1946 Volkswagen Beetle – Bi-Dub

These days, German companies direct what’s happening at several classic British car manufacturers – Rolls Royce, Bentley, Mini. There was a time when a Brit directed a German car manufacturer – Volkswagen. It was just after World War II. Germany had been divided into Allied sectors, and it happened that the Volkswagen plant was in the British sector. There was a factory, albeit 75% destroyed by Allied bombing, people who needed jobs, and machinery; and the Allies needed vehicles for the occupying troops. When Major Ivan Hirst was assigned to see what could be done with the factory, he didn’t have a lot of support, but he had enough to take up the challenge and start producing automobiles.

The Beetle’s Origins

Two people have to be credited with the ultimate production of the Volkswagen Beetle – Dr. Ing. Ferdinand Porsche and Adolf Hitler. There has been speculation that the car was based on a 1920 design by Josef Ganz, and Tatra did finally win a suit against Volkswagen that it violated the patent they held on Hans Ledwinka’s T97 design. But the car would likely never have happened had it not been for Porsche and Hitler. Even while working for firms like Mercedes and designing high end cars, Porsche had an interest in the design of a small car available to the average working person. In 1931, Porsche designed Project 12 for Zündapp, known primarily for their motorcycles. The car was called the “Auto für Jedermann” – “Everyman’s Automobile.”

It was a rear-engined family car powered by a five-cylinder radial star engine. Three prototypes were built, but the engine proved to be problematic and much too expensive to mass produce, so the project was dropped in favor of the company’s motorcycle production. Porsche’s Project #32 was another small car, this time for NSU. It also had a rear-engine and a rounded back, like the Zündapp prototype, but it was powered by a 1470cc flat four-cylinder, air-cooled engine. The car was designed with a torsion bar suspension and a more rounded front than the Zündapp. The engine was designed by Josef Kales and the body by Erwin Komenda, both of Porsche’s design bureau. Three steel bodied cars were produced by Drauz and two with fabric bodies by Reutter. But that was as far as the project went, since NSU was reminded that their contract with FIAT prevented them from building cars.

In February 1933, Adolf Hitler, Germany’s new chancellor, attended the Berlin Motor Show and said, “Without motorcars, sound films, and wireless, there is no victory for National Socialism.” Apparently, he was also thinking about putting more people in automobiles. At the next year’s show, he said, “I see no reason why millions of good hard-working people should be excluded from car ownership.” It has been suggested that Hitler is responsible for the “Beetle” nickname, having said, “It should look like a beetle. You’ve only got to look to nature to find out what streamlining is.” There is even a sketch that Hitler supposedly made at a Munich restaurant in 1932. The sketch is quite similar to the shape of the early VWs. It is known that Hitler suggested a more rounded front end than Porsche had sketched in 1934.

Porsche made a proposal to Hitler for the “People’s Car” – “Volkswagen” – and Porsche received a detailed contract to develop a car that would cruise at 100 kph (61 mph), get 40 mpg at touring speeds, and cost Reich Marks 995. The VW would be one of the very few cars produced at the time that was designed to be able to cruise at its top speed. The only part of the contract that caused Porsche to object was the selling price. He believed it to be much too low; even a two-cylinder DKW sold for RM 1750. But when the car was finally offered for sale in 1938, Porsche held to that price. Porsche cleverly made the cars’ sell via a subscription, with a minimum payment of RM 5 per month and no delivery until the full amount was paid, which could take sixteen years at the minimum payment rate. It wasn’t a surprise that no deliveries were made to ordinary citizens prior to the outbreak of WWII.

The engines for Projects #12 and #32 were built by Zündapp and NSU, respectively. When it was time to build the prototypes for the new VW, there was no manufacturing source available, so the first five cars were built in the garage and garden of Porsche’s home. The first two, labelled V1 and V2 for “Versuchswagen,” or “experimental car” 1 and 2, were a saloon and a cabriolet with bodies built by Reutter and Drauz, respectively. The cars were finished in 1936, and the Porsche family drove them for thousands of miles to test them.

Three more cars, labelled V3, all had saloon bodies built by Daimler-Benz. The first two were coachbuilt, but the third had a pressed steel body. The V3 cars were given for testing to the Reichsverland der Deutsche Automobilindustrie (RDA) for testing in trials in January 1937.

Although the RDA was not a fan of the project, fearing it would adversely hurt other German automobile manufacturers, their report was fair. Hitler, based on the report, decided to proceed with the project. Like Porsche, the RDA objected to the low sales price of the car; unlike Porsche, the RDA objected vocally. Hitler was annoyed by the objection, so, in May 1937, he decided to give the project to a new organization, the Gesellshaft zur Vorbereitung der Volkswagens (nicknamed Gezuvor), which would be controlled by the Deutsche Arbeit Front (DAF) – German Labor Front. Gezuvor located its offices on the fourth floor of Porsche’s Stuttgart bureau.

Daimler-Benz built thirty of the VW30 cars. They were the first to have fender-mounted headlights, although they still did not have a rear window. These 30 cars were extensively tested by members of the Schutzstaffel (Protection Squadron) or SS. They drove each of the cars for over 50,000 miles. The lessons learned from the tests resulted in modifications to the next 44 cars that Daimler-Benz produced. They were called VW38s, since they were to be ready by 1938. The VW38 (aka KdF Wagen) was very close to what the post-war models would look like. They finally got a rear window. It was a split window since curved glass was more difficult to make than flat glass, and the split windows could be flat, even on the rounded body.

To build production models, Hitler had the construction of the factory begun on May 26, 1938. It was near Fallersleben, east of Hanover, and a city to house the workers was built at the same time. The city was named KdF Stadt for the motto of the DAF – “Kraft durch Freude” (“Strength through Joy”). After the war, the city became known as Wolfsburg. Gezuvor officially became Volkswagenwerk GmbH in 1938.

The subscription purchase scheme began on January 1, 1939. There were over 335,000 subscribers, 70% of whom had never owned an automobile. There were three body styles for the KdF Wagen – saloon, roll-top saloon, and cabriolet, although the cabriolet was soon cancelled, and only a few were made. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and production would no longer go as planned for the Volkswagen. The first production version of the KdF Wagen left the factory on August 15, 1940. Only 630 cars were built through 1944, and they all went to military and party officers. What vehicles were produced during the war were primarily Type 82 Kübelwagens and Type 166 Schwimmwagens.

The KdF plant also produced aircraft, aero engine components, stoves, and parts for the V1 rocket. Throughout the war, though, Porsche continued to think about improving the future Beetle. Four wheel drive, supercharging, turbocharging, diesel power, and an all synchromesh transmission were considered (that didn’t happen until 1952). One improvement that did happen during the war was an enlargement of the engine to 1131cc in 1943. That would become the engine used post-war.

Post-War

When American troops arrived in KdF Stadt in April 1945, they found a factory that had been 75% destroyed by Allied bombing. But they also found parts to build Type 82 Kubelwagens, and they ordered, on May 16th, that five be assembled for their use while occupying that part of Germany. More Kübelwagens were built for the American and British forces over the next months. American control was short lived, since the area became officially in the British Sector.

On June 5th, Control Council Law No. 52 turned responsibility for Volkswagenwerk GmbH over to the British Military Government. In accordance with the law, the firm was confiscated and would be administered in trusteeship until it was returned to German control. Initially, under the Morganthau Plan, Germany was to be de-industrialized and turned into a “pastoral state.” The VW plant, for example, was to have its machinery sent as reparations to any Allied country that wanted it. It seems, though, that no one wanted it.

The British delegation, headed by Lord William Rootes, reported that “the vehicle does not meet the fundamental technical requirement of a motor-car . . . it is quite unattractive to the average buyer . . . . To build the car commercially would be a completely uneconomic enterprise.” Ernest Breech looked over the plant for Ford. His comment to Henry Ford was, “I don’t think what we are being offered here is worth a damn.” Ford turned it down as well. So much for British and American vision. The Morganthau Plan was eventually seen for what it was – a job killer – and was rescinded.

When the British took control of the plant, it was in pretty poor shape, so they simply decided to turn it into a repair shop for their vehicles. Many of the workers, primarily POWs and others who had been used as slave labor, went back to their countries. But local workers, who had nothing else to do, kept assembling Kübelwagens from parts, like those for the Americans. Enter Major Ivan Hirst.

Major Ivan Hirst

The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile makes statement about Major Hirst that is pretty powerful: “As a British soldier in war-torn Germany, Ivan Hirst played a unique role in establishing production of the Volkswagen Beetle. Without his vision the world-beating car might never have emerged from the ruins of Wolfsburg.” Hirst was born in Yorkshire and educated as an engineer at Manchester University. He worked in his family’s business making optical instruments. He was active in the British Territorial Army and was called up for active service during the war. He was promoted to Major in the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment then transferred to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. As the Allies pushed the German army back, Hirst ran a tank repair shop in Brussels, Belgium.

In August 1945, Hirst was assigned to manage the plant in Wolfsburg. The town council had changed the name in May 1945, and the plant had been renamed Wolfsburg Motor Works. About his assignment, Hirst said, “Nobody gave me a real brief. I was just told to go there and do something.” By Lord Rootes, he was told, “If you think you’re going to build cars in this place, you’re a bloody fool, young man.” Thankfully, his commanding officer, Colonel Michael McEvoy, was supportive and encouraged him to make the plant productive.

Hirst noticed an undamaged Beetle saloon among the wreckage of the plant. He decided to send it to the local British military headquarters, and, surprise, it resulted in an order for 20,000 of the cars. Hirst took the order to mean that he was to put the plant back to producing Beetles. It wasn’t easy. In addition to getting the plant in shape for production, he also had to ensure his workers had food to eat. Hirst, the engineer, managed the effort to get the plant producing cars again, including clearing unexploded bombs. Hirst, the manager, opened the plant grounds to farming, allowing the planting of cereal crops at the site.

By the end of 1945, fifty-five Beetle saloons had been built. By the end of March 1946, production had reached 1000 cars per month, a production figure that, because of material shortages, would remain consistent for the next two years.With production and military needs being more than met, a customer service network began to evolve in the latter half of 1946. Service bulletins were produced to document improvements, so the cars could be properly serviced.

Dealers appeared for the cars. The first was delivered to Gottfried Schultz, a dealer in Essen, on July 17, 1946. A sales organization was approved by the British Military Government in October, initially including ten main distributors and 28 dealers.

Even with materials shortages, the 10,000th VW Beetle was built on October 14, 1946. 1947 saw the establishment of the first authorized VW importer – Pon’s Automobielhandelin in the Netherlands. Hirst knew he was just a caretaker until the plant could be returned to German control, so he carefully recruited his replacement. Heinz Nordoff became Managing Director in January 1948, and control of the plant was given to the state of Lower Saxony in September 1948. What Hirst accomplished in three years was as important as it was amazing. In the opinion of Breech, Volkswagen wasn’t “worth a damn.” Today, it is the largest auto manufacturer in the world with $263.6 billion in revenue and a market share worldwide close to 6.4%

1946 Beetle 1-87089

According to the stamping, VW Beetle 1-87089 was built on August 26, 1946, but it was made available for this profile because Chip Perry realized what an important car it was. Perry is a very interesting guy, and he is a serious car guy. If you have looked to buy or sell a car online, you can thank Perry. He grew up in a military family, so he lived on military bases where he was exposed to a lot of interesting cars. The family had a Beetle and a Karmann Ghia, so he had an appreciation for them.

After college and a masters degree in civil engineering, he went west, where he ultimately became the head of strategy for the Los Angeles Times. It was the 1990s, when online services were becoming more widely used, and he had an idea for a new avenue for the newspaper industry to pursue. Perry explained, “I suggested we look into [going online], and they agreed. We built a plan and mounted a version of the LA Times – all the columns, etc. – in 1992. That was still very early – before Netscape. I learned quickly how resistant leadership was to any initiative that distracted from the print product. They were afraid of cannibalizing it. We did surveys of users and learned that the newspaper on a little screen was not that interesting, but the extensions beyond that were. Classified ads, homes, cars, etc. – focus groups said why not show more cars or more information about a house?” Perry proposed an idea where the comprehensive nature of the “Yellow Pages” and the immediacy of the newspaper were combined online. The leadership of the newspaper said no.

The leadership of the LA Times may not have been interested in what Perry was doing, but there were others who were. He got a call from some forward-looking people in Atlanta and accepted an offer to lead the creation of a digital version of Auto Trader. They first took it online in Florida, then spread it around the country and to other countries. Cox Enterprises, owner of all types of media, was interested and bought into the project.

They told Perry “to build the world’s largest auto shipping service and figure out how to make money while you do it.” The digital Auto Trader was launched in May 1998. There were lots of challenges, especially with the part about making money, but Perry was clever and, after sixteen years, the project had grown from one employee and no budget to 3000 employees and $1.5 billion in revenue. After deciding to leave Cox, Perry took his talents to a variety of other companies with considerable success. Success that allowed him to build his collection.

Perry’s first interest in classics was with Porsches, especially the 356, although his first Porsche was a 1986 911 that he bought in 2000. He wanted to learn more about Porsche history, so he built a library of books about Porsche. In his words, “I learned that to really understand the Porsche brand, the culture, and the history of the company – what happened before Porsche was created – you have to study Volkswagen history. There’s much more detailed information there than in Porsche books.” He became fascinated with Volkswagen history.

As a result, he bought a 1956 oval window Beetle, which he still has in his collection. He started following thesamba.com, a site that is a “magnet of the vintage VW world.” He continued, “One day a ’46 Beetle popped up for sale. It was from when the British controlled the factory. I called the seller; the price seemed high, but I agreed to pay it as long as it was the real thing. I wanted to ensure that it wasn’t sold before I could see it. The following week, I flew to Salem, Oregon, from Atlanta and bought it.” The seller had collaborated with the previous owner, Mike Hornbecker, on the restoration.

Hornbecker is famous in the vintage VW world and has an incredible collection of Beetles and buses. The ’46 had been recently restored to factory standards. They had gotten NOS parts from Germany, including the running lights and the single brake light known as “The Pope’s Nose.” The car even had its original engine. Volkswagen records indicated that the car had been originally sold to an American serviceman.

The 1946 Beetle is a very basic car. The first thing that is noticed is the matte black paint. All the cars produced immediately after WWII were painted in matte colors – glossy paint was just not available. It has the 1131 cc air-cooled flat four engine that is noted for its light weight, although not for its power – 24.5 horsepower. The transmission is non-synchronized, so double clutching is a talent that is necessary to learn. For turn signals, it uses trafficators, semaphore signals mounted on the door pillar which pop up and blink to indicate which direction the driver intends to turn. On the Beetle, they are hydraulically operated, which is a bit of an oddity, since the brakes are cable operated on all four wheels.

It was still built with running boards, although most other manufacturers had abandoned them. It had a near total lack of chrome and a pair of open gloveboxes, attesting most likely to the lack of materials in 1946. There is a notch below the rear bumper that allows use of a hand crank – just in case. There are a few things that are unique to the early Beetles that can be found on the ’46. There are single acting shocks on the rear axle, a T-shaped boot handle, pull-out door handles, rear license plate pressing on the engine cover, nipple-shaped hubcaps, and a gas tank filler under the boot lid. There was no fuel gauge, but there was a lever at the firewall that allowed access to another gallon or so of fuel in the reserve tank. There was also little body insulation, so the cars were quite noisy.

Driving Impressions

Back in the ‘60s, there was a period when, stationed in Germany, I had sold my car and had to wait to take delivery of my new car. A neighbor in the Army housing complex loaned me his spare car, a 1957 VW Beetle. As with all VWs of that era, it was a basic car. The 1946 Beetle owned by Perry is a VERY basic car. Knowing the history of VW, I was pleased that Perry allowed me to profile his Beetle. Like nearly all VWs, it started without drama – pull out the choke, give it some gas, and turn the key. The sound is so VW. The first reminder that the transmission is not synchromesh came with the first shift into second gear – oops, forgot about that. Perry and I had a good laugh, and from then on, I had a great opportunity to freshen my double clutching technique – it’s been a while since I needed to double clutch a car I was driving.

We headed out for a drive on the roads near the Blue Ridge Parkway in the hills of NW North Carolina. That’s where both disadvantages of this Beetle were obvious. With 24.5 hp, it’s not great for getting up the side of a mountain at any great speed, and stopping when you’re coming down that mountain is a well-planned event – you use the brakes well ahead of when you would in a modern car. The drive proved that the car had decent steering and acceptable handling, at least at the speeds we were doing. Nothing spectacular, but certainly adequate, especially for the time.

It was noisy, the seats were nothing special, the ride was a bit harsh, and the car was SO much fun. Just being in a car this significant in the history of the automobile industry is an honor – how could you not enjoy it? Beetles are not as common as they once were, but they’re not rare, so it was a bit of a surprise that it created the amount of head turn it got when driving through town. Maybe it was the sound, or maybe it was the look, but quite a few people realized that it was something special. I have to agree – it is something very special.

VolksWagen History Interview With Ivan Hirst, 1999

Specifications

1946 VolksWagen Beetle Gallery