VoLksAutO

feat. Ferdinand Porsche

It was in the year 1931 when Ferdinand Porsche, yes Mr. Porsche himself, came up with the idea to build a car for everyone. Well, not exactly his idea but he was the first to come up with a rough drawing of a car that later became the Beetle. A car that still is to this day in the Top 10 of best selling cars ever..

If you ever saw a car the 1920's - 30's anywhere in the world, it would be a luxury model. Rolls Royce spread their models all across the British Empire, Studebakers has its Big Six and in Europe we had Mercedes turning heads on the sidewalks. None of these car could be afforded by the common man, who had to struggle for even buying a motorcycle. In the early 30's Germany was turning into another power, one of terror and death eventually. At first however, their new Chancellor A.H. looked like a very promising leader. One of the subjects he put great emphasis on during the 1933 election was his Kraft durch Freude (KdF) plan.

He wanted every German citizen to have the same access to a car as the Americans. The car had to be spacious enough to support 2 adults and 3 children at the cost of 990 RM (Reichsmark) or about $ 396. None of the factories could build that car for that kind of money, so A.H. sponsored an all-new, state-owned factory by using Ferdinand Porsche's design. The Volkwagen was born.

The first design was already recognizably the Beetle (Type 1) known today. After the war, British and American servicemen took home the car they drove in during their stay in Europe, the VW Beetle. The car was even briefly known as the Victory Wagon. Little by little now Volkswagen became a household name all across the globe and after launching the Type 2 (T1) car, Volkswagen was set for years to come. The T1, also known as the Hippie Mobile is until this day a well sought-after car.

By now there are many types of Volkwagens around, but we managed to get the all-time favourites of scale models in our shop. Made by the world renowned Schüco Company.

- Brezelkäfer: The 1st. Had a split rear window that looked like a pretzel (or brezel in German)
- Jeans Bug (1982)
- VW T1 (1950)
- Although not a VW, but Ferdinand Porsche built his own car later on, the 911.

My tip! Even if you are not a car connaisseur, they look great on your desk or in your office.