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.
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| The Radclyffe - lines of the future Hebmüller |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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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.
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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!
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| 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
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| 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
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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.
