The Father of the Beetle

[tazzieman]

The true heroes are often forgotten

https://www.google.com/url?hl=en-GB&q=https://www.hemmings.com/r/ct/NDg5MTM3Ojc3OTM5NjIxOjdhSEFvZzJ1OVhk/www/blog/2017/04/14/restoration-of-josef-ganz-built-beetle-predecessor-begins-with-crowdsourcing-campaign/?refer%3Dnews&source=gmail&ust=1492334717504000&usg=AFQjCNFndtA43gyhqQo0F42kVncKoScNeA

 

Ganz, a Hungarian Jew who relocated with his family to Germany in 1916 at the age of 17 and studied mechanical engineering, had plenty of ideas about how automobiles should be built but only found a handful of small carmakers to implement his designs. Which is not to day that his ideas weren’t well-circulated: In 1927, he became the editor-in-chief of Klein-Motor-Sport, which he later renamed Motor-Kritik and in which he agitated for smaller and more affordable automobiles (which he called “Deutschen Volkswagen”) and railed against the large, powerful, and expensive automobiles of the day.

“The cars that came closest to his ideal were the air-cooled Czech Tatras with their backbone frames and independent rear suspensions,” Karl Ludvigsen wrote in his book “Battle for the Beetle.”

Ganz’s antagonism of the German auto industry resulted in plenty of lawsuits, charges of slander, and boycotts, according to Schilperoord and Schmid’s website on Ganz. But it also led many in Germany to consider his ideas more carefully.

and as they say , the rest is history... 

[Russ]

i guess it comes down to who was better friends with Adolf

[tazzieman]

 

The follow up https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2018/09/14/josef-ganz-built-beetle-predecessor-makes-post-restoration-debut/?refer=news
"Offered in two bodystyles and advertised as “the fastest and cheapest German Volkswagen,” the Standard Superior sold in modest numbers"

 

[OnSafari]

Ganz's story is worth reading, and to think he ended up in Australia working for Holden.