Factory Pictures
The Birthplace of Cool: VW Factory Views
A
cast-iron witness to the beginnings of car production at Wolfsburg still
survives in the vast Presswerk at the Volkswagen factory today. During its
36 years of service, it produced around 30 million individual parts –
first for the Kübelwagen, then for the Beetle, the Super Beetle, the
VW 1600 - right up to the Golf. 800 pieces per shift.
Feierabend!
Time to go home. Wolfsburg, August 20, 1973. Photo by Lothar Schaack.
Hundreds
of Beetles, a few dozens Transporters, and a handful of Karmann Ghias in
this aerial photo of the port of Hamburg.
Bodies
in White is a generic term used in car factories to describe car bodies
that are still in raw form, not yet treated against corrosion, or have the
layers of primer and paint applied to them.
A
view from the assembly line at Volkswagen Brussels in 1971 or 1972.
A
train car with 1303 Beetles and 1600 Variants at the train station in Heidelberg,
Germany. This photography is dated 1972, which means that it was taken during
the last few months of the year.
fresh
1972 Volkswagens are rolling off a Dyvi ship at the port of Toledo, Ohio.
A single 411, a two-tone Bus, and a few Squarebacks are seen among the many
Beetles.
A
wide assortment of 1972 Volkswagens at the main freight yard in Stuttgart.
We see many different varieties of the Type 2, there are 1302s and a Type
3 Variant on the train in the back, and even a couple of K70s on the area
between the tracks. This photo is dated September 1971.
Two
workers working together as the chassis and Super Beetle body come together
in a process called the marriage.
The
cargo ship Belgrano with a few 1971 model Super Beetles for North America.
Red or beige was obviously the popular choices. Also notice the Type 2s
in the background.
One
of many inspections in VW engine manufacturing. Here we see cylinder liners
being checked.
A
1303 bodyshell takes shape at Volkswagenwerk Wolfsburg in 1973.
New
Super Beetles awaiting shipment at the Volkswagen plant.
Professor
Dr. Ernst Fiala, photographed on site at Volkswagenwerk Wolfsburg with the
Split Window and Super Beetle.
Beetle
body is laying upside-down in the Volkswagen Brussels factory, during a
summer holiday shutdown in the early 1970s. Thankfully not a Super Beetle
Worker's
parking and the power station in September 1972. The 1303 was so new even
the local population were stopping to look at the one or two that were in
the streets, this one obviously been collected from the factory by a US
buyer.
Installation
of wiring and electrics on a 1973 model year 1303 Beetle at the Wolfsburg
plant, November 1972.
A
delivery of new Volkswagens from the Factory, comprising Beetles - including
1303 cabriolets on the top deck - and a Type 3 Variant.
Volkswagen
number 750,000 for The Netherlands, a 1303 Beetle, was celebrated at the
end of the assembly line at VW-Werk Wolfsburg on October 31, 1973.
At
the top of the windshield of the 750,000th Super Beetle produced you can
see the export code HO (Holland).
Images courtesy of Volkswagen Factory Pictures
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