Ganz: how I lost my beetle

[@cliffordkinnear9705]

A true story of history finally told. Outstanding!

[@cliffordkinnear9705]

One man's creativity was stolen to be turned into one of the worlds most successful cars of all time.

[@patfog8676]

Great documentary. Wonderful Joseph Ganz. He was not recognised and that is very sad. But his memory lives on. Finally, at the beginning of the project there was his idea. But it was then improved and transformed by others to see the light of day. This happens in many areas. People who are not recognised but whose basic ideas are taken.His life was interesting and sad at the same time.

[@MrSillyMouth]

Was für eine tolle Geschichte..."Gänsehaut"...I Love it...🚗😃👍

[@ThomasWangenheim]

Why don't you talk about the Hansa 400 or the Framo Piccolo, which in 1933 and 1934 hit the market with practically the same design and engine? And Mercedes Benz build a Prototype (construction by Hans Nibel), the 120H in 1931 with the same concept as the Volkswagen, much more like the real later KDF-Wagen, whereas the Standard Superior was the competitor of a totally different segment, namely that of DKW (which was also Framo), the so called mini car segement, in which again the Superior was nothing special in 1933 and also with the more round shaped version in 1934, when even the DKW Schwebeklasse came out. The Mercedes, in contrast to all the other cars (the Standard Superior included) didn't have a two-stroke engine. With a two stroke the Volkswagen would never have been so sucsessful over decades. The Benz 120H of 1931 instead had the four-stroke four cylinder pancake engine, for which the Volkswagen later became famous for reliability. The Standard Superior is just a lot of fuss about nothing, or to say the truth, it's a copied and shrunken Mercedes prototype with an inferior engine. That's also why it never sold well, which was the case also for the very similar Framo and the Hansa.

[@beetlejuic150]

You are totally right. Ganz was more into the segment of the Kleinwagen. People like Erwin Komenda were already designing beetle-like cars. I translated my comment into English today. I say that Ganz is definately NOT the father of the beetle.

[@liviazambon1682]

an impressive story. Ganz was great and to this day volkswagen denies Ganz's authority ... they have a shameful Nazi past. Porsche a criminal who joined the Nazis. Thank you for revealing this story full of compassion and light.

[@dirkottonijdam]

Unbileaveble, what a story. Thanks for posting it.

[@bruce92106]

This is really good thanks

[@gyurka1984]

Gestern Abend an 3Sat gesehen, wahnsinnig gut! Congratulation!

[@beetlejuic150]

Heute habe ich die Deutsche version uploaded: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bauloKqkoaummtk

[@zofe]

On the basis of this thievery by Ferdinand Porsche was VW founded, and also boosted his own company after the war.

[@garybrandse1323]

March 2023 was the first time I found out that the VW was first constructed by Josef Ganz!

[@matthiasbunt9391]

mooi, dat bijschrift van jouzelf!

[@joepvandijk7949]

It would be great to explore a parallel history of two Great Jewish cars: the "Ganz-klein-Wagen" from this video and the "toute petite voiture" or 2CV by André Citroën. Although the Citroën was built by the successors to André in the company, it is difficult for me NOT to see link. Maybe I'm totally wrong, but maybe the "toute petite voiture" was meant as nudge to us all to see the link. When I saw this "Ganz-klein-Wagen" I immediately thought of the French translation actually meaning something more than just the same: it had been also used to describe the 2CV. Maybe a historian would have the possibility to look into this theory of mine.

[@gyorgyrabenschwartz9610]

The whole issue of patents applied for by J. Ganz and their further exploitation after 1933 was neglected. I was not aware of the expulsion of J. Ganz from Switzerland in 1950 as mentioned in this documentary.

[@radex255]

Respect!!

[@ronsmate]

Was Gantz cheated, are the similarities proof positive? A great story which could only have been made better with an English version for us non Dutch/German speaking people.

[@robinbaker675]

KZbin has an auto translation option in close captioning to get you subtitles in English.

[@drPeidos]

@@robinbaker675 Unfortunately the auto translation has several errors. But it's better than nothing.

[@ex-engineer6657]

I am fascinated with his story, but I only speak English and Spanish. is there a complete English translation?

[@chillstar]

It's not perfect, but you can turn on YT's CC (subtitles), then use the gear icon to choose Auto Translate, then the language that you want. It works well enough to follow the thread of what's being said.

[@beetlejuic150]

I translated the text into English today.

[@MrJeepmarine]

Is there a full English version?

[@drPeidos]

I would have made a different restoration, leaving original paint and wood where possible, even if the car wasn't drive-able in the end.

[@shepleonard8695]

Here's a major problem with this claim Gantz came up with a tiny, short, mid-engine, water cooled, extremely large wheeled car with a different style of chassis that looks nothing like a Volkswagen Beetle. Every single one of his cars look nothing like a Volkswagen Beetle. What Ferdinand Porsche did is what every single automotive maker has ever done they looked at other designs and went oh wow how can I take that and improve it and that's exactly what happened. Ferdinand came up with a better chassis a better engine and a better design. For anyone to sit there and say that the beetle was invented by Joseph Gantz is ludicrous because nothing against ever did saw fruition in the Beetle.

[@Meccanico208]

It's still a backbone frame, independent suspension, and teardrop shape. The Standard Superior used the name Volkswagen in its advertising in 1934.

[@exoticautomotive]

@@Meccanico208 Volkswagen is. just German for „peoples car“, the original official name for the Beetle was the KdF Wagen and Volkswagen was originally just a by name. As Shep Leonard mentioned, already in the 1930’s cars were already evolving and the engineers looked around at what good ideas already existed. There were also other cars that preceded the Beetle that had a back bone chassis and swing axles. On the otherhand I do think a bit more research should be carried out into what patents Josef Ganz was awarded before they were then revoked or just „disappeared“

[@beetlejuic150]

That is exactly the point I made when I uploaded this video, my friend. I added my comment in Dutch under the video. The claim that Ganz-patents were violated was probably correct. But the claim that the whole design was stolen is simply wrong, for the reasons you mention. In the early 30s, there was a tendency to develop small cars for the common people. Also other designers were busy making small cars.

[@heinpereboom5521]

Do you think that is also the reason why the Hitler regime opposed him? Of course changes have been made to the design, but the IDEA came from Ganz and THAT is not acknowledged.

[@UberLummox]

How is it a different style chassis? That makes zero sense to me.