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Date:         Tue, 30 Apr 96 19:39 CDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         khooper@wsp1.wspice.com (Ken Hooper)
Subject:      Burning Down the Bauhaus...

>The main reason the beetle is shaped the way it is, is aerodynamics. >When it first came out, it had the lowest drag coefficient of any >car, bar none, and it retained that distinction for many years, despite >the development of cars such as the Citroen 2CV, the Jaguar X series, >the Corvette, etc.

Ah. I thought the reason the Beetle is shaped the way it is, is because of gratuitous Bauhaus excess. ;) But I will accept this because I am cunningly working it into a pet theory I am developing. Here is the name of my theory:

"Germans Are Wierd."

Think about it. Sez you, Herr Doktor Porsche spent many hours indulging his towering intellect in a wind tunnel developing the most aerodynamic auto on the planet. I have no reason to doubt that this is true.

But I think Volkswagens are peculiar. I love them because of their utilitarian _ethos_. You know what I mean what I say that so I don't need to explain it. But betwixt building the ultimate in utilitarian autos, Volkswagens make time for a lot of meaningless and bizarre gestures.

Herr Doktor Porsche spent all that time in the wind tunnel working on the aerodynamics---of a 25-horse flyweight that could maybe hit 50 on a long straightaway. Why?

You could get a porcelain bud vase. But you couldn't get hydraulic brakes. You could get a beecatcher. But you couldn't get a fuel gauge--and when you finally got one, it turned out to be a metal yardstick. Why? Why?

By all accounts Porsche was a mechanical genius, so why f*ck around in the wind tunnel when he might have been inventing valves that wouldn't self-destruct and chew up the pistons? Why? Why? Why?

We could call it slightly skewed priorities, I guess. But clearly the highest priority was utility--it was the only reason for the Volkswagen in the first place. So I don't understand it. Currently I chalk it up to some strange cultural thing I don't understand. Any thoughts? Any Germans here who could illuminate this?

--Ken Adjunct Professor Department of Skulls and Beaks


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