How British soldiers helped save iconic VW car

Historical evidence of how plucky British army officers rescued Hitler’s original ‘People’s Car’ and transformed it into the legendary Volkswagen Beetle goes under the hammer next week. The blueprint Beetle plans and associated papers reveal how the British team who re-started production at the factory in 1945 led directory to the re-birth of what is now Europe’s biggest car company and to the revival of the booming German car industry.

The blueprints carry on them the name of one of the key figures - Colonel Charles Radclyffe – and will go to auction at the Bonhams motor cars and automobilia sale at Brooklands, Surrey on Monday.


Instructions: Scale drawings clearly show the outline of the famous Type 1 Beetle and explain how to build one


Hand-over: Colonel Charles Radclyffe signs over the ‘saved’ VW factory in Wolfsburg to the Germans in 1949


Read more: How British soldiers helped save VW car by rescuing blueprints from bomb-hit German factory in 1945 | Mail Online

 

Ivan Hirst has long fascinated me.
You can download a .pdf from VW on this particular REME officer's leading role in restoring their fortunes:
https://www.volkswagen-media-servic..._ivan_hirst.standard.gid-oeffentlichkeit.html

One does sometimes wonder though, if it might have been better for the UK's fortunes if they'd left well alone... I believe VW is now the world's largest Manufacturer of cars.

~A

 

Unfortunately, Fortune does not favor those who do good for others but does favor those who do good for themselves.