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Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:06 pm

I'm trying to find a picture of a sedan (1945?) which had Nazi markings on it? Maybe swastikas on the hubcaps?

I'm doing some research about a certain car I heard about.

Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:31 pm

Are you sure?

The KDF logo had "swastika like" aspects:

So, the WWII era cars and early postwar cars would have had this logo in various places.

There were of course the odd staff cars for various Nazi officials that had fender flags, etc., with the actual swastika, but they weren't ever stamped on the car to my knowledge. Those staff cars are rare, but out there. I recall an article sometime in the last few years in the VVWCA newsletter about one of those that someone had acquired complete with swastika fender flags. Kubels and Schwimmers sometimes had the swastika painted on them.

Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:00 pm

You can buy repro hubcaps now that have this VW logo on them.

Bart Dunn wrote: Are you sure?

The KDF logo had "swastika like" aspects:

Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:11 pm

OK. I heard this story about a type 1 that made it's way to the US at the end of the war and had actual swastika on the hubcaps. I'm trying to find out as much as I can about it.

Thu Apr 03, 2008 2:48 am

zoti wrote: I'm trying to find a picture of a sedan (1945?) which had Nazi markings on it? Maybe swastikas on the hubcaps?

I'm doing some research about a certain car I heard about.
OK. I heard this story about a type 1 that made it's way to the US at the end of the war and had actual swastika on the hubcaps. I'm trying to find out as much as I can about it.

What is your source for this story? What have you found out so far? I find it highly unlikely that a 1945 sedan was produced with swastikas on the hubcaps. By 1945, the KdF cogwheel logo was already being replaced by the standard VW logo...the fixed right dash pod, for example, was changed to the standard logo sometime between 5/45-12/45.

The only cars I would imagine a remote possibility of having swastika hubcaps would be VW38 / 39 prototypes. All pictures I've seen just have plain hubcaps, however, and there is a photo in the gallery of what is claimed to be an original one:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=235964

While I am far from being a KdF expert, this does not sound like a plausible story to me, especially without any substantive sources.

Thu Apr 03, 2008 3:15 am

One car that made it to the U.S. around 1976 has the Nordic rising sun (symbol of the SS Wiking division which fought on the Russian front) on the hood and left rear fender. This looks like a rounded Swastika. That car is a bit of a hodgepodge as it was a heavily used car, more about it at www.hansonmechanical.com

The one with the fender flags belonged to Bruce out west, that was another 82E, but very much original. No other Swastikas on it though.

The Swastika was not a unit marking and therefore was rarely included in markings on vehicles.

-Merlin

Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:01 am

HerrrKafer wrote: What is your source for this story?

A VW friend who claims to have seen the swastika hubcaps and knows the owner but he's seen them at least 10 years ago.

Thu Apr 03, 2008 7:18 am

zoti wrote: HerrrKafer wrote: What is your source for this story?

A VW friend who claims to have seen the swastika hubcaps and knows the owner but he's seen them at least 10 years ago.

Yeah, they have been repro'ed.

Thu Apr 03, 2008 10:22 am

merlin42 wrote: One car that made it to the U.S. around 1976 has the Nordic rising sun (symbol of the SS Wiking division which fought on the Russian front) on the hood and left rear fender. This looks like a rounded Swastika. That car is a bit of a hodgepodge as it was a heavily used car, more about it at www.hansonmechanical.com

The one with the fender flags belonged to Bruce out west, that was another 82E, but very much original. No other Swastikas on it though.

The Swastika was not a unit marking and therefore was rarely included in markings on vehicles.

-Merlin

Are those Shwimwagens and Kubelwagens all real on that sitel? :shock: :shock: I counted 8 of each!

Click on 1944 KDF 82E on the left of the page and then click on Gallery to see the pics.

Thu Apr 03, 2008 10:51 am

Wiggy wrote: zoti wrote: HerrrKafer wrote: What is your source for this story?

A VW friend who claims to have seen the swastika hubcaps and knows the owner but he's seen them at least 10 years ago.

Yeah, they have been repro'ed.

If they were never produced during the war but someone made them recently wouldn't you say they had been pro'ed, not repro'ed? :wink:

Thu Apr 03, 2008 6:02 pm

The Aluminum hub cap in the Gallery is mine. Yes it is a genuine cap.
The "spinninng KdF" design was played with on some very early cars.

The KdF hubcaps we are all familiar with were actually never made.
The Originals had a very different logo pattern stamped into it, but not many people know this. :D

Thu Apr 03, 2008 6:56 pm

Wiggy wrote: zoti wrote: HerrrKafer wrote: What is your source for this story?

A VW friend who claims to have seen the swastika hubcaps and knows the owner but he's seen them at least 10 years ago.

Yeah, they have been repro'ed.

I'm talking about an original car taken off the VW production line in 1945. Not a reproduction.

Thu Apr 03, 2008 7:20 pm

The photos in my website gallery were taken at a Kubelkorps gathering in western Ohio a couple of years back. All the kubels and schwimmers in the photo were originals. The Kubelkorps is a great small club here in the U.S. devoted to wartime VW's. Wonderful people and extremely helpful. :D
-Merlin

Thu Apr 03, 2008 7:23 pm

KdF1 wrote: The Aluminum hub cap in the Gallery is mine. Yes it is a genuine cap.
The "spinninng KdF" design was played with on some very early cars.

The KdF hubcaps we are all familiar with were actually never made.
The Originals had a very different logo pattern stamped into it, but not many people know this. :D

Do you have a pic of this different logo?

Thu Apr 03, 2008 11:12 pm

zoti wrote: I'm trying to find a picture of a sedan (1945?) which had Nazi markings on it? Maybe swastikas on the hubcaps?

I'm doing some research about a certain car I heard about.

there´s no car which had swastikas on the hubcaps,ever ! Sometimes people come up with the wierdest things :roll:

the Kdf spinning design on the early ones is probably what your friend meant.
I know the Grundmann Collection and some other Kdfs and studied Kdf Cars for a while but never saw swastikas marked on a car or on hubcaps.

@Kdf1 :I also would like to see the different logo on the hubcaps.That would be interesting to see !

Fri Apr 04, 2008 2:31 pm

Yes I have a photo of the KdF Hubcap. I'll have to post it.

I tend to think that there probably wasnt a swastika hubcap made, but who really knows? If it was made it would have been a one-off or something. KdF cars were all different and sometimes did special things for important people.

Fri Apr 04, 2008 4:48 pm

Fri Apr 04, 2008 6:14 pm

KdF1 wrote:

That is the cog wheel nipple hub cap. I believe that the cog wheel was removed pretty soon after the British took over the plant. The hubcap looked the same, just no cog around the emblem.

Fri Apr 04, 2008 7:06 pm

I'll ask my friend again but he clearly said swastikas and he knows beetles very well. I don't think he will confuse it with the KDF logo.

Fri Apr 04, 2008 7:34 pm

I'm almost positive that there was no bent cross stamped on or casted in any VW part at the KDF/VW plant at any time. Unless your talking about the "stylized roatating VW cog?" posted above. If you look at Mercedes & BMW logos all look of that of a spinning prop.

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