There's one thing that keeps bugging me....

[Rope-Pusher]

From Autoline Daily:
"WHO INVENTED THE BEETLE?
Every automotive enthusiast knows Ferdinand Porsche designed the original Volkswagen, under the directive of none other than Adolf Hitler. But a new book on the subject argues that a Jewish engineer actually came up with the concept.

The book “Josef Ganz, The Jewish Engineer Behind Hitler’s Volkswagen” argues persuasively that Ganz helped conceptualize the kind of car that the world now knows as the Beetle. Ganz was an engineer and journalist. In the 1920s and ’30s he argued that German automakers needed to build small, light-weight cars using an air-cooled, rear engine, with a backbone chassis and rear swing axles. He even called it a Volkswagen.

Ganz did more than just talk. He developed prototypes, starting with the Ardie motorcycle company in 1930. Though it performed well, it never made it into production. He was hired by the Adler company where he built yet another prototype, which he called the Maikäfer, or May fly. That caught the eye of Mercedes-Benz, which hired Ganz as a consultant, where he helped develop the 120H prototype, which shows unmistakable styling signs of the future Beetle. Interestingly, at the time Ganz was also a technical consultant to BMW.

Finally, one of his designs, the Standard Superior, made it into production. Only a few hundred were built, and only one is known to exist today, but what an iconic design! Later the Bungartz Company built the little Butz that was based on Ganz’s patents as seen here at the Berlin auto show in 1934. Note the swastika in the background.

Needless to say, being a prominent Jewish engineer in Nazi Germany was not going to end well and Ganz fled the country. He continued to develop his concepts in Switzerland during the war, but they never made it into production. After the war he emigrated to Australia where found work with Holden. But broken in spirit, unrecognized and in ill health, he passed away into obscurity until this book came out."

See the pics here: http://www.autoline.tv/journal/?p=20504

or listen to the full discussion with the book's author here: http://www.autoline.tv/journal/?p=20502