10.00.00.00

Music and FX

 00.07

Round up advert

He rides a Bug

Drag

fx

wheel

.....BMW wheel

Hitler walks past troops

It shall be named KDF wagen

Enthusiast

Life's a Beetle and then you die 

00.27

Adolf Hitler on podium

Our Technical designers and labourers can be proud to build such cars, may the German spirit be big enough to use them.

Chris Clarke, a VW collector

VW are the love of my life.

Montage

Music

00.42

It been called the Bug, the Beetle, the V Dub and even the pregnant roller skate.

concourse VW              beetle bash                           

Millions of these cars are on the road today and many more millions have enjoyed owning and driving the strange, endearing and enduring little car that is the Volkswagen.

00.58

Chris Clarke

Having owned Volkswagens all my life, I just wouldn't want to collect  any other form of car.

01.05

Richard Cotton, a VW Collector

I think what makes them so desirable for collectors is those two small windows, it just gives the beetle such a classic feel.

Chris Clarke            

It's an engineering miracle. It's a car they have made over 20 million of. It's a car they can't improve.

01.19

The Volkswagen is indeed a miracle car.

Originally conceived as a peoples car, the beetle had to overcome, early rejection by Germany's car makers, exploitation by the Nazi's and a world war to become the cult classic it is now.

01.36

Given its astonishing success, it's hard to imagine that today's winner almost didn't make it off the drawing board.

Nazi Ceremony

FX

01.48

Hitler into car 

In 1932, the National Socialist Party came to power in Germany. The soon to be Chancellor, Adolf Hitler was a keen car enthusiast and his attention soon focused on a proposal for a small cheap car, a volksauto.

02.01

It was the brainchild of Ferdinand Porsche.

Still of Dr Porsche                   

A brilliant designer, he designed some of the finest, fastest and most luxurious cars in the world.

02.12

Car factory

But his concept of a proper small car for the people was too radical for the German motor industry.

Cars on streets

Motoring, then was for the wealthy. The general public and especially the worker were discounted as potential customers.

Dr Porsche found his working class sympathies at odds with the car industry, and after 18 years at Austro Daimler left to start his own  business.

fx

02.36

still  type 12

Convinced of his vision, Porsche decided to gamble his own money. The Type 12 was the result.

still type 32

The NSU Works stepped in as his next patron and the type 32 was developed, but the project stalled again.

Ferry Porsche (son of Dr Porsche)                           Still of expose

During the development of the Zundapp and the NSU, my father had produced a proposal to build a small car for Germany.

in vision

He wanted this car to be built in co-operation with the whole industry. Hitler picked up this idea. If he got this idea before or after reading the proposal, no one can tell.

Anyway, at the car exhibition of 1934 he mentioned Volkswagen for the first time.

03.46

Archive of meeting,                    1934                                

At the Kaiserhof Hotel in Berlin, a meeting took place between Dr Porsche and Adolf Hitler, now the  Chancellor.

Porsche saw Hitler as someone in a position of power, with access to finance who shared his enthusiasm and his vision for a small car.

sketch   of car                

At the meeting, Hitler showed an  impressive knowledge of cars producing rough sketches and adding to Porsche's five point plan for the people's car.

04.12

5 point plan gphx

Music

sketch of car

Hitler, then persuaded the RDA  - the German car manufacturers trade organisation, to sponsor Porsche and aid the development of the volksauto.

04.55

Only one in 49 people owned a car compared to one in 6 in America and Hitler realised the propaganda value of promising to make the country mobile.

05.06

German newspapers

Mass ownership would also strengthen the motor industry and create much needed work.

05.11

Hitler                         1935 Berlin Motor Show

I am pleased about the fact that through the ability of a brilliant...

tech designer and his staff we have succeeded in finishing the ...

first sketches of the German Volkswagen and that we can..

test the first edition by the end of this year.

FX applause

05.28

factory

The RDA were still totally opposed to the peoples car, and only adhered to the contract because of political pressure.

still

They forced Porsche to design and build in his own garage and rather hoped he would fail.

stills x 2   1935

Despite this , at the end of 1935 two cars were being tested in the  black forest. These were the first of many prototypes.

Porsche's ideas and concepts were made into reality with the engineering excellence of Karl Rabe and the body design skills of Erwin Komeda.

05.59

Still        1936

The V1 sedan, was built by the coachbuilder Ruetter and a V2 cabriolet by Drauz, followed.

06.06

Wide shot of Hitler, walking past troops.

We have totally cleared the way  for the technical designer Dr Porsche, so that he was free to finish his perfect..

..construction, and test it in every way..

..we have let nothing get in the way of our work..

..our aim is to make the first VW roll by the end of 1936.

06.46

 Car driving around courtyard       

The VW3 was given to the RDA for extensive testing. The car covered 400 miles a day over the Alps, black forest and the new autobahns.

Car on snowy roads                                           People around parked car

The testing was gruelling and highlighted a number of problems but no basic design flaws.

07.11

Men working on car

Despite the time and cost involved Porsche developed his technical innovations, with the sole aim of determining the ideal solution.  A new member of the team, Franz Reimspeiss suggested a 4 cylinder engine instead of two.  This would give far better results.

Still of car with markings.

The floor group was made from sheet steel and the torsion bar suspension gave excellent road holding.

07.36

Men working on car, exterior.  Car drives off

User friendly instruments were well laid out and the car was heated.

Dr Bernard Wiersen (VO)                                                                              In vision                

This is the oldest VW in existence, with the number 3 chassis. This car was driven by Porsche as a company car and has done 600,00km since.

Until the end of the war it ran on petrol. Afterwards however due to petrol shortages it was converted to natural gas.

At he end of the war it was stripped down to save it from the hands of the allies, it was put back together in 1948.

It has been the in possession of the Volkswagen factory since 1952 it still runs like a new car.

08.19

Still of cars in a row

In May 1937, a VW development company was formed and capital from the German labour front, the DAF was put at Porsche's disposal. 

Men working around car.

Dr Porsche's son Ferry, a talented designer in his own right , oversaw the construction and testing of the series 30. 

08.37

SS men were used as the test drivers and Daimler built the cars despite the RDA's continuing reluctance to participate in the Volksauto.

08.47

Ferry

The RDA approached the Fuher and offered to build the car if they got a 200 Deutch Marks subsidy. This is the point when Hitler blew his top and said "200 Deutch Marks for 1 million cars, that's going to be 200 million Deutch Marks.

Is there no more effective way to invest this money rather than a paid subsidy ?

stills of newspapers

This wasn't a spontaneous idea but an expression of belief that for this amount of money you could build a factory in which cars could be manufactured for the price requested by the Fuhrer.

09.31

Factory poster

The RDA's stalling failed and they now faced competition from the Volksauto as Hitler announced plans for a state owned factory.

The cars would be built and sold for 990- Marks.

Porsche returned to America to recruit workers. On a previous visit he had been impressed with their production techniques. He envisaged a Volkswagen factory along these lines.

09.55

Still from an advert, people looking at countryside.

Hitler chose the village of Fallersleben, on the banks of the Mitteland Canal, located on the estate of the 14 century Schloss Wolfsburg.

10.04

Ferry Porsche

But it wasn't the ideal place to build up a big new industry. There were no labourers, no power supply and no raw materials.   Wolfsburg lacked all of these three important factors, but with the day of laying the

foundation stone was already fixed,and with three Volkswagens, similar in design to future productions, we drove to Btaunschweig.

10.48

Still of Nazi opening

On the 26th of May 1938, Hitler dedicated the factory cornerstone in a grand Nazi opening.

FX

Ferry Porsche

Adolf Hitler and his entourage all marched up in uniform. I felt slightly embarrassed because my father and I were the only two not in uniform. We were even more surprised by the new name Hitler had given the Volkswagen

Hitler walking

It shall be named KDF Wagen

Ferry  Porsche                                               Hitler in cabriolet drives past.

After the speeches were held, I had to drive Hitler in the cabriolet, to the train station. Although I drove slowly, Hitler asked me to drive more slow...I drove all the way to the station in first gear. He felt enthusiastic about the car and the ride.

11.54

Advert still                    News reel   

Hitler christened it the KDF wagen, or "strength through Joy" and the town of Wolfsburg was renamed KDF Stadt.

Newsreel

UPSOF

The first level of the factory is near completion. Built on a giant estate of 3 km in 8 month, impressive buildings have been constructed. Over 5,000 working comrades of which a few thousand are Italian and Dutch are finishing the building .

12.26

News Reel pictures continued

Hitler boasted that this factory would be bigger than the Ford factory, would outproduce it,  and that the Volkswagen would be the cheapest car in the world.

A town for the workers was planned as well, but the emphasis was on the subordination of town to factory. The factory was to be the centre of all life.

12.52

Music

Stills                              

Whilst still being tested the prototype of the Volkswagen 38 series was presented to the press and public through propaganda runs.

Newsreel

UPSOF

Even foreign journos were won over by the KDF car. They were amazed by its low petrol consumption of only 6 1/2 litres. Its rapid acceleration of 0- 60km in 14 secs and by its outstanding road holding and 4 speed gear box.

13.30

1938 car in museum

The development cost up to the final 38 design was 30 million Marks, but this was considered a reasonable sum for a vehicle so far ahead of its time.

Bernard Wiesen

This is an original KDF Wagen, KDF as an organisation were meant to take car of the selling and distribution of the car in the Third Reich.

Overlay with '38 museum car shots.

The car was meant to be user friendly and easy to service and of course it's easier to wash a rounded car rather than a car with lots of corners.

The CW, very important in today's manufacturing, was 0.48 which wasn't bad for the time.

The elements which Porsche had built into the design in 1938 were incorporated into the post war design.

14.24

Book of stamps                  stills x 2

The German people could purchase their KDF wagen by collecting stamps on a card. The stamps were purchased weekly, at 5 Marks each.

At this rate it would take a worker three years and eight months to become eligible for the car. But eligibility was no guarantee that they would ever actually own one.

FX

14.50

Advertising  film                         snowy rd                                           petrol into tank

This advertising film of the 30's promised the car for the people. Over 300 thousand Germans signed up for the KDF wagen, but none ever received their car.

WAR    1939

FX and Music

15.06

B & W  footage of tanks across fields.

On the first of September 1939, Hitler invaded Poland.

The Furher expected a short war, and foreseeing a need for post war cars, was hesitant to use the KDF factory in the war effort.

KDF Factory (still)   

Only 210 KDF wagons had been built and these were distributed to high ranking Nazis and officials not to any KDF savers.

15.30

blueprints x2

But production of the peoples car had to take a back seat as the still incomplete factory switched over to military manufacturing.

15.40

Porsche was asked to redesign and improve a cross country vehicle. His concept was the Kublewagen, which featured a KDF chassis with improved ground clearance for off road.

still and moving of Schwimmwagen

The schwimmwagen, a variation of the Kublewagen was also developed.  It featured a tub like body on a KDF base.

16.00

Schwimmwagen enters water.

Besides being able to swim, these had four wheel drive.

14 thousand  of the schwimmwagens were produced at the factory.

aerials of bomb damage

 FX   and Music

16.17

ruined buildings

The war crushed Germany and shattered Ferdniand Porsche's long fought for vision of a car for everyman.   It destroyed Porsche himself.

ruined streets

Although the Nazi regime had supported Porsche and his VW brought prestige to the third Reich, he wasn't a party member and he was found not guilty of war crimes.

But by then harsh imprisonment had deprived him of his health.

16.41

streets cont.

The town of Wolfsburg, liberated by the US Army in 1945 was crowded with slave labourers, freed POW and displaced persons.

Stills  x 2 VW factory                                B&W

The VW factory was crippled and smashed. Once the repository of so much hope and optimism, the ruins told of despair and defeat.

17.04

It was now a 'prize of war'

17.11

Still of Major Hirst                                          B & W 

The British took control of the factory in the summer of 1945. Major Ivan Hirst was the plant's commanding officer and he quickly became a Volkswagen enthusiast.

17.21

Major Ivan Hirst

My initial brief was virtually zero, was to go to Wolfsburg and take charge of the factory, a derelict factory.

..the officer in charge in HQ in Germany ....had been at the motorshow in Berlin that year and had driven in one of the pre prod beetles, the KDF they were called. It was he who had the bright idea that the British in Germany would require a light vehicle.

..It was clear of course that if we could get the vehicles made in Germany from German materials by Germans it wouldn't cost the British tax payer anything.

.... we did a quick survey and decided that it would be possible to produce a beetle provided that the materials were available.

we got an allocation of steel, but the steel mills couldn't deliver sheets big enough and the first beetles were prod with a welded seam across the roof.

18.45

Still of VW on back of train.   ( B &W)

The still only partially rebuilt plant received an order for 20 thousand Volkswagens to fill allied requirements.

..The prod. operatives didn't exist. During the war they had been Russian prisoners of war and what our German friends nowadays call ‘guest workers' from those countries Poland, Holland  and so on.

The foreigners had all gone and the Germans had come back, so I arranged with our manpower colleagues to offer work at the Wolfsburg factory to German arm force personnel coming out of British prisoner of war camps.

so we had a workforce the excellent German army, and airforce.

19.37

There were many problems to overcome.

Still of VW covered in graffiti                                            women putting petrol into car.

Food was scarce and the workers often went hungry, the front garden of the factory was ploughed for planting and a blind eye was turned to a flourishing black market in parts and goods.

19.51

Major Hirst

Production of the beetle really got going in march 1946 at a rate of 1,000 cars a month, which was the limit set by the availability of materials.

This was a time when no other manufacture in Germany was producing cars at all.

20.14

Newsreel

UPSOF

1946 and a new beginning for the newly opened factory at Wolfsburg. Cars are rolling off the prod. line.

18,000 workers are employed at the plant......

20.26

Newsreel Pictures continued.

By 1947, the allied requirement was largely satisfied and the British Board came to realise that the factory might have a future.

They looked for a German engineer to take over and found Heinrich Nordhoff.

still Nordhoff

20.41

Nordhoff seemed an unlikely  person to continue Porsche's vision, - he had disliked the Volkswagen during its development.

Factory

But Heinrich Nordhoff inspired the workers, with his pioneering leadership and great organization. He also came to love the Volkswagen.

20.57

Celebrations

Remarkable production figures were achieved and the 20 thousandth Beetle soon rolled off the line.

Nordhoff's basic philosophy was continuous close contact with the workforce whom he regarded as partners striving towards a common goal.

21.16

cars in tunnel               delivery vans

The factory was soon able to satisfy the civilian demand, and Nordhoff now had a growning business to run.

21.25

Major Hirst.

It had been intended to dismantle the factory as surplus to the cap placed on German industry at the end of the war. And because of the allied requirement there was a four year reprieve from that dismantling.

Newsreel / Air  lift

Economic stringency measures in Britain meant a rethink of this dismantling policy. If the Germans could pay for themselves there would be less burden on the British tax payer.

22.00

Major Hirst

..as a result all of us on the industry side in Germany got instructed to push German companies into exporting.

22.17

Hanover Motorshow               1947 

The VW export drive began with very modest beginnings

Still Ben Pon

A fledgling export market had been established by Ben Pon.

1948 NY Motor Show                              B&W             

He took the Volkswagen to the New York Industrial Exhibition in 1948, where the New York Times disparagingly referred to the Volkswagen as 'Beetle like'

unwittingly giving it the mane we still love and use today.

22.38

Still of Volkswagen from advertising brochure.

Americans didn't like the Beetle. Even 4 years after the war it was still seen as a Nazi creation.

The Volkswagen was considered out of date politically and out of time with the public taste. But it was more a case of being ahead of its time.

22.56

1949 museum car

In 1949, the first export models rolled off the line.

Nordhoff constantly rejected demands to re-design the car, preferring instead to retain the Volkswagens unconventional looks and to improve it 'organically'  with better quality materials.

23.14

Handover signing.

Major Hirst

The company was handed over to the Germans to be more precise to the government of Lower Saxony in autumn of 1949 when we withdrew.

Advertising film.                                           B&W

The hand over ended 4 years of uncertainty surrounding the future of the Volkswagen. Nordhoff now began to make Porsches vision of small, economic and reliable car - a popular reality.

23.42

advertising film continued.

UPSOF  fx and music only.

This early advertising film illustrates the unstoppable myth of the Beetle.

Advertising film / Mountains                                           Colour

It was a myth that constantly won favour with both advertiser and purchaser alike.

23.54

Stills                                  1950's

Unstoppable yes, but advertising brochures also showed off the beetle as a highly styled and desirable car.

24.03

FX      clapping. Cheering

1/4 million car

The 1950' opens a new chapter, which saw the real beginning of the Beetles unprecedented success story.

VW roll out of factory               VW on trains                            Streets with Volkswagens                          

But for Ferninand Porsche, who visited Nordhoff and the factory just before he died it was the closing chapter.  His dream was fulfilled, Volkswagens were everywhere.

24.30

Newsreel / Chancellor visits factory.                                        b&w

FX

The German Chancellor was impressed by the factories refit in 1950

The plant at Wolfsburg had been unable to cope with the increased demand for the cars and the refit enabled modern, more productive assembly methods to be used.

Advertising film. Workers cross bridge at Wolfsburg.

The war time huts housing the workers were demolished and Wolfsburg became more attractive.

Aerial of factories  (col)

Sister factories are built at Hanover, Kassell and Emden as demand continued to outstrip supply.

Fx and music

25.06

Factory interior

Assembly methods become more mechanized, and this enabled factories to be built around the world. 

25.26

In 1953, the split window was removed, this was the first significant visual change to the Volkswagen's appearance in 20 years.

World Pictures of VW

Fx and Music

Nigerian factory

Mexico taxis

The export market was expanded to 29 countries.

The Volkswagen became a truly international car, the largest selling single model of motor car in the world.

25.51

Port and Shipping

Advertising played a huge role in this success of the Volkswagen.

Advertising  Film                   Snow plough  B&W            

UPSOF

26.00

Have you ever wondered....how the man who drives the snowplough drives to the snow plough...this one drives a Volkswagen...so you can stop wondering.

Montage other adverts.

The integrity and honesty of the Volkswagen was heavily exploited in its advertising. Myths, stories and legends of the beetle were put to good use and many more were created.

26.40

John Meszaros                    VW advertising Manager

If you go back to the very beginning of television advertising and indeed press advertising.. you will find by the late 50's early 60's advertising became progressively jazzier, terribly livelier.. and especially in

the United States, dancing girls and god knows what else, and product features by the million. Volkswagen simply said this is a good quality product you can rely on it and it will take you there.

Advertising Film                  Floating VW

UPSOF

27.17

What makes the Volkswagen the most seaworthy car on the road ? a sheet of steel seals the bottom fore and aft and the top part is practically watertight. So a Volkswagen can definitely float.. but not indefinitely.

David Abbott                 Former Managing Director, DDB London

This was a car that was right for its time, that had charm and practicality and I think it became a classless car in a strange sort of way.

27.46

It was a car that if you didn't have a lot of money you brought because you wanted it, not simply because it was dictated by your bank balance.

Advertising Film                                 Funeral

UPSOF

I Maxwell East being of sound mind and body, do hereby bequeath the following; to my wife, who spent money like there was no tomorrow, I leave 100 dollars and a calendar, to my sons Rodney and Victor who spent every dime I ever gave them on fancy cars

and fast women, I leave nothing but 50 dollars, in dimes.. to my business partner Jules who's only motto was spend, spend, spend, I leave nothing, nothing, nothing.

28.23

and to my other friends and relatives who also never learned the value of a dollar, I leave a dollar.

And finally to my nephew Harold who oft said, a penny saved is a penny earned and who also oft time said gee Uncle max it sure pays to own a  Volkswagen. I leave my entire fortune of one hundred billion dollars.

28.47

Montage of Beetle Bash

FX Music

Today, Beetle myths and legends still go on. A new generation of fans owe their thanks to Porsche, and his talented team for creating the Beetle. A car that just won't die. It is as highly desirable now, as it ever was. 

29.07

Bob Shale, a VW collector

I brought the car in 1976 and I had to do a total restoration which has lasted nearly 15 years the actual job was finished in May of this year. 

I spent in the region of 10 - 15 thousand by the time it was completely restored top to bottom. As you can see the car is unique it was the only one ever built.

29.42

Montage Beetle Bash.  Customized VW

But there are those who are keen to improve on Porsches design.

Tech head/ rasberry VW

It took me about 7 months to build it, originally I rebuilt it but I wasn't happy so I stripped it back down, put it back to cow look. Tarted up the roof. Did all the work myself, except for the paint job.

Rebuilt all the engine, all underneath, the wings.

30.03

Tech head / peach VW

It's a 1972 , 1300  been de seamed, painted  with lustre paint, 1600 engine, on twin issue carburettas. Fully detailed . Won quite a few trophies. Inside it has been re trimmed, the dash has been smoothed and the speedo set in.

Little design there, it's usually straight there and the wings have been capped off straight there.  No glycerin...that's all been striped off. The carbs are not genuine, you understand... manifolds made into a heart shape.

Wrap up montage  of VW

FX and music

31.00

Drag

It's hard not to be enthusiastic about such a amazingly, versatile little car.

zundapp on the road

This is a car the victorious allies discounted as having no commercial value. It began as a dream of Ferdinand  Porsche - a peoples car. Hitler sought to exploit the dream and Heins Nordhoff turned it into reality. 

VW on the road

The  success of the Volkswagen Beetle is a staggering achievement.

31.28

Advertising Film  /round up and into the sunset

It may be small in size , but it is large in character and will always inspire unconditional love in those who have owned one.

ENDS