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Blue Baron
VW Aficionado
Joined: June 16, 2006
Posts: 24248
Location: Southeast USA
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 Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2024 12:53 am Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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We are striving for perfection, to make our cars run forever, if possible.
Heinz Nordhoff |
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RUNKLE
Samba Member
Joined: July 19, 2014
Posts: 4167
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| Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2024 7:49 am Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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Type 1
1950 Standard - 1959 Ragtop - 1961 Ragtop two fold - 1964 Sunroof
Type 3
1968 Squareback |
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Blue Baron
VW Aficionado
Joined: June 16, 2006
Posts: 24248
Location: Southeast USA
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| Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2024 8:32 pm Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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_________________
We are striving for perfection, to make our cars run forever, if possible.
Heinz Nordhoff |
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Blue Baron
VW Aficionado
Joined: June 16, 2006
Posts: 24248
Location: Southeast USA
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2024 6:22 pm Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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We are striving for perfection, to make our cars run forever, if possible.
Heinz Nordhoff |
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finster
Samba Member
Joined: May 26, 2012
Posts: 7991
Location: north o' the border
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| Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2024 10:54 am Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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"we're here on Earth to fart around" kurt vonnegut
nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect... |
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Martin Southwell
Samba Member
Joined: November 24, 2010
Posts: 992
Location: Bath, England
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| Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2024 1:59 pm Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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Coming across something like this is the stuff of dreams. Any idea where it was? An interesting contraption on the back, and a heavy straight six block alongside! |
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Blue Baron
VW Aficionado
Joined: June 16, 2006
Posts: 24248
Location: Southeast USA
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| Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2024 12:24 am Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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We are striving for perfection, to make our cars run forever, if possible.
Heinz Nordhoff |
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mandraks
Samba Member
Joined: November 28, 2004
Posts: 7054
Location: Lawrenceville, Ga
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| Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2024 6:58 pm Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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| Martin Southwell wrote: |
Coming across something like this is the stuff of dreams. Any idea where it was? An interesting contraption on the back, and a heavy straight six block alongside! |
interesting mod, for sure. is that perhaps a straight 8?
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regards
Uli
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'53 3-Fold Oval, L35 Metallic Blue, looking for a narrow hatch panel |
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Blue Baron
VW Aficionado
Joined: June 16, 2006
Posts: 24248
Location: Southeast USA
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| Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2024 8:35 pm Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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Must have been Sergeant Schultz driving with that modified door!
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Blue Baron
VW Aficionado
Joined: June 16, 2006
Posts: 24248
Location: Southeast USA
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| Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2024 8:41 pm Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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Colorized photo of Ben Pon offloading the first VW officially exported to the U.S.
We don't really know what color the car was, but Pastel Green would be a nice choice!
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Martin Southwell
Samba Member
Joined: November 24, 2010
Posts: 992
Location: Bath, England
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| Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2024 2:18 am Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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| Is the subsequent history of this car known? |
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finster
Samba Member
Joined: May 26, 2012
Posts: 7991
Location: north o' the border
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| Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2024 11:40 am Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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the story is that he sold one and its spare parts to pay for his room at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York. and the other...
Obituary from the Morning Sentinel newspaper in Waterville, Maine. Dated 23 January 1987
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"we're here on Earth to fart around" kurt vonnegut
nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect... |
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DDub
Samba Member
Joined: January 06, 2005
Posts: 309
Location: central pa.
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| Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2024 11:58 am Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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| As I recall from an OLD Small Wonder one of the original two was found on a sheep farm in maybe Montana or Idaho. |
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KTPhil 
Samba Member
Joined: April 06, 2006
Posts: 34046
Location: Conejo Valley, CA
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| Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2024 12:13 pm Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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His great-grandfather was famous as well.
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Current Fleet:
'71 Fastback
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Retired:
'67 Beetle
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Rome
Samba Member
Joined: June 02, 2004
Posts: 9676
Location: Pearl River, NY
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| Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2024 4:33 pm Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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| DDub wrote: |
| As I recall from an OLD Small Wonder one of the original two was found on a sheep farm in maybe Montana or Idaho. |
My dad would get Small Wonder regularly in the late 1960's and through the '70's. I remember an article in it about the OLDEST Beetle in the US, being from Harold Kuhn in the midwest- such as Nebraska. It was a '45! Might've been an effort from VW of America in 1960 to find the oldest VW at the time. So if SW had a different article about the 2nd of the originally imported '49s, I don't remember it. |
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Blue Baron
VW Aficionado
Joined: June 16, 2006
Posts: 24248
Location: Southeast USA
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| Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2024 10:35 pm Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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Yes, Rome has the story correct. In 1960 VW had a contest to find the oldest registered VW in America to celebrate the importation of the 500,000th bug, and it was a Nebraska farmer who had a Dec. '45 sedan. The car would eventually be restored by the Vintage Volkswagen Club of America, and I believe is in the REME Museum in England today.
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We are striving for perfection, to make our cars run forever, if possible.
Heinz Nordhoff |
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finster
Samba Member
Joined: May 26, 2012
Posts: 7991
Location: north o' the border
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| Posted: Wed May 01, 2024 2:08 am Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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^ I've not seen that photo before. it's interesting as the car is a quite a light colour. this photo below is of barbara nordhoff with the 'oldest vw in america' which has dark paint and no rear bumper...  but caption says that mr kuhn was given the keys to the 500,000th car.
I assume that if one of the pon cars was known to still exist it would have been used in the super bowl ad...
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"we're here on Earth to fart around" kurt vonnegut
nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect... |
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Rome
Samba Member
Joined: June 02, 2004
Posts: 9676
Location: Pearl River, NY
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| Posted: Wed May 01, 2024 3:30 am Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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There's a page on the ex-Kuhn '45 in Terry Shuler's book "Volkswagen: Then, Now and Forever" (1997). Terry was the long-time president of the Vintage VW Club of America (VVWCA) and coordinated the effort to restore that Beetle. His description included that the Beetle was built on Dec. 30, 1945 as the very last one built that year. It was originally painted British Army Green, and repainted that color during its restoration. The book's photo is of the car after its restoration. It always bothered me that the front bumper was not leveled out during the restoration; it tilted downwards slightly to the driver's side. Not as much as the old B&W photo above.
Talk about tilted bumpers, that 2024 SuperBowl VW commercial (75th anniversary in the USA) has a dark blue split window Beetle being driven, and its rear bumper is also tilted (down to the right). Irritating. |
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finster
Samba Member
Joined: May 26, 2012
Posts: 7991
Location: north o' the border
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| Posted: Wed May 01, 2024 4:50 am Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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I'm thinking that maybe vwoa gave the '45er a quick black respray so that it didn't look military and raise questions about the war and the brand's nazi origins...
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"we're here on Earth to fart around" kurt vonnegut
nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect... |
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Martin Southwell
Samba Member
Joined: November 24, 2010
Posts: 992
Location: Bath, England
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| Posted: Wed May 01, 2024 5:13 am Post subject: Re: Cool vintage photos... |
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Yes, Rome has the story correct. In 1960 VW had a contest to find the oldest registered VW in America to celebrate the importation of the 500,000th bug, and it was a Nebraska farmer who had a Dec. '45 sedan. The car would eventually be restored by the Vintage Volkswagen Club of America, and I believe is in the REME Museum in England today.
The suggestion that this '45 could be in the REME Museum here in the UK is interesting, and as I only live 10 miles from them, I rang them, and the lady who answered said that it certainly isn't on display, but might be in their storage facility somewhere, and so I'm going to e-mail them and find out.
https://www.rememuseum.org.uk/exhibitions |
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