Volkswagens and my friend Shelley D’Costa
History has it that Mr. Ratan Tata
stopping at a traffic light; saw one of those overladen scooters, husband, wife
and a couple of children, a sight familiar to us but one that hardly matters. To
Mr. Tata however, it was his Eureka moment, ‘why not have affordable cars for
everyone’ that of course was the birth of Nano.
On the other side
of the continent, Adolf Hitler had had his own moment. He believed every
citizen should possess a basic vehicle capable of carrying two adults and three
children at 100 km/h (62 mph). The ‘People's Car’ would be available to
the citizens of the Third Reich through a savings plan of 990 Reichsmark,
which amounted to $396 U.S. dollars in the 1930’s, the average income being
around 32 RM a week.
At the time, Ferdinand Porsche, the well-known
designer for high-end vehicles and race cars had been trying to
get a manufacturer interested in a small car suitable for a family. He was of
the opinion that small cars of the time were nothing but stripped down big
cars. So in 1933 he built a car he called the ‘Volksauto’ from the ground up.
1934 saw Adolf
Hitler involved in many of the projects still in a developmental or early stage
of production. Although, these existing
projects were heavily supported, it soon became apparent that private industry
could not turn out a car for only 990 RM. Hitler then decided to sponsor a new,
state-owned factory using Ferdinand Porsche's design, with some modifications, that
included an air-cooled engine so that nothing could freeze. The idea was that anybody
could and should buy a car by means of a savings scheme.
‘Fünf Mark die
Woche mußt du sparen, willst du im eigenen Wagen fahren’– ‘A savings of five marks a week enables you to
drive your own car’, around 336,000
people eventually paid into the scheme. The entire project however
was financially unsound and only the financial support of the Nazi party kept
it afloat.
Much later after the Second World War, it became public knowledge that
slave labour had been used in the Volkswagen plant. This practice was common during the war with
much of the production in the Nazi regime. Some slaves being from the Arbeitsdorf
Concentration Camp.
The Volkswagen Company would admit in 1998 that it had used 15,000
slaves during the war effort. German historians estimated that 80% of
Volkswagen's wartime workforce was slave labour. A large percentage
of these, at the request of plant managers were reported to have been supplied
from concentration camps.
A lawsuit was filed in 1998 by survivors as restitution for forced
labour. Volkswagen would set up a voluntary restitution fund.
Strange as it may
seem, even with the Beetle’s connection to Hitler, VW became a symbol of the ‘60s
counterculture and the best-selling import of the era in the United States. For
the Woodstock generation, driving a Beetle or its larger cousin the Volkswagen Van
was a form of protest against materialism and the gas guzzlers churned out by
the big American carmakers.
Volkswagens were touted as ‘people’s cars’ as
was intended by Adolf Hitler. Its design was mechanically simple and reliable so
that anyone with a basic set of tools could learn to be his own Volkswagen
mechanic. This design philosophy also fitted well with the hippie attitude of
primitive subsistence. The Volkswagen
provided the hippie with mobility and in the case of the VW Bus an instant flop
house. The best part of the VW however, was that it was usually kept running
without resorting to the services of a professional mechanic.
By the late sixties, the Beetle had been sold
for almost twenty years with only a few design modifications. This enabled the
hippie mechanic to easily mix and match parts from different vehicles made in
different years to keep at least one VW running.
Hippies just loved their Volkswagens.
My connection to the Volkswagen however is a
bittersweet one; on his return from Kenya my father had every desire of bringing
back home a Volkswagen. Natividade Dias a
good friend had brought one back to Goa. That was the Beetle, that Ronnie,
Natividade’s son painted a deep purple and which to us in Goa symbolized chutzpah
and oh-so-much-money. Ronnie himself was the ultra-cool guy, armies of
beautiful girls trailed him, swooning whenever the deep purple VW whizzed past.
Girls you know who you are.
Sadly an uncle dissuaded my father from
getting his Volkswagen; the uncle in an aside to my Mother felt my Father would
go bar hopping if he brought home the VW. On his return to Goa sans his
Volkswagen my Father did go bar hopping, after all public transport is always
available.
My father, unfortunately for him was surrounded
by friends with VW’s, there was the architect Braz who drove through India,
from Iran in his VW Bus, much like the hippies did.
Ronnie was not the only one with a Volkswagen.
That year masses of girls had returned
from Africa and descended on Carmel College; most of them in the Hostel. Shelley
D’Costa from Majorda had no reason to stay in the Hostel; Shelley had an
extremely chic Volkswagen Beetle which she drove to College.
Whenever I think of Shelley it is with a deep
sense of love and thankfulness. You see we had to answer our exams in Chowgule
College Margão. On those days without hesitation, without even is-it-okay
Shelley, we plunged into her car, bags, books, dissection boxes and got to
Chowgule College. Never once did Shelley show displeasure or irritation at us
pilling willy-nilly into her car. Not once did she show-off, that she at 16 owned
a car that too a Volkswagen, to me it smacks of good manners and a lot of
class.
You can imagine the grand entrance we made at
Chowgule College, nothing short of a red carpet. For the duration of that week we were the
toast of Chowgule College.
Just a thank you
Shelley with love and thankfulness.
Interesting VW article. Porche was a Czech origin and my father owned a Beetle to ferry my mother to a primary school in Macazana. My uncle from Margao owned an Opel Rekard.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading my Blog. Much appreciated. Beetles had a certain zing about them. They were visible and lovable. What's happened to your VW? Was in the Campal Parade?
ReplyDeleteLove your writing, Sonia. Although VW got smartly smacked recently when they were caught with their pants down in the emissions scandal (no pun intended) they have bounced back making a concerted effort to bring electric vehicles to the market. My African memories are of our beloved Morris Minor!
ReplyDeleteThank you ever so much Kevin for reading my Blog. Much appreciated. Yes read about the VW, but to me its more about the zing and the beetle has it.
DeleteRecently saw one in Panjim, the newer version and it did look good, although a white beetle never seems okay to me, you need colour for a Beetle to zing. What happened to your Morris Minor, they too were cute. Thanks once again.