The Hebmüller Story

It is perhaps a tragedy to some that, probably one of the most attractive Beetle variants ever produced, was so short lived and relatively so few were made. They are very rare nowadays, but much cherished jewels in the Volkswagen vintage scene. The classic amongst classics, I believe there are only two examples in this country, but about 100 left worldwide.

Like most coachbuilders, the company Hebmüller And Sons in Wuppertal evolved from a horse-drawn carriage manufacturing company. It was founded by Joseph Hebmüller in 1889. After his death in 1919 his four sons started modifying car bodies. The firm's pre war bread and butter was made converting the likes of Ford Taurus and Adam Opel saloons to luxury models. After the war they were even asked by the British Army to build cabriolets based on the Humber.

The Radclyffe - lines of the future Hebmüller

A Radclyffe recreated - courtesy of oldbug.com

Aside, the Radclyffe Roadster

One of the most inspirational and enthusiastic British Army officers so get involved in the Volkswagen concern after the war, aside from Ivan Hirst, was a Colonel McEnvoy. McEnvoy was an Eton man who before the war had apprenticed to Rolls Royce, built racing motorcycles and cars, and worked as a consultant to Mercedes Benz. It was his German connections that allowed him to ride in one of the pre-war Volkswagens in 1938.

McEnvoy, as part of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, was charged with setting up the war torn Volkswagenwerke to repair military vehicles, and alongside Ivan Hirst was the main drive behind starting up serious Beetle production again. Indeed, it is stated that it was his idea.

He was naturally keen to see if the Beetle could be souped up to make the sort of saloon based racer he was accustomed to before the war and asked a friend at the factory, Rudy Uhlenhaut to come up with some ideas. Hirst was initially luke warm about the idea, being too pre-occupied with getting basic production off the ground, but gave in to McEnvoy’s nagging.

Unlike the later Hebmüller, the Radclyffe Roadster did indeed have a converted front bonnet at the rear. True to McEnvoy’s racing pedigree the car had twin carburettors, and this performance hit may have caused one driver to crash the car on the Autobahn, ripping out the front suspension. A new chassis and engine were fitted allowing McEnvoy to enjoy his pet project for a while longer. This extra chassis has also led some to wrongly assume two roadsters were built. Sadly, the car disappeared along with so mush of the early factory experiments. But its presence at the factory in its formative years was the undoubted forerunner of the later production Hebmüller, with which it shared so much.

The Hebmüller Cabriolet in Production

By 1948 Germans at last had Deuschmarks in their pockets and were beginning the recovery that would eventually make it the peaceful economic powerhouse it is today. 250,000 beetles had already been made and the newly independent German firm of Volkswagen began to look around for reputable firms to build cabriolet versions of its successful car for more prosperous economic conditions.

The 1949 Hebmüller

In May 1948 VW’s new leader Heinrich Nordhoff was planning this convertible version of the Beetle. The two coachbuilders chosen to produce the convertible were Karmann in Osnabrück, who was commissioned to build a four seater, and Hebmüller, to construct the two seater version.
The three first prototype two seaters were built in 1948. Hebmüller used three very early saloons for the conversion. The windscreen was retained. The doors were modified and an aluminium outer frame was added. The engine covers (they are not modified front bonnets) where hand crafted. The rear number plate light and single brake-light were housed in the standard so-called Popes nose light unit. The first prototype was fitted with the 1946/47 style bumpers and the large VW-logo style hubcaps.
The second had the then new grooved bumpers and a set of very unusual hubcaps (only ever seen again on a special made Beetle saloon for the emperor of Abyssinia at the 1951 Frankfurt Motor Show). The third prototype had regular hubcaps. The biggest problem found was that they flexed badly which resulted in poor door alignment. The windscreen often broke when fitting the hood in closed position. The problems was solved in the first pre-production car with a very much stronger windscreen frame, several metal plates welded inside the body and a very long and heavy strengthening boxed rail on each side of the car. This car was produced in April 1949 and in 10000 km of severe testing it proved to function very well.

The first pre production prototype was shown to Volkswagenwerke in April 1949, this final design was met with full approval of VW and 2000 cars were ordered. Along with Karmann, Hebmüller had the special status of receiving Beetles direct from Wolfsburg, and cabriolets from both coachbuilders had the official Volkswagen badge and were distributed through the official dealer network.

Production began in the month of June 1949, the Hebmüller was given the designation 14A (shared with the Papler and Hebmüller police 4 seaters – see Wheelspin on the web Jan 2001 for these). Some changes were made to the production cars. One was a new engine cover that featured a long scoop, which incorporated brake- and numberplate light. The air intake louvres were relocated to the body, just above the engine cover.

The aluminium grooved body trims from the deluxe Beetle were also fitted.

Practical family car... I think not courtesy kabriolet.com

One of the appealing features of the car was the clean lines of the body. Some critics argued that you couldn't really tell whether it was coming or going. The spring assisted convertible hood could easily be folded down by one person, then tucked away behind the rear jump seat. Then a tonneau cover could be neatly placed over the lowered frame. Another appealing touch was the two-tone paint work. Hebmüller experimented with several colour schemes. One colour: red, white or black. Two-tone: black & ivory, black & red, Black & yellow or red & ivory. If you wanted your own choice of colour that could be arranged at extra cost. The new two seater started to sell well even at 7500 DEM.

Fire wreaks havoc!

Hebmüller production at its height - courtesy kabriolet.com

On Saturday 23rd July 1949 a massive fire started in the paint shop, which was completely destroyed as well as some of the production departments. Afterwards the factory looked repairable, but only just. Only 50 Hebmüllers had rolled off the production line before the fire. After a tremendous effort the production was up and running after only four weeks. The production rose slowly in the autumn of 1949, rising to over 600 by the beginning of 1950. But in February 1950 it declined and in April only 17 were made, then the last of this dying breed were sent to The Karmann Factory and they completed 15 cars between august 1951 an February 1953.

It was apparent that Hebmüller had financial problems. The problems got worse as the time went on, and in 1952 the firm went bankrupt. Debate still goes on as to what really stopped Hebmüller as a going concern.

Some say the fire dealt the firm its death blow, from which it never recovered. Other cite the fact that most of the cars were made after the fire, and with firm orders from a very successful growing company – Volkswagen, perhaps the fire was used as an excuse to wind up a firm that could have easily recovered. Later Ford purchased the works to manufacture steering knuckles and other parts.

The last hundred or so cars that spanned the crossover between Hebmüller and Karmann benefited from Volkswagens updated hydraulic brakes, introduced in 1950 (a vast improvement over the old cable brakes). The last ever two Hebmüllers had the new dashboard from the 1952 Beetle, but Karmann stopped production in late 1952 to concentrate on its own Cabriolet, which we all know soldered on right up until 1979. Karmann then went on to produce the Golf Cabriolet, which it still builds.

So nice, so few

just gorgeous

VW’s official figure is 696. But some figures say 750 were built. There are today at least two surviving cars from 1950 that have a body number over 700. Over 100 cars have survived and today a Hebmüller a very popular collectors car, and fetch very high prices; even in poor condition.

The missing Coupe

Klaus Hebmüller next to the coupe- notice the small rear windows photo courtesy Common Gear http://members.aol.com/CommonGear/

One model was plucked of the production line and made into a hard top 2+2 seater coupe model. This featured a small back seat and pop out rear windows. There is only one surviving photograph, but sadly the car has disappeared. Two rumours abound, that is was sold and ended up who knows where, the second, that Paul Hebmüller wrote the car off in an accident and this one off was scrapped.