Volkswagen History 2

In 1933 Porsche together with Hitler made possible for the citizen car project to continue. The Type 60 was soon created and its name soon changed to V1 (experiment 1). After a proposition made by Hitler V2 was designed to met the new convertible version criteria that was introduced.

In 1936 these models together with VW3 were put to major testing. After enough data was collected the next version - the VW30 was made. For the VW30 testing a new government company was responsible - the DAF. This was because of the Hitler's regime.

Members of SS were told to drive the new VW30 model and to confirm that all the problems are fixed. Soon after that in 1938 in the KdF wagen factory the manufacturing process began. In 1939 some VW38 and a few demonstrational cars of the model VW39 came to the world.

That was made just to point out that the factory is working and to show what the future cars would look like. These models came with a difference - the front hinged doors. When V38s models were finally introduced Hitler abruptly changed the name to KdF wagen. KdF stayed for "Kraft durch Freude" or "Strength through Joy". That made Porsche pretty upset because he was not a member of the Nazi party and the use of propaganda of this kind was not his understanding of advertisement.

Special stamps were made by the government. They were sold to people and on theory if someone got 200 stamps they could immediately be changed with a KdF wagen. That however was not meant to be and the model didn't proceed further. In fact it stayed only as a prototype.
Many people made it to court seeking some compensation because of the stamps they had which was not going to be redeemed with a car. During that time the Type 82 was on the way. It was a simple military vehicle. It practically used the parts from KdF wagen and its flat-sided body and increased ground clearance were some of the few differences.

During WWII Type 128 and Type 166 were created. The last was powered by a 25 hp engine. There were over 50 000 cars produced of the Type 82 and only less than 16 000 of the Schwimmwagen (Type 166).

After the war the KdF wagen factory was taken over by the British army. Under the leadership of Major Ivan Hirsts over 2000 cars were made. Most of these cars were made by spare parts left by the old manufacturing process.

After 1945 the company was named Volkswagen and the whole town took the name "Wolfsburg" which was the name of a castle nearby. The British were looking to whom to give the control over the factory. It was very difficult because Ford though it to be a waste of money and the French government refused. Soon after that Heinrich Nordhoff took the opportunity which came to be a good step in the Volkswagen development.

In 1949 the production rapidly increased. Soon after that in 1950 the VW transporter was born. Many vehicles were transported to Denmark, Sweden, Luxemburg, Belgium, and Switzerland. In South Africa the Beetles were produced during the same year.

In 1952 dealership opened doors in England which was the first there. In 1951 deluxe version of the Beetle was exported. In 1952 the American deluxe Beetles got hydraulic brakes.

Beetles made before and some during the 1953 looked a lot like the old KdF wagen. In 1955 the Karmann Ghia was introduced. It was made by many of the Beetle parts to keep the production line cheaper. In 1977 the production of the Beetle sedan ended. Two years after that cabriolet production stopped too.

However it is pretty interesting that Beetles are used and produced in Mexico even today.