The Beetle vol. 2 - The Chronicles of the People's Car

Anotace

The Volkswagen Beetle represents a success story unmatched in manufactur-ing terms: during its fifty years of pro-duction over 20,000,000 cars were sold out of plants in twenty countries. The Beetle, however, is more than an industrial statistic. Its appearance out of the ashes of defeated Germany — initially under the aegis of Britain, the Occupying Power heralded that country's rehabili-tation in the world, and gave a promise of freedom and independence to the individ-ual. In hindsight we can see that it also became a yardstick for the economic recovery of what is now one of Europe's most successful states. In this book the talents of eight of Germany's foremost Volkswagen experts and journalists are brought together to tell the story of this remarkable car. The story starts in the mid-thirties when Ferdi-nand Porsche proposes a 'German peo-ples car' — literally a Volkswagen. Initially a private venture, the idea gained support from Hitler and was eventually annexed by the Nazi leisure organisation, the KdF. Although over 70,000 VWs were built during the war, it was not until the return of peace that the car became available to the 'people', for whom it was originally meant. In addition to information about the development of the standard — though much-modified — Beetle, the many official special versions, such as fire-engine, ambulance and commercial vehicles are discussed, as too are the 'might-have-been' models considered but not adopted as the Beetle's successor. The Beetle's history, however, is as much about the people involved as the machine itself, and in this volume can be found biographies of those such as Ferdinand Porsche and Heinrich Nordoff; the former providing the initial inspiration, the latter steering the fortunes of the VW concern for much of the Beetle's life. This book is the second of three titles, each of whch looks at a different aspect of the technical, social and popular history of the Beetle, and which, taken together, represent the definitive 'Chronicles of the People's Car'.

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