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Date:         Fri, 25 Dec 2009 23:45:49 -0500
Reply-To:     "Peter T. Owsianowski" <pnoceanwesty@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Peter T. Owsianowski" <pnoceanwesty@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: VW History - revival
Comments: To: Zoltan <thewestyman@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To:  <60D54C43DC87419A989BF94718B5921B@ZoltanPC>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Great stuff, Zoltan:

Enter Major Ivan Hirst pursueding the Brits to buy 20,000 Beetles from the partially rebuilt factory,, Heinz Nordoff and Ben Pons and it all rolls out. What a great story.

On 12/25/09, Zoltan <thewestyman@gmail.com> wrote: > I'm not sure how many of you know about what happened to the VW factory > after WW II. > > The factory was bombed to pieces just as the whole Germany. > When the victors were estimating the worth of the remains of the country in > attempt to give it back to the Germans for the equivalent value of a "loan", > the VW factory was declared worthless and more of a liability. > The loan was actually not a loan to Germany, but a certain amount of payment > to the victors to have their country back for themselves, the value what the > country was worth at that time. The Germans paid it off in about thirty > years or more. They also received a real loan in dollars from the Trumann > adm. to rebuild the country. Which they also repaid in time. > > The VW factory was very badly damaged. It used to be a new factory where > they only made about two thousand vehicles only. The building, the machines > almost destroyed beyond repair and had to be fixed and it took a long time. > The solders coming back from the battlefields, thin and hungry, found their > homes destroyed, their families killed or missing. They lived in the > factory after they fixed some of the roofs. Slowly they started to put some > cars together and exchanged them for potatoes, onions, corn and meat, > sausages, pickled fish and all kind of food they could find for them. There > were no fridges yet. The machines were fixed well enough to press out the > parts, cast the crankshafts and the blocks, grinding and honing the parts, > etc. Many of the engineers and top workers were killed in the war. > Ferdinand Porsche was put in prison for years but the VW got a manager from > the victors who was dedicated to bring back VW to as high as possible, and > he did. > > The workers rebuilt their houses. In Europe it was customary for a big > company to buy a large area of land and build houses with gardens for their > workers to have them stay with the company for a long time. Thousands of > them. They looked the same, they were one room and a kitchen only but > anyone could make it bigger. The toilet was outside and not flush in those > days yet. > > It took a long time for them to rebuild the factory to acceptable condition > and have all the machinery working to it's highest standard. > But the quality was the same as anytime before. The sole of the workers > were poured into the product. For a long time they did not received any > payment. They were glad to be alive. > > A buyer had to pay in advance in full for the car and could only get it when > VW sent them a letter that his car is ready for being picked up. Buyers had > to come to the factory and take delivery of their cars. They arrived by > train and drove away home in their first car. A new car. A German made > car. Very few people had cars those days. Even bicycles were very few. > > The whole country was busy shovelling the rubbles onto trucks that took them > out of town and that's how the little hills got created next to towns, that > eventually got grown over with weed and did not look like broken bricks > anymore. Berlin has several of them. Some of them got housing built in > them already, with view. > > The rest of the history of VW we are more familiar with. They improved, got > advanced, modernized, a new generation put it to the top of the car making > world eventually. > Today, there is a big building on the most famous road in Berlin, very close > to the Brandenburg Gate, which is the most recognizable landmark in Germany, > where they show all the cars they make, together with all the other ones > that the companies they bought make, like Bugatti and a Rolls Royce product, > Skoda, Seat of Spain, etc. > > > Some of you may add to this more details I did not mention. I only tried to > write down in a nutshell how it started up again. > > Merry Christmas 2009. > > Zoltan > I'm glad to be one of you. >

-- Sent from my mobile device

Pete '79 Westy "Aardvark" '87 Westy "Joe's Van" WWW.Busesbythebeach.com


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