VW 30 details? Questions

[allsidius]

I very much doubt that book has the same level of detail as Birth of the beetle. BOTB is my reference book, no other book I have seen (and I have a few) has the same exhaustive documentation of each prototype up to the VW30, and then a pretty comprehensive description of the VW30, VW38 and VW39 series.

Lets hope the dreamers come down from their clouds and start to circulate the book at more reasonable prices. It is an exceptional book, though, that always will command a good price, unlike all those coffee-table cheapo editions that mix up the different prototypes, show modified cars etc.

The "Rise from the ashes of war" is another good book, but on a wholly different level. I bought it solely for the picture of the VW38 wooden mockup taken before the VW30 series headlights were ditched in favor of the final design. The book is an account of the conditions at the factory in the postwar years, and not a technical description of the development of the beetle.
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[Blue Baron]

I think the two books compliment each other. "Rise" is like a sequel to "Birth." Another book I like is "Volkswagen Military Vehicles of the Third Reich" by Blaine Taylor. (ISBN 0-306-81313-0) It has a few discrepancies, but really puts the VW story in perspective against the backdrop of the war. Not only are the photos great, but it's the only place I've ever seen the entire English translation of Der Fuhrer's cornerstone speech.
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We are striving for perfection, to make our cars run forever, if possible.

Heinz Nordhoff

[79SuperVert]

[Blue Baron]

"Volkswagen Military Vehicles of the Third Reich" which I mentioned in my last post is just the opposite. It's as if the author sought out every possible photo of the VW that tied it directly to the Third Reich. Lots of uniforms, lots of flags and all the power players are there.
_________________
We are striving for perfection, to make our cars run forever, if possible.

Heinz Nordhoff

[allsidius]

[Blue Baron]

[allsidius]

I see we are in total agreement on that book then, just finished it and my view didn't change.

A couple of other books I read in the past year;

Paul Schilperoord's The Extraordinary Life of Josef Ganz - The Jewish Engineer Behind Hitler's Volkswagen is a book about a brilliant engineer who claims that Porsche looked over his shoulder and copied all his good ideas. Well researched but biased towards Ganz as the father of the VW. A true sad story about a good engineer, unlucky in business, and seemingly obsessed with claiming patents. It is common knowledge that Ferdinand Porsche used good ideas floating around at the time and amalgamated them into the iconic VW. In my opinion, Schilperoord fails to show that the ideas Ganz claimed as his own were new, like central tube chassis, independent suspension, rear engine etc. A good book in any case, if read with sympathy towards the haunted Ganz.

Chris Barber Birth of the Beetle Quite simply the reference book at present, wonderfully researched and well written. The only book that clearly separates all the prototype variants and even has a gallery of most of the cars in the hand made VW38 series. Goes into fantastic detail, with tons of original drawings, and very few errors that I could find, if any. This book is in a league of its own.

Grundmann, Struwe, Becker "Der erste Brezelkäfer" The most fantastic picture collection of the fabulous VW38/06 that we all love. Unfortunately, in my view, the authors chose to target a wider audience than all the VW nuts on this site, who has opinions on everything from the texture of the gas line from fuel pump to carburettor, to the hand made bulges of the front fenders. The text is very general and does not say much about the fantastic background work that made this maybe the most well researched and correct recreation of such an iconic vehicle. I was stunned to follow the progress on the Samba of the car from wreck in Lithuania to the TÜV inspection, and I guess I wished for a cleaned up printed version of the fantastic thread here on theSamba. Of course I understand the publishers decision to make it more accessible to a wider audience, the question is wether more detail would have killed the sales. I think not. But still one of my most priced books.
_________________
1973 1303S w sunroof Click to view image
1978 1303 convertible (sold)Click to view image
1966 1300 RIPClick to view image

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[79SuperVert]

Totally agree on all three.
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Central Jersey VW Society

Wanted: Art Collins VW (Savannah, Georgia) items - license plate surrounds and other items. Also ivory "AM", "FM" and "SW" buttons for a US Blaupunkt Frankfurt.

[allsidius]

Another one if anyone's interested:

Small Wonder By Walter Henry Nelson is an interesting narrative of the development of the beetle, and purportedly the first account (1970) that admitted the nazi links. Maybe it was commisioned to get ahead of evil minds plotting to reveal the Hitler connection. Clearly an "authorized" biography as approved by VAG, but it is well written and full of anectdotes. The 50s are totally absent, no account of the myriads of improvements to the type 1 over the years has been made. My favorite part was the description of Wolfburg anno 1966 as an utopian "Pleasantville" community, complete with a visit to Heinz Nordhoff's luxurious but low key residence.

I spent a few extra dollars to get the updated paperback edition from ca 2000, forget that, get the original hardcopy of 1970 and save a bundle. The updates are quite summarily done, no description of all the changes between 1970 to jan. 1980, just a hastily assembled how to date your beetle section that has been covered much better in other books. The original 1970 edition contains all this book has to offer, get it used and skip the reprint.

In all my books I miss a proper narrative / anecdotes collection of the changes to the type 1, I have just ordered the Etzold book Vol 1 and hope that's fairly complete but still readable. I want to know how the workers reacted when they come to work and found that the presses had been modified to skip the divider bar in the rear window. How was the curved windshield received at the factory, etc. Chris Barber, you have a quest!
_________________
1973 1303S w sunroof Click to view image
1978 1303 convertible (sold)Click to view image
1966 1300 RIPClick to view image

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Blue Baron]

First off, apologies to Spooky65 for hijacking his thread.

For your library:

Karl Ludvigsen's "Battle for the Beetle" is essential. (Robert Bentley Publishers 2000, ISBN 0-8376-0071-5) Ludvigsen gathers published information from a variety of sources, with a focus on the various entities battling to acquire the VW factory after the war. There's also a great deal of information on rear-engined cars similar to the VW.

I also like to collect older books on VW history, written when the history was still fresh, and gathered from contemporary sources. In addition to Small Wonder, I would recommend:

The Porsche and Volkswagen Companion, by Kenneth Ullyett, Stanley Paul & Co. LTD, 1962.

Porsche; The Man and His Cars, by Richard von Frankenberg, G.T. Foulis & Co. LTD. London, 1961.

The Amazing Volkswagen & Porsche Story, by W. Robert Nitske, Comet Press Books, New York, 1958

And the granddaddy of them all, Beyond Expectation, The Volkswagen Story by K.B. Hopfinger. (Foulis & Co. LTD. London, 1954 and 1956.)
The Hopfinger book was inspired by the author's own interviews with Ferdinand Porsche in 1949 and 1950. The book has a real "you are there" feel to it because it was written when the events were still fresh, however it's lacking in detail about the British years at Wolfsburg, which would lead one to believe relations between the Porsches and the British overseers of the factory had not yet thawed when the bulk of the book was written.

Another good read is The VW Story by Jerry Sloniger, 1980 (ISBN 0 85059 441 3) Very good history, including events up to the late '70s.

I'd also recommend Volkswagen Nine Lives Later by Dan Post (Horizon House, 1966) The book has been made available again by Robert Bentley Publishers. This is more of a feel-good picture book than an authoritative history, but still a good addition for your library. Dan Post also wrote Volkswagen for the Wehrmacht (1972) which is a reprint of the U.S. War Department's field manual for captured Kubelwagens. A hard-to-find book.
_________________
We are striving for perfection, to make our cars run forever, if possible.

Heinz Nordhoff

[79SuperVert]

[Blue Baron]

That's why I didn't list the later one.

Okay, for the completist, there's a '71 edition.
_________________
We are striving for perfection, to make our cars run forever, if possible.

Heinz Nordhoff

[79SuperVert]

Not that I'm obsessed about these things...
_________________
Central Jersey VW Society

Wanted: Art Collins VW (Savannah, Georgia) items - license plate surrounds and other items. Also ivory "AM", "FM" and "SW" buttons for a US Blaupunkt Frankfurt.

[allsidius]

[quote="79SuperVert"][quote="79SuperVert"]Here's a nice book that's only about $20 from the Porsche Museum (available on Amazon):

http://www.amazon.com/Ferdinand-Porsche-Volkswagen-Ing-H/dp/3832192980/ref=pd_sim_b_6

Got this book a few days ago as well, lots of unseen pictures from the 30s, very interesting. Text is like a condensed version of BOTB, but the pictures make it worthwhile! Recommended.

I got the two other books from Porsche library as well, they were not equally interesting. I am not particularly interested in bodykitted 924s.
_________________
1973 1303S w sunroof Click to view image
1978 1303 convertible (sold)Click to view image
1966 1300 RIPClick to view image

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[bandi]

[quote="allsidius"][quote="79SuperVert"]

[allsidius]

Christ why didn't I get 10 copies when I could, one guy is asking 1000 american dollars for "the Birth of the Beetle!" Capitalism in practice!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/1859609597/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used
_________________
1973 1303S w sunroof Click to view image
1978 1303 convertible (sold)Click to view image
1966 1300 RIPClick to view image

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Blue Baron]

Yeah, kinda wish now I hadn't dog-eared my copy so much. But just like the MP3 killed the value of rare records, I'm sure the book will be reprinted in some form.
_________________
We are striving for perfection, to make our cars run forever, if possible.

Heinz Nordhoff

[HUGO bOSS]

[allsidius]

[Blue Baron]

Walter Henry Nelson lobbied Volkswagen to include a copy of "Small Wonder" with every new car sold, but VW rejected the idea. You have to remember that the PR folks at the factory in the '60s did everything they could to excise the car's past. You will see no official reference to its prewar history other than a nod to Porsche and some vague references to the German government. So even though there was heavy Volkswagen involvement in the creation of the book, I wouldn't say they were thrilled with the outcome or that the book was authorized by them.
_________________
We are striving for perfection, to make our cars run forever, if possible.

Heinz Nordhoff