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N0KFQ > TODAY 08.03.16 16:35l 59 Lines 2874 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 87052_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Mar 8
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Sent: 160308/1528Z 87052@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.65
1950
VW bus, icon of counterculture movement, goes into production
Volkswagen, maker of the Beetle automobile, expands its product
offerings to include a microbus, which goes into production on
this day in 1950. Known officially as the Volkswagen Type 2 (the
Beetle was the Type 1) or the Transporter, the bus was a favorite
mode of transportation for hippies in the U.S. during the 1960s
and became an icon of the American counterculture movement.
The VW bus was reportedly the brainchild of Dutch businessman Ben
Pon, an importer of Beetles to the Netherlands, who saw a market
for a small bus and in 1947 sketched out his concept. Volkswagen
engineers further developed the idea and in March 1950, the
vehicle, with its boxy, utilitarian shape and rear engine, went
into production. The bus eventually collected a number of
nicknames, including the "Combi" (for combined-use vehicle) and
the "Splittie" (for its split windshield); in Germany it was
known as the "Bulli." In the U.S., it was referred to by some as
a hippie van or bus because it was used to transport groups of
young people and their camping gear and other supplies to
concerts and anti-war rallies. Some owners painted colorful
murals on their buses and replaced the VW logo on the front with
a peace symbol. According to "Bug" by Phil Patton, when Grateful
Dead musician Jerry Garcia died in 1995, Volkswagen ran an ad
featuring a drawing of the front of a bus with a tear streaming
down it.
The bus was only the second product offering for Volkswagen, a
company whose history dates back to the 1930s Germany. In 1933,
Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany and announced he wanted
to build new roads and affordable cars for the German people. At
that time, Austrian-born engineer Ferdinand Porsche (1875-1951)
was already working on creating a small car for the masses.
Hitler and Porsche later met and the engineer was charged with
designing the inexpensive, mass-produced Volkswagen, or "people's
car." In 1938, work began on the Volkswagen factory, located in
present-day Wolfsburg, Germany; however, full-scale vehicle
production didn't begin until after World War II.
In the 1950s, the Volkswagen arrived in the U.S., where the
initial reception was tepid, due in part to the car's historic
Nazi connection as well as its small size and unusual rounded
shape (which later led to it being dubbed the "Beetle"). In 1959,
the advertising agency Doyle Dane Bernbach launched a
groundbreaking campaign that promoted the car's diminutive size
as a distinct advantage to consumers, and over the next several
years VW became the top-selling auto import in the U.S. In 1972,
the VW Beetle passed the iconic Ford Model T as the world's
best-selling car, with over 15 million vehicles produced.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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