Author: Karl Ludvigsen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780837616957
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 480
Book Description
The untold story of the post-war battle for Adolf Hitler's giant Volkswagen factory and the Porsche-designed car that became an icon for generations around the globe. The Volkswagen was the showpiece of the achievements of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. Backed by the F hrer himself, it struck fear into the hearts of all who owned and managed Europe's car industry. Designed to "out-Ford Ford," the Beetle would dwarf their efforts with its low price and high production. After World War II what was to be the fate of this odd bug-shaped car and its colossal bomb-battered factory? View picture detail Legend has it that the victors underestimated the potential of the car that would become the automotive icon of several generations, indeed the world's most-famous and most-produced automobile. Karl Ludvigsen's interviews and researches in British, German, American, Australian and Belgian archives prove the contrary. His hitherto-untold story of why and how they didn't get the factory makes revealing and engrossing reading. History buffs and followers of World War II and its aftermath will relish the way Ludvigsen depicts afresh the creation of the VW by renowned and "untouchable" engineer Ferdinand Porsche, the building of its factory by Hitler crony Robert Ley, "a notorious womanizer who drank too much," and the wartime career of the huge Wolfsburg plant as the prime contractor for the jet-powered V-1 flying bomb, the world's first successful cruise missile. Car enthusiasts who consider themselves well-read will be absorbed by Ludvigsen's disclosures of the national and company mindsets that affected their respective attitudes toward the radical Volkswagen. Most astonishing are his revelations of the deep interest of Ford in the VW factory. Far from rejecting the VW plant, Ford proposed that it be merged with its existing German operations. But the executive charged with the mission (Ludvigsen reveals his identity) failed to follow through. Ludvigsen traces the Beetle's impact on the world of autos, from the Chevrolet Corvair and Hino Contessa to rear-engined Fiats, Skodas and Hillmans. We learn why the most startling decision made by VW chief Heinz Nordhoff was not to change his car's design. And we are brought right up to the 1998 launch of VW's New Beetle. For those who wish to comprehend its amazing impact on the auto market, Battle for the Beetle is the essential source.
Volkswagens of the Wehrmacht
Author: Hans-Georg Mayer-Stein
Publisher: Schiffer Pub Limited
ISBN: 9780887406843
Category : Automobiles, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
Covers the numerous Volkswagen trucks and cars used by the Wehrmacht during WWII. AUTHOR:
Publisher: Schiffer Pub Limited
ISBN: 9780887406843
Category : Automobiles, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
Covers the numerous Volkswagen trucks and cars used by the Wehrmacht during WWII. AUTHOR:
Volkswagen for the Wehrmacht
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Volkswagen automobiles
Languages : en
Pages : 140
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Volkswagen automobiles
Languages : en
Pages : 140
Book Description
Volkswagen Beetle
Author: Simon Parkinson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 136
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 136
Book Description
Volkswagen for the Wehrmacht, 1939-1945
Author: U. S. War Department Staff
Publisher: Post-Era Books
ISBN: 9780911160437
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 140
Book Description
Publisher: Post-Era Books
ISBN: 9780911160437
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 140
Book Description
German Trucks and Cars in WW II
Author: Hans-Georg Mayer
Publisher: Schiffer Pub Limited
ISBN: 9780887404009
Category : Vehicles, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 48
Book Description
The sixth volume of trucks and cars used by Germany during WWII.
Publisher: Schiffer Pub Limited
ISBN: 9780887404009
Category : Vehicles, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 48
Book Description
The sixth volume of trucks and cars used by Germany during WWII.
Volkswagen Military Vehicles of the Third Reich
Author: Blaine Taylor
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 9780306813139
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
When Volkswagen burst upon the American automobile scene in the 1960s, it established a reputation for both economy and reliability. Few who drove the original sixties' "Love Bug" knew that the vehicle was the creation of Adolf Hitler in the days of the Third Reich. Originally intended as a symbol of prewar prosperity, the Volkswagen, or "people's car," eventually became a key element in the Nazi war machine.With the outbreak of World War II, the production of the Volkswagen car was adapted for military use, and the Kubelwagen, German "jeep," was designed and manufactured throughout Germany. A special amphibious version, the "Schwimmwagen," was later developed and spearheaded many major German offensives. Appearing in several variants, Volkswagen vehicles became the mainstay of German command and motorized units.This detailed history of the Volkswagen in the 1930s and 1940s covers all varieties of makes and models of the Volkswagen in use during the Third Reich and is richly illustrated with rare photographs of the vehicles themselves, technical drawings, engine designs, and sales brochures of the period.
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 9780306813139
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
When Volkswagen burst upon the American automobile scene in the 1960s, it established a reputation for both economy and reliability. Few who drove the original sixties' "Love Bug" knew that the vehicle was the creation of Adolf Hitler in the days of the Third Reich. Originally intended as a symbol of prewar prosperity, the Volkswagen, or "people's car," eventually became a key element in the Nazi war machine.With the outbreak of World War II, the production of the Volkswagen car was adapted for military use, and the Kubelwagen, German "jeep," was designed and manufactured throughout Germany. A special amphibious version, the "Schwimmwagen," was later developed and spearheaded many major German offensives. Appearing in several variants, Volkswagen vehicles became the mainstay of German command and motorized units.This detailed history of the Volkswagen in the 1930s and 1940s covers all varieties of makes and models of the Volkswagen in use during the Third Reich and is richly illustrated with rare photographs of the vehicles themselves, technical drawings, engine designs, and sales brochures of the period.
Volkswagens of the World
Author: Simon Glen
Publisher: David and Charles
ISBN: 1845844718
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 810
Book Description
A comprehensive guide to all the Volkswagens not built in Germany and the unusual ones that were. Covers type designations, chassis numbers, VW options and much more.
Publisher: David and Charles
ISBN: 1845844718
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 810
Book Description
A comprehensive guide to all the Volkswagens not built in Germany and the unusual ones that were. Covers type designations, chassis numbers, VW options and much more.
Battle for the Beetle
Author: Karl E. Ludvigsen
Publisher: Bentley Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 482
Book Description
Ludvigsen traces the history of the Volkswagon Beetle, from its inception as a people's car for Hitler's Germany to its status as a beloved American icon, to the arrival of the New Beetle in 1998. He focuses on the car's creation, the industry-wide power struggle following the German defeat in World
Publisher: Bentley Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 482
Book Description
Ludvigsen traces the history of the Volkswagon Beetle, from its inception as a people's car for Hitler's Germany to its status as a beloved American icon, to the arrival of the New Beetle in 1998. He focuses on the car's creation, the industry-wide power struggle following the German defeat in World
Type 82 Volkswagen for the Wehrmacht 1939-1945 Kübelwagen
Author: United States. War Department
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Vehicles, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 140
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Vehicles, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 140
Book Description
The People’s Car
Author: Bernhard Rieger
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674075757
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 298
Book Description
At the Berlin Auto Show in 1938, Adolf Hitler presented the prototype for a small, oddly shaped, inexpensive family car that all good Aryans could enjoy. Decades later, that automobile—the Volkswagen Beetle—was one of the most beloved in the world. Bernhard Rieger examines culture and technology, politics and economics, and industrial design and advertising genius to reveal how a car commissioned by Hitler and designed by Ferdinand Porsche became an exceptional global commodity on a par with Coca-Cola. Beyond its quality and low cost, the Beetle’s success hinged on its uncanny ability to capture the imaginations of people across nations and cultures. In West Germany, it came to stand for the postwar “economic miracle” and helped propel Europe into the age of mass motorization. In the United States, it was embraced in the suburbs, and then prized by the hippie counterculture as an antidote to suburban conformity. As its popularity waned in the First World, the Beetle crawled across Mexico and Latin America, where it symbolized a sturdy toughness necessary to thrive amid economic instability. Drawing from a wealth of sources in multiple languages, The People’s Car presents an international cast of characters—executives and engineers, journalists and advertisers, assembly line workers and car collectors, and everyday drivers—who made the Beetle into a global icon. The Beetle’s improbable story as a failed prestige project of the Third Reich which became a world-renowned brand illuminates the multiple origins, creative adaptations, and persisting inequalities that characterized twentieth-century globalization.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674075757
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 298
Book Description
At the Berlin Auto Show in 1938, Adolf Hitler presented the prototype for a small, oddly shaped, inexpensive family car that all good Aryans could enjoy. Decades later, that automobile—the Volkswagen Beetle—was one of the most beloved in the world. Bernhard Rieger examines culture and technology, politics and economics, and industrial design and advertising genius to reveal how a car commissioned by Hitler and designed by Ferdinand Porsche became an exceptional global commodity on a par with Coca-Cola. Beyond its quality and low cost, the Beetle’s success hinged on its uncanny ability to capture the imaginations of people across nations and cultures. In West Germany, it came to stand for the postwar “economic miracle” and helped propel Europe into the age of mass motorization. In the United States, it was embraced in the suburbs, and then prized by the hippie counterculture as an antidote to suburban conformity. As its popularity waned in the First World, the Beetle crawled across Mexico and Latin America, where it symbolized a sturdy toughness necessary to thrive amid economic instability. Drawing from a wealth of sources in multiple languages, The People’s Car presents an international cast of characters—executives and engineers, journalists and advertisers, assembly line workers and car collectors, and everyday drivers—who made the Beetle into a global icon. The Beetle’s improbable story as a failed prestige project of the Third Reich which became a world-renowned brand illuminates the multiple origins, creative adaptations, and persisting inequalities that characterized twentieth-century globalization.