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N0KFQ > TODAY 16.03.15 15:34l 56 Lines 2732 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Feb 17
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Feb 17, 1972:
Beetle overtakes Model T as world's best-selling car
On this day in 1972, the 15,007,034th Volkswagen Beetle comes off
the assembly line, breaking a world car production record held
for more than four decades by the Ford Motor Company's iconic
Model T, which was in production from 1908 and 1927.
The history of the VW Beetle dates back to 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." Hitler's plan was that people could buy the cars
by making regular payments into a savings stamp program. 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 1998,
Volkswagen began selling the highly touted "New Beetle" while
still continuing production of its predecessor. After more than
60 years and over 21 million vehicles produced, the last original
Beetle rolled off the line in Puebla, Mexico, on July 30, 2003.
The world's original best-selling car, Henry Ford's Model T,
first went into production at a Detroit, Michigan, plant in 1908.
Referred to as the car that "put the world on wheels," the Model
T revolutionized the automotive industry--and American society in
general--by providing affordable, reliable transportation for the
average person. In 1913, Ford Motor Company began employing the
moving assembly line at its plant in Highland Park, Michigan,
which reduced the assembly speed of a chassis from 12 hours and
eight minutes to one hour and 33 minutes. The following year,
Ford produced 308,162 vehicles, more than the output of all other
carmakers combined. By 1924, the 10 millionth Model T came off
the assembly line. When production finally ended, after 19 years,
in May 1927, over 15 million Model Ts had been built.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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