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Volkswagens used by the British Army


keithvipond

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I have recently restored a 1952 volkswagen beetle used by the BAOR. The car was delivered to 151 Vehicle Coy at Lippstadt Germany straight from the factory. I am trying to find out what purpose these type of vehicles were used for. It was in army service from June 1952 to April 1962. Any information as regards vehicle markings would be much appricated. I have been viewing this site with great interest and find it very good

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I have recently restored a 1952 volkswagen beetle used by the BAOR. The car was delivered to 151 Vehicle Coy at Lippstadt Germany straight from the factory. I am trying to find out what purpose these type of vehicles were used for. It was in army service from June 1952 to April 1962. Any information as regards vehicle markings would be much appricated. I have been viewing this site with great interest and find it very good

 

 

Hello Keith,

 

Welcome to this forum and good to hear about a military Beetle being restored to its former glory! Can you share pictures, please?

I have an interest in military Beetles because my grandfather was appointed one + driver shortly after WW2 to go and find looted items in Germany (ranging from machinery to an elephant!).

 

Beetles were in the "car, 4x2, saloon" class and they were intended for use by static administrative units.

 

On this forum some information and photos have been posted before. Click on viewpost-right.png to go to the thread:

Some VW Beetles in RASC use, visable in several photos, there is the word T FORCE, for details on this see the link below.

 

[Photo of soldier sitting on rear of VW Beetle, inscribed on reverse: “Jock Warren taken on the same Sunday morning as the other pictures cleaning out his Volkswagen after going out shooting with Captain Irving at 3AM”]

 

A final shot in Bad Lipspringer: a driver cleaning one of the staff cars. The shot is included to show that the Beetle was being used by the Army in large quantities at this stage. Note the charging bull symbol of the 11th Armoured Div, which also can be seen on my old battledress. "

 

8th RAF Photo Reconnaiance Section/ Unit

I came accross this web site

http://www.transportcafe.co.uk/raf_photo_reconnaissance_unit_field_photographic.html

Covers the 50`s and 60`s with the 8th Mobile Field Photographic Section in Germany.

 

 

Hope this helps,

Hanno

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I have recently restored a 1952 volkswagen beetle used by the BAOR. The car was delivered to 151 Vehicle Coy at Lippstadt Germany straight from the factory. I am trying to find out what purpose these type of vehicles were used for. It was in army service from June 1952 to April 1962. Any information as regards vehicle markings would be much appricated. I have been viewing this site with great interest and find it very good

Hi Keith, welcome to the forum, I served in a REME workshops from 1956 to 1958, we had Volkswagen`s in various forms, mini bus, ambulance, and the Beetle. The car was marked in our Workshops and 6th Armoured Div sign. The car was used extensively by officers, inc the C.O. for general duties. I drove them all, and was extremely impressed by them all, they litterally seemed to hug the road. One other thing that I remember about the V.W. at that time, only export models, inc most in the british army were fitted with synchro gearboxes. I got caught out on one occassion when I went to B.M.H. (Hospital, Munster) to exchange our mini bus for an ambulance, the mini bus had a synchro box, when I pulled away from the workshop area with the ambulance whilst waving goodbye and changing from 1st to 2nd gear I managed to play a wonderful tune (Crash box) All to the great delight and applause of the REME technicians, left me feeling a proper pratt..... I prided myself on my driving ability.:nono:

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My name is Keith Vipond. I would like to introduce myself. I am a non military person. My hobby is restoring early volkswagen beetles. I apologise for not introducing myself, I thought this is what I had done earlier. I am not good with computers and rely on help from family to navigate new sites.

 

Keith Vipond

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I know that Rev Martin Atkinson, an Army chaplin used this car and he was responsible for bringing it into the UK in 1962. I have anecdotal evidence that he used to cross check point charlie and even assisted people to cross the border by hiding them in the car.

 

It is 25bhp and has a full crash gearbox and cable brakes. All thats missing are the Army markings. Unfortunately the commission plate was missing when I purchased the car. I can put more restoration photos on later.

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

P1010014.jpg

P1010009.jpg

P1010012.jpg

P1010013.jpg

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Did anyone spot this? Looks like he's filling it with coal, what's this is about? Surely not an on board coal gas generator?

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]40105[/ATTACH]

 

Yes, it is coal, relatively common in late war vehicles in Germany, thanks to the USAF bombing the oil fields.

 

I understand it was "soft" brown coal, nearer to peat than the coal under Yorkshire.

 

jch

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Did anyone spot this? Looks like he's filling it with coal, what's this is about? Surely not an on board coal gas generator?

 

Here's a clearer photo, from waht I've read it used wood/charcoal?

1944-volkswagen-type-1-charcoal-gas.jpg

drawing.jpg

Edited by Marmite!!
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While Major Hurst was in charge of the VW factory they built 6 Schwimmwagens from the bits and pieces found in the factory. The one I used to own had the build year of 1946. This one ended up in the REME museum at Borden and was sold by them in about 1970 to Andrew Mollow. Bapties, the film hire people bought it and then sold it to me in 1982. The picture shown of Major Hurst going down a slope may well be the one I used to owqn, because if you look you will see that the piece between the front and rear wing is about 4 inches wide insteat of the normal tophat section. My schwimmer also had this 4 inch wing, see attached picture, John.

swimmwagen 001.jpg

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Good find those diagrams, neat job.

 

Although going by the hammer marks in the covers, each one made by hand, should have got Mark m to do them...:-D

 

That is a nice comment GiE - but mine do look like that befor they get the two-pak filla prima treatment :D

 

This is a great thread - that 52 dub is a pearler, great job indeed :)

 

Hey BP, I'm still waiting to hear from you about them bits dear boy :D

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We used to have a VW Type 2 bay window converted into a hearse when i was out in Cyprus on a UN tour in 1992. Great fun to drive around in..shopping trips into Nicosia! I did use it a couple of times for its intended purpose!! One coffin arriving at Ledra Palace checkpoint sticking out the back of a Merecedes taxi!

UN Hearse!!.jpg

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