, not the least, make fun of it. The “Tin Lizzie” costarred in many of the great silent movies breaking through walls, racing up skyscrapers and tumbling over steep embankmentsThe VW also became a film star as the “flying Herbie,” in “The Love Bug.” In America, 218 babies are said to have been bom in VWs and 52 students squeezed into one to try to establish a record. Volkswagen officials say that it took greater efforts in improve the “Beetle” and keep it technically up-to-date than designing an entirely new car. Of its 5000 parts, only one minor strip of metal is still as in the original model. The Volkswagen as a "people’s car” was the

brainchild of Adolf Hitler. He said he wanted to put a car within reach of all Germans earning a decent living. The first three prototypes went through their trials in 1936 under an engineering team led by racing-cat designer Ferdinand Porsche Another 30 were built in 1937 and got Hitler’s approval. Under a Nazi Government scheme as ingenious as it was deceptive, some 336,000 would-be car-own-ers were talked into advancing more than 267 million marks by small instalments to help finance the produci tion of cars that were never assembled. At the end of World War 11, their money — then worthless—was still lying in the bank. Instead, 70,000

VW utilities and small amphibious cars were built for war purposes until the plant was three-quarters destroyed in 1944 by an American air raid. One of the first VW owners was Hitler himself. He received a convertible model in 1938. It was driven for 50 miles and not used again. The battered Volkswagen factory was offered to ail four occupation powers — the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France—as war reparations. No one wanted it. British car experts were reported to have said that the car did not fulfil the most fundamental technical requirements and would never be a competitor for British cars. Less than 10 years later, one million had been sold.