– Förderer von Kleinwagen year his articles became a campaign for development of a small, affordable car. In 1928 Ganz became head editor for Motor Kritik magazine and crys- tallized his ideas for the Deutschen . By this he meant a Ger- man car that was inexpensive to build, buy and operate. He wrote an exposé that capsulated his small car theme and sent an unsolicited copy to mo- torcycle manufacturer Zündapp in B u i l d i n g T h e B r a n d 1929 for their consideration. A copy Phil Carney of this exposé has not been located so it is not possible to determine how much technical detail Ganz provided The previous two articles described the work of Hans Ledwinka on his car design but it is known that and Béla Barényi, two engineers who have been recognized for con- Zündapp did not respond to the Ganz tributing technical ideas that were incorporated by proposal. in his Type 60 Volkswagen. This article finishes up the Kleinwagen In- Being head editor for the German automotive magazine, Motor-Kritik gave Ganz a genieure series with the storyline of Josef Ganz. Like the other men, Ganz tall platform from which to promote his vision of a People’s Car. Unfortunately he was formally trained as an engineer, but in practice Ganz should more frequently criticized the German automotive industry which may have caused some properly be referred to as a Förderer von Kleinwagen or promoter of a of his ideas to be quickly dismissed by those in power. small family car. Rather than spending hours behind a drafting table, Ganz made his mark using the keys of a typewriter to push his ideas in The Ganz drive train concept as front of the public. As an automobile magazine editor his influence was detailed in the November 1933 considerable and he was able to convince manufacturers to put his con- German patent 587.409 shows cepts into practice. But personal and professional setbacks seemed to his concepts were quite unique haunt him wherever he went and the ideas of Josef Ganz are now known and readily accommodated the by few. Here is a synopsis of this colorful and controversial figure in use of components. Kleinwagen history. The engine and transmission were mounted directly in front Small Car Prototypes of the rear axle and on either Josef Ganz was born in the Hungarian capital of in 1898 side of the chassis centerline. to German parents Dr. Markus Hugo Ganz and Maria Török. The family This allowed for much better was highly respected, and frequent visitors at the Ganz house included weight distribution but also acclaimed scientists, artists and politicians. Markus Ganz was a political limited the power plant physi- and literary writer for Frankfurter Zeitung ( Newspaper) and cal size. the author of several books. His vocation most likely influenced Josef’s later interest in journalism. Ganz did however find support with another motorcycle builder, Josef received a formal education in mechanical engineering in , and they built the first small car prototype based on his ideas. The several schools. In 1916 he acquired German citizenship and four years car used a central-tube chassis with front and rear, independent leaf- later moved to Worms in to work in a chemical plant. It was spring suspension. A one-cylinder, two-stroke engine was located just in during this time that young Ganz established a friendship with an asso- front of the rear swing axle. The engine, transmission, manual starter ciate named Stefan Mittler. His co-worker shared an interest in auto- and chain drive were probably taken directly from Ardie’s motorcycle mobiles and their favorite topic of debate was the merit of a traditional parts bin. Two open body examples were built. The first was Beetle-like front engine location versus rear engine concepts. while the second was more conventional in appearance with a false front In 1923 Ganz was involved in a motorcycle accident, which neces- grill. The car was featured on the September 1930 cover of Motor Kritik sitated surgery to address his injuries. Although the recovery process in- and Ganz’s included test report found the prototype’s performance to be terrupted his studies, it gave Ganz time to ponder the subject of low-cost good but that its simplicity reflected a lack of development dollars and transportation. He knew from personal experience that a motorcycle it was not ready for production. was inexpensive to purchase and maintain but he also knew from that According to automotive journalist Griffith Borgeson and writings same personal experience that it was not the safest means of trans- by Ganz himself, Ganz maintained, “Zündapp got its hands on his portation. Why not an enclosed, four-wheeled form of transportation (Ganz’s) Ardie design and engaged ex-Hanomag Ing. Boehler to develop that approached the cost of a motorcycle? Various historians and jour- a production prototype based on it. Boehler’s work did not produce sat- nalists credit with having this same epiphany a decade later. isfactory results and it was at this point that Porsche was brought in to Ganz began free-lance writing for several magazines and within a develop the ex-Ardie-Ganz.” Historian Paul Schilperoord’s view is, “the

16 Volume 33, Number 3 • 356 Registry chassis of the Ardie-Ganz and Zündapp Type 12 are very similar – especially Ganz acquired ownership of the Adler Maikäfer and began using the the very first Zündapp prototype with leaf spring suspension. In concept the car as a demonstrator for his small car ideas. One of the people who wit- cars are very similar, only the Zündapp is also larger and aimed at a higher nessed the car’s testing was Wilhelm Gutbrod, owner of Standard Fahrzeug- end of the market.” But there is another possibility. Perhaps when Zün- fabrik GmbH of Ludwigsburg. During the spring of 1932, Gutbrod and Ganz dapp saw that their competition, Ardie, was building hardware as opposed reached an agreement where Standard would develop a small car based on to just doing studies, Zündapp management decided it needed to step up Ganz design studies. In return for the license, Ganz received a royalty of 15 its research and development if it did not want to fall behind. The Ardie pro- RM for each car produced. This collaboration resulted in the “Superior” totypes probably pushed Zündapp into building a small car prototype of and Ganz’s crowning achievement in small car development. Beginning in their own but it was not a copy of the Ganz design. For example, the small 1932, production began on the , a small car based on the Zündapp car used a water-cooled, five-cylinder located be- Maikäfer and advertised as “the fastest and cheapest German Volkswagen”. hind the rear axle. And the Zündapp-Porsche Type 12 sedan contains styling Superior advertisements identified the car as the “Deutschen Volkswagen” features - which was not a consideration for the simple Ardie car featured selling for a price of RM 1,590. It had two seats with space behind them to on the cover of the Motor Kritik. hold a couple of small children in an emergency. Just in front of the rear There were allegations from Josef Ganz that Zündapp and Porsche swing-axle there was a diminutive two stoke engine. The customer could se- used his ideas to develop the Porsche-Zündapp Type 12. Any objective in- lect either an air-cooled single-cylinder 494 cc engine or, if they were par- vestigator would certainly disagree because almost everything from the ticularly frugal, a 396 cc version. In late 1933, the body was stylized to drive train to the body shape was different. Nevertheless throughout his make its lines cleaner and more aerodynamic, and a small bench seat was entire life Ganz vociferously staked his claim as the founder of the Volk- added in the rear. The new model, called the “Stromlinienform”, stayed in swagen or People’s Car concept. production only one year. The small Stromlinienform was relatively ex- pensive and sold for only a few hundred RM less than a full-size car. Cost Beetle Production problems and complicated legal disputes with Tatra resulted in the Standard In 1931, Ganz found another sponsor, Adler. This collaboration pro- Superior having a short life span. Hitler examined the Superior at the 1933 duced a prototype and for the first time the name Maikäfer or May Beetle Berlin Auto Show and according to Ganz, Hitler “seemed quite impressed was used to describe a Volkswagen-type car. The Ganz-Adler project did not by… the car’s performance, handling and price.” The Nationalsozialistis- continue, possibly due to the interests of its newly installed technical di- ches Kraftfahrkorps, (National Socialist Motor Corps or NSKK) promptly rector Hans Gustav Röhr. At the time, Röhr was a proponent of front wheel acquired a Superior for testing and results published in the March Ger- drive and it would have been difficult for Adler to simultaneously pursue man army journal indicate the car was found to have acceptable perform- research and development in both rear engine design and front wheel drive. ance but deficiencies such as poor ground clearance were also noted. When it came to a difference in funding priorities, the interests of a com- Just when it seemed Ganz was about to make a big impact on auto- pany director superseded those of a consultant. mobile manufacturing in Germany, he was arrested and imprisoned. The

The Zundapp Type 12 sedan was created by Ferdinand Porsche’s Design Bu- reau. It is shown here in the court- yard of the Porsche fam- ily home in .

“Much space for us” proclaimed the ad. After some false starts, Ganz did convince one manufacturer, Standard, to put his ideas of a small car into production. Stan- dard advertised the car as the German Volkswagen selling for RM 1950. Ganz was proud of the project and enjoyed being photographed with the car. Wilhelm Gutbrod and Standard Fahrzeugfabrik’s interest in small cars did not end with Ganz and the Superior in 1935. After the war the two-seater Superior 600 went into production in 1949. It had a two-stroke, 593cc twin-cylinder fuel-injected en- gine. It was probably the first mass produced car in the world to feature a throttle- body type fuel injection system that was provided by Bosch. A year later the Superior 700 with a 663 cc engine could be purchased in saloon, sports roadster and convertible body styles. Standard also produced the Superior 604 and 704 four-seat models with the same engines before production halted for good in 1954.

www.356Registry.com • September / October 2009 17 facts behind his incarceration are veloping a small car and the Swiss government desired a Volkswagen of murky but the arrest seems to be re- their own. Like the German government, Swiss officials envisioned a thriv- lated to the deceptions of a ing small car manufacturing plant employing thousands and the Swiss were agent by the name of Ehrhardt. The therefore willing to invest in the development of the Ganz Volkswagen. Gestapo officer used a disagreement By 1937, Erfiag produced its first small car prototype and Ganz tested between Ganz and Daimler-Benz ex- it in the fields and forests around his home. It was a two-seat, open car ecutives to fabricate “evidence” that powered by a 350 cc one-cylinder engine. In late summer of 1939, the Er- Ganz was guilty of blackmailing fiag prototype was demonstrated by the automobile dealer Maximilian E. Daimler officials. This “evidence” and Hoffman in for Lucien Rosengart. Rosengart was the owner of So- Ganz’s Jewish background made im- ciété Anonyme des Automobiles (The Limited Car Company) which he es- prisonment a fait accompli. Fortu- tablished in 1927 to build small cars under license. By the late 1930s his nately the Ganz family had good company was already manufacturing versions of the British Austin 7, the connections so within a month he Adler Trumpf and Trumpf Junior and looking for new models in which to was freed. Josef Ganz, however, was a invest. Rosengart liked Ganz’s Volkswagen and was immediately interested stubborn individual and was not to be in a licensing arrangement. A few weeks later, however, Germany and bullied. So the Jewish Ganz quickly France were at war making series production of the car impossible. filed a retaliatory lawsuit against While good technical solutions came quickly to Ganz, beneficial per- Gestapo agent Ehrhardt. Considering sonal associations evaded him. He disagreed with Erfiag employees and the political climate of 1933, this was strong, acrimonious arguments were not uncommon. Worse yet, his trou- not a particularly wise move. This story is a bit of educated speculation but bles with Gestapo agent Ehrhardt followed him from Germany. Although the events strongly affected Ganz’s future involvement with the German au- details are complex and not completely clear, in 1941 the Swiss tried to tomobile engineering. put Ganz into a labor camp. Ironically, despite his long history of personal and professional frustrations, arrangements were finally made after the war The Swiss Volkswagen for the Swiss Rapid Car Company to make a preproduction run of three By July 1934, life was getting very difficult for Josef Ganz. Anti-Semi- dozen Ganz-designed “Swiss Rapid Cars” during 1946 and 1947. Unfortu- tism was increasing throughout Germany and Gestapo agent Ehrhardt held nately non-technical troubles again sidetracked this Ganz project when an acidic personal grudge against Ganz. To escape a near unbearable sit- Ganz became involved in legal disputes. In 1951 Ganz, who did not have a uation, Ganz moved to , briefly to Lichtenstein and then to Swiss passport, was either deported from or very strongly encouraged to Zurich. Initially he lived off of his savings and design skills but eventually leave Switzerland. He moved to France for a short period and from there teamed up with a Swiss lawyer by the name of Fuchs. Together they found he emigrated to Australia and went to work for the Australian car manu- the company Erfiag which is the initials for ERfindungs Und FInanzierungs facturer Holden. AG (Invention and Financing, Inc.) in 1936. Ganz was still interested in de- Recognition What does patent information show about Ganz contribution to 1930s automotive engineering? Review of the archives does not reveal any partic- ular design features used by Porsche in the Volkswagen. In May 1932 Ganz applied for two Austrian patents, 139511 and 146553 which documented his design for rear swing-axle suspension and for locating an engine and transmission in front of the rear axle. Both designs were used in the Stan- dard Superior but were not related to designs used by Porsche. Ganz also documented the streamlined form of the 1933 Superior Stromlinienform in patent 147521 but this basic profile appeared on several different cars during that period. Despite the invention claims, the idea was hardly new. Ganz applied for and held several other patents in- cluding one for the Swiss Volkswagen but none of the others seem particularly relevant to the engi- neering or manufacturing that went into the Porsche-developed Volkswagen. Josef Ganz may have thought of himself as the father of the Ger- man Volkswagen concept but there is little objec- tive evidence in the patent files to substantiate this claim. Swiss government officials, like Germany’s leader, desired a People Car, which could provide inexpensive transportation as Ganz and some of his associates believe him well as manufacturing jobs for its citizens. Ganz’s company Er- to be the inventor of the German Volkswagen and fiag designed a prototype, and a preproduction run of the Paul Schilperoord, keeper of the Ganz archives, Swiss Rapid Car was completed in 1946 and 1947. Unfortu- considers this a possibility also. Others, however, nately legal disputes arose. Ganz left Switzerland persona non flatly refute this point of view. Heinz Nordhoff, the grata and the Swiss Volkswagen never saw series production. post-war executive of Volkswagenwerk, called Ganz a great missionary but said, “It is not correct

18 Volume 33, Number 3 • 356 Registry to say that Josef Ganz cooperated on the development of the Volkswagen… His ideas, in the broadest sense, did contribute to the development of the Volkswagen.” In a 2005 interview, Volkswagen historian Dr. Manfred Grieger paraphrased Ganz’s own words to show Ganz himself questioned his contribution toward the now familiar Volkswagen. “I have given it (his small car concept) to Zündapp, I have given it to Porsche, I have given it to Mercedes Benz, and I have given it to and others. Everyone has de- stroyed my vision.” Interestingly, Volkswagen hired Ganz to help them fight the patent infringement lawsuit filed by Tatra. Ganz’s vision of a people’s car was quite different than Ferdinand Porsche’s. Ganz wanted a car at the absolute lowest possible cost to both purchase and drive. He was willing to sacrifice performance and creature comforts in order to achieve his target cost as was shown in the Ardie-Ganz prototype and the Standard Superior. Porsche on the other hand stated, “My interpretation of a people’s car is a useful vehicle able to compete with any other car on the same level.” Perhaps the most fitting tribute to Josef Ganz is that his strongly opinionated journalism supported Kleinwagen de- velopment and therefore fueled creation of the Wolfsburg Volkswagen.

A primary source of information in preparing this article was Paul Schilperoord. He has thoroughly researched the life of Josef Ganz and main- tains a website containing more information on this Förderer von Klein- wagen. A highly detailed book which explains the questions surrounding Ganz will be published in Dutch in September 2009. Also, a documentary based on the book will be produced afterwards. Visit www.josef-ganz.com for an interesting glimpse into another side of Volkswagen history.

Photographs and graphics courtesy of Paul Schilperoord, the Swiss Transportation Museum, Jens Torner at the Porsche archives and the author

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