Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:07:09 -0400
Reply-To: BJ Feddish <bfeddish@NETREACH.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: BJ Feddish <bfeddish@NETREACH.NET>
Subject: Re: 60 years ago this week
In-Reply-To: <f05100300c2d562cd74f3@[203.167.171.232]>
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I usually don't spew BS without backing it up. Though I am fully capable of
it. :)
Here is an excerpt from one of my many VW Bus books:
http://mywebhopserver.feddishbasses.com:81/vw/pon.html
Bryan
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Andrew Grebneff
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 7:02 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: 60 years ago this week
>Ol' Ben brought a few VW's over here to sell. Not much interest but he
sold
>the ones he brought over in order to pay for his ticket back to Europe.
The
>bugs eventually caught on. He then saw a flatbed truck being used to ferry
>parts around the VW plant and then drew a box with 4 wheels on it on a
>napkin (like the Stonehenge from Spinal Tap) as his design for a new
>vehicle. The new vehicle was the VW bus. The first one was on a bug
chassis
>which bent in half under the weight. The new reinforced version was a hit
>all over the world for those who desperately needed a box on wheels that
>went up to 50 mph.
>
>Later someone added a sloped windshield to that box on wheels and found a
>way to make water leak out of the motor. With a couple hundreds pounds of
>camping gear these vehicles found homes with crazy people who like to throw
>money at them.
I just can't understand why people believe Pons was the inventor of
the Type 2. A box with a Beetle floorpan ain't a Type 2. An indirect
predecessor, perhaps, but no more than that.
The first Type 2 was built in 1949... every panel was handmade (oh,
baby, where is it now??). It LOOKED just like a Barndoor, which is
basically what it was. This vehicle was not designed or styled by
Pons. I don't think it used a Beetle chassis either... too narrow,
with no crossmembers. It was indeed not strong enough, and was
redesigned for production.
And whoever styled it was a genius. How to make something shaped like
a box (or loaf of bread) look NICE, well, whoever he was, he
succeeded.
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin
New Zealand
Fossil preparator
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut
