1971 Volkswagen "Beetle"
The owner has a brilliant collection here of historic photos that describe its initial offering here in the U.S., the first production car from Wolfsburg after the war, the last produced in Germany, and the last of the line, produced in Mexico City! This car sold more units than the venerable Model T Ford. The most interesting history has to do with reconstructing Wolfsburg after WW2..the British began it, and the Americans continued the job. Tanks had been built in the plant. An unexploded bomb was found in the power plant..the owner speculates that if that bomb had gone off, there would have been nothing to rebuild! The British didn't want to build the car, so Henry Ford's people came over to observe what was there...it could have been theirs, lock stock and barrel...after due consideration, they came back to Ford and said in effect that there was nothing of interest there! What a sorry mistake that was for Ford! So the plant reverted to the Germans, and the rest is history!
Author: raconter1
Keywords: raconter antique auto Volkswagen Beetle World War
Added: January 7, 2009
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