Date:         Mon, 30 Jun 1997 20:28:18 -0400 (EDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         RGOLEN@umassd.edu
Subject:      My German Trip (and Diesel Beetles)

 
 
                    My Latest Trip To VW-land 
 
 
As promised, here is the story of my latest trip to Germany. Last
summer, I applied for a grant from the German government to bring
a group of my students to Germany for an informational visit. In
January I found out that I received the grant. And so the 
planning began. 
 
The plan was to bring the students to various German companies 
and organizations located in Munich, Stuttgart and Frankfurt. Of
course we HAD to visit Porsche, BMW and Mercedes. Given that 
Frankfurt was fairly close (compared to Munich and Stuttgart) to
Wolfsburg, I organized a quick side trip for me and a couple of 
students to VW. So here's the story..... 
 
The first part of my trip to Germany was spent in Stuttgart. 
Brian Verbeek from the Netherlands sent me a callendar of VW 
events in Germany. Lo and behold there was a VW Treffen at the 
Porsche factory the first full day I spent in Germany. Off I went
with one of my students (a VW novice...he owns a Fox). This was 
the second day of the show, and attendance was down. However, 
there were a dozen or so oval window bugs to be found. So I spent
most of the time talking to the owners. I also got some great 
shots. Also while there I managed to pick up a couple of old (56
& 57) issues of Gute Fahrt, the German VW magazine. One of these
had the first ad for the Karmann Ghia to appear in Germany. 
 
The next day we had a tour of the Porsche factory. We were to 
meet our tour guide in the Porsche museum. As I walked into the 
museum, the first car that came into view was a black 1952 split
window bug. I couldn't understand why a 52 splittie would be in 
the museum, but non-the-less I decided to check it out.  
 
As I was peering into the interior, I looked at the dash and 
found something rather interesting. Down on the dash where the 
radio should be was a glowplug indicator and starter knob. Could
it be? 
 
I walked over to an older gentleman who was standing near the 
tour desk and asked in my "best" German: "Is this a Diesel 
Kaefer?" 
 
All of a sudden there was a broad smile on the gentleman's face.
"You are the first visitor to recognize this car." It turns out 
that Porsche was contracted by VW in the early 50s to design a 
diesel-air-cooled motor for VW. Porsche built two prototypes, one
for a beetle and one for a Typ2. The man explained that he had 
started to work for Porsche in 1958 as a mechanical engineer, and
had driven the Typ2 and the bug (which were retained by Porsche 
as company cars)! Needless to say, I got him to open up the 
engine lid to examine the motor, and he had some great stories to
tell about his experiences with the Typ2. For those folks who 
thought that the Vanagon was the first diesel Typ2 (myself 
included), Porsche had done it at least 30 years prior. 
 
Ten days later, I was on my way to Wolfsburg. I had written the 
Visitor's Bureau, or actually to the guide I had on my trip in 
January 1994 and figured I could get another VIP tour. For those
of you who were not on the list in 1994, I had a full VIP tour 
with a chauffer, gifts, etc. But that was in January when the 
factory does not have as many visitors. 
 
We (myself and 3 students) arrived at the Visitor's Bureau at 
9:00 am (after a 3 hr train-ride from Frankfurt). I brough my 
letter of invitation to the main desk. As I was standing there I
heard a voice from behind me say "Welcome to VW Mr. Golen". I 
turned around and it was my guide/chauffer from my first trip, 
Hans-Jurgen Klar. 
 
Can you believe it, he remembered me. Actually he remembered me,
my wife and Alex. We talked for a few minutes, and then he 
excused himself. He is now in charge of the gift shop at the 
visitor's bureau. A couple of minutes later I was greeted by Paul
Holdsworth, our guide for the day. He explained that we would be
having a private tour, but that we would be sharing the tour with
a group of "trainees" from VW UK. Not a problem. 
 
The tour was great, about two hours of walking in and out of the
assembly line, seeing Golfs and Polos being built. It was then 
time for lunch. The Brits went one way, and Paul went with us to
the Visitor's Cafeteria. During lunch I found out that Paul is a
Typ2-guy. He owns a 72 Double-cab pick-up, and he has e-mail. It
is possible that Paul may be showing up on the lists this summer.

After lunch we went back to the gift shop. All of my carefully 
guarded spending money, or at least a good portion of it ( we 
still had to do the museum) changed hands. I bought a couple of 
Kaefer watches, a tie with the artwork from the 50's catalogues 
and a white T4 van. As we were about to leave Paul came back with
a bag of goodies (key chains, HO scale vans, etc.). Not to be out
done, Hans came by with a bag with some more HO cars and a "VW- 
Pink Floyd" hat for my son Alex. 
 
All in all it was a great visit to the factory. 
 
Next we went off to the museum. I had written the museum before I
left and inquired about the availability of a KdF saver's book. 
The museum shop director wrote back saying he had one waiting for
me. I took that to mean that maybe it was a gift. Well, it wasn't
free, but it was worth the $$ I paid to get a piece of VW 
history. The book was the third to be filled by a fellow who 
lived on Adolf Hitler Strasse. There are 50 stamps, all cancelled
by the KdF folks on June 20, 1944. It amazes me that after two 
years of heavy bombing and two weeks after the invasion in 
Normandy, this person (as well as others) still had confidence in
the Beetle (and I guess their government) to keep buying savings
stamps. Besides the savings book, I managed to get a bunch of 
"New Beetle" posters as well. 
 
The museum collection, as before, was magnificent. There were a 
couple of new additions including a "cut-away" 49 beetle. On the
way out I visited the museum shop, and blew away the remainder of
my budget. Got the 60 year Kaefer CD, a pair of socks with a VW 
convertible on it, some coffee cups, etc. 
 
As I was about to leave, I recalled someone from the VintagVW 
list mentioning the museum producing a "formal birth certificate"
for 10 DM. I found the office, gave them 10 DMs and my serial 
number (which has been committed to memory for over 20 years - 
1226221). Late last week the birth certificate arrived. I thought
I knew everything about my '56 by now, but the birth certificate
held a new surprise. It seems my VW was delivered to San 
Fransisco... 
 
 
That's it for now. As I remember more stuff, I'll post it. 
 
Ric