Volkswagen Beetle & Classic Cars

There is a lot of confusion on what exactly a classic car is, and what sets it apart from vintage and antique cars. We have heard the term &quote; Classique; used interchangeably when describing any old car. That looks as if does belong on the roads with the modern daily. Usually, the classic car moniker applies to vehicles over 20 years. Antique cars are over 45 years old, and vintage cars are built between 1919 and 1930. But as with many subjects in the motoring world, not everyone can agree on a single definition. State DMVs, insurance companies, and classic car clubs classify each one.

And classifications overlap between classics and antiques. If the vehicle was manufactured after 1922 and is at least 25 years. (old), it is a Historical Vehicle. However, if it has a 16-cylinder or larger engine, and is manufactured between 1922 and 1965, it gets classified as a Horseless Carriage. Replicas (Or Tribute Cars) aren’t considered to be part of either category.

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Sincerely,

KOBUS SMAL

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The Volkswagen History.

?As believe that the car VW or ‘Peoples Car’ was a great invention by Ferdinand Porsche and Hitler we have a few conspiracy theories behind that!

Adolph Hitler commissioned Dr. Ferdinand Porsche. ‘Build a Peoples Car’. 1934.During 1936/7 (Est dates cannot be confirmed) Hitler and Porsche met up with the (Tatra Company) in Czechoslovakian, during the visit an Auto mobile that had all the same or similar features was already in production called the T97, rear wheel drive air-cooled motor, the Bubble shape and look.

Tatra 97 production 1836-1939.

History

The Tatra 97 was designed to complement two?full size cars?in the Tatra

range: The?T77?launched in 1934?and the T87?launched in 1936?along with the Type.

97.Each of the three models has an?air-cooled rear engine and share similar?aerodynamic fastback four-door sedan bodies, while types 77 and 87 each have a large V8 engine, Type 97 had a?(flat four Engine).

The Type 97 is distinguished by having two headlights and a one-piece. Windscreen, while the 77 and 87 have three headlights and a three-piece windscreen. The Type 97s flat-four engine displaces 1,759 cc and produces 40horsepower (30?kW),?giving it top speed of 130?km/h (81?mph). Tatra already had a mid-size car in the same class, the more conventional1688 cc?T75?that it had launched in 1933.Tatra continued to produce the Type 75 alongside the futuristic Type 97. Infarct production of the Type 75 outlived that of the Type 97 and continued until 1942.

Kop?ivnice is in a part of northern Moravia that?Nazi Germany?annexed. After the?Munich Agreement?in September 1938.Production of the Type 97 was ended in 1939, possibly to avoid comparison with the KDF-Wagen. (Volkswagen)

Production of the Type 97 was 508 cars in total. In 1946 Tatra resumed car production and replaced the Type 97 with the larger and more modern?Tatra 600.?

Resemblance to Volkswagen KdF-Wagen

Type 97 in the Tatra Museum at Kop?ivnice In both streamlined design and technical specifications, especially the engine design and position, the Type 97 has a striking resemblance to Volkswagen KDF Wagen. However, Tatra 97 itself does not appear original, as it has resemblance to sketches?by Hungarian engineer (Bela Barenyi), conceived in the 1920s and published in 1934.In any case?Hitler?is reported to have met and said of Tatras cars.

This is the car for my roads (Adolf)

Ferdinand Porsche?was accused of using Tatra designs to design the Volkswagen quickly and cheaply. In Porsche words; & quote; Well, sometimes Ledwinka looked over my shoulder and sometimes I looked over his & quote.

Tatra sued Porsche for damages, and Porsche was willing to settle. But Hitler cancelled this, saying he & quote; would settle the matter & quote;?Soon after Germany occupied the Sutherland, Tatra stopped production of the Type 97, and the lawsuit was discontinued.

After the Second World War Tatra resumed its lawsuit.

Three names attached or mentioned in the constant design of the KDF. (Volkswagen)

Ferdinand Porsche.

3 September 1875?– 30 January 1951.

Was an Austrian-born?automotive engineer?and founder of the?Porsche AG.

He is best known for creating the first?gasoline-electric?hybrid. ( Lohner-Porsche ), the?Volkswagen Beetle, the?Auto Union racing car, the?Mercedes-Benz SS/SSK, several other important developments and?Porsche?automobiles.

An important contributor to the German war effort during?World War II, Porsche was involved in the production of advanced tanks such as the?VK4501 (P), the Elefant (initially called & quote; Ferdinand & quote;) self-propelled gun, and the?Panzer VIII Maus?super-heavy tank, as well as other weapon systems, including the?V-1 flying bomb.

Porsche was a member of the?Nazi Party?and an officer.

The?Schutzstaffel?(SS). He was a recipient of the?German National Prize for Art and Science, the?SS-Ehrenring?and the?War Merit Cross. Porsche was inducted into the?International Motorsports Hall of Fame?in 1996 and was named the?Car Engineer of the Century?in 1999.

Bela Barenyi.

1 March 1907—30 May 1997.?

Hirtenberg,?Austro-Hungarian Monarchy B?blingen ,?Germany. Was an ethnic?Hungarian?engineer from?Austria-Hungary,?who was a prolific?inventor, sometimes even compared to?Thomas Edison & Barényi made numerous crash protection inventions and is therefore? regarded as the father of?passive safety?in?automotive design. Barényi is also credited with first conceiving the original design for the German people’s car (the?Volkswagen Beetle) in 1925,?– notably by?Mercedes-Benz, including his?original technical drawing,?– five years before?Ferdinand Porsche?claimed to have made his initial version. Barényi was inducted into the?Detroit?Automotive Hall of Fame?in 1994 and nominated for the award of?Car Engineer of the Century?in 1999. Barényi died in B?blingen, Germany in 1997.

A Mercedes advertisement featuring Barényi’s image Stated: “No one in the

world has given more thought to car safety than this man.” Béla Barényi left a broad record of his inventions to the Technisches Museum Wien?in?Vienna?in his native country.

Hans Ledwinka.

14 February - 2 March 1967

Ledwinka returned to Tatra company (originally Nesselsdorfer-Wagenbau) in Kop?ivnice (Nesselsdorf), then in Czechoslovakia, and between 1921 and1937 he was their chief design engineer. He invented the frameless central tubular chassis (so-called backbone chassis with?swing axles, fully?independent suspension?and?rear-mounted?air-cooled?flat engine.

Another of Ledwinka 39; s major contributions to automobile design were the streamlined car body. Under him, Tatra brought the first mass-produced streamlined cars to market.

With his son?Erich, who became chief designer at Tatra, Ledwinka and?Erich übelacker, a German engineer also employed by Tatra, designed the streamlined Tatra models?T77,?T77a,?T87, and?T97, which had rear-mounted air-cooled engines.

Volkswagen controversy.

?Tatra V570

Both?Hitler and Porsche were influenced by the Tatras.?Hitler was a keen

automotive enthusiast, and had ridden in Tatras during political tours of

Czechoslovakia.?He had also dined numerous times with Hans Ledwinka.?After one of these

dinners Hitler remarked to Porsche, this is the car for my roads While the book?Car Wars, quotes Hitler as saying it was & quote; the kind of car I want for my highways & quote; In any case, Ledwinka and Porsche admitted. Well, sometimes I looked over his shoulder and sometimes he looked over mine & quote; while designing the?Volkswagen Type 1 (KdF) There is no doubt that the Type 1 bore a striking resemblance to the earlier T97.

Tatra launched a lawsuit, but this was stopped when?Germany invaded, Czechoslovakia.

At the same time, Tatra was forced to stop producing the T97.The matter was re-opened after World War II and Volkswagen paid Tatra 1,000,000?Deutsche Marks in an out-of-court settlement. (speculation).

?Final years

?After WWII Ledwinka was accused of collaboration with the German occupation forces and jailed for five years in Czechoslovakia. After his release in 1951, he refused to work for Tatra, and retired to Munich, Germany where he died.

?TATRA 97

?The Beetle (KdF) was produced and in 1936, 30 units as the proto

types were build and displayed to the Leader,o the 26th of February 1936 the KdF was born.

?June 5 1945

Responsibility for VW Werke GMBH is turned over to the British Military Government, which confiscates the firm following Control Council law No. 52 and administers it in trusteeship until its return to German Control.

?How VW was rebuilt by a stubborn Englishman

Volkswagen

When Major Ivan Hirst arrived in Wolfsburg – the home of Volkswagen cars– he was less than impressed with what he found. The streets were overgrown and potholed. The small population lived in barracks. And the Volkswagen factory was even worse.” A disgusting smell hung over the whole property,” Hirst later recalled. ?“All the drainage systems had been damaged in Allied bombing and hadn’t been repaired. The toilets were broken and completely unhygienic. It was awful!”

It was August 1945 and Hirst – a 29-year-old major in the British Army –had been assigned the task of dismantling the factory by his military superiors. Germany was to have no industry worthy of the name; allied commanders had decided.

?Ivan Hirst

But Hirst saw enough potential in the town and its sole source of income to

try and save the plant. He had himself worked as an engineer during the war and had been

impressed by the Volkswagen cars that Allied troops had captured were

the Germans. So, he found the best remaining version of the car left over from the Nazi period, painted it in camouflage, and presented it to his superiors as the solution to their urgent need to replace vehicles damaged during the war.

The military hierarchy agreed and on August 22 work began on a contract.

20,000 Volkswagen, plus 500 trailers and 500 military vehicles.

“That saved Volkswagen, “Hirst, the son of Oldham industrialists, said years later.

On 27th December 1945, the factory went into production, two months late –and before new year 1946, 55 Volkswagen had already been wheeled out of the factory doors. By March they had hit 1,000. In the first years the company grow almost exponentially, with 10,000 cars produced by the end of 1946 and turnover already hitting 55 million marks.

In 1947 the company tied up its first export deal.

Michael Mc Envoy drafted an article about these famous daily drives and was extremely impressed by the performances and looks.

Performance 28 BHP

During 1947, 1785 Volkswagens was hand build for the British Army, and in 1949 the first Volkswagen was exported to the USA, at this stage not a workable investment, 1955 the benchmark and numbers reached one million units.

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1966 Mexico manufactured its First Volkswagen Beetle, the biggest milestone came in 1972 with serial number 15007034, and this number manufactured exceeded the Model T Ford.