1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:16,919 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:20,239 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and I love all things tech. And 5 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:24,440 Speaker 1: while I was doing the retrospective episodes about the last 6 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:28,440 Speaker 1: decade in Tech two thousand nine to two well eighteen, 7 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 1: because I had already done two thousand nineteen, I mentioned 8 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:35,240 Speaker 1: the scandal around Volkswagen and the devices that were used 9 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:38,159 Speaker 1: to help cheat on emissions testing, and it made me 10 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:41,760 Speaker 1: realize that I haven't done full episodes about the founding 11 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:45,680 Speaker 1: and evolution of the company. It's a company that's no 12 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 1: stranger to controversy and scandal, and it's also a company 13 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:55,080 Speaker 1: that has created some iconic vehicles, specifically the Volkswagen Beatle. 14 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:57,800 Speaker 1: So today I thought I would look at the story 15 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 1: of Volkswagen, and this is going to become more than 16 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: one episode because the company is several decades old, but 17 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: will mainly focus on Volkswagen and the Beatle for this one. Now, 18 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:10,880 Speaker 1: it's always a challenge for me to figure out exactly 19 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,959 Speaker 1: where I should begin with these histories, So for this one, 20 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 1: I thought the best thing would be to start with 21 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:21,000 Speaker 1: the founder of the company, Ferdinand Porsche. And this is 22 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 1: the same Porsche whose name would grace the sports car 23 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: and luxury car company. Porsche was born in eighteen seventy 24 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:33,959 Speaker 1: five in Maffersdorff, Austria, Hungary, which is in a region 25 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: that's now known as Libraric or Liberate and I apologize 26 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: I don't know the correct pronunciation, but in the Czech 27 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:45,399 Speaker 1: Republic now. As a child, he became fascinated with technology, 28 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 1: and particularly with electricity. He pursued this interest he learned 29 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:54,560 Speaker 1: more about mechanical systems and then as a young man, 30 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: he landed a job at an electrical company in Vienna 31 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 1: called Baila Eggar and Company. He was just eighteen years 32 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: old at the time. Now around that same time he 33 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 1: enrolled in the Imperial Technical University at Reichenburg it's now 34 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:14,680 Speaker 1: the Vienna University of Technology. His affinity for tech and 35 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: his enthusiasm for the subject paid off, and he would 36 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:22,840 Speaker 1: earn a promotion at his job to a management position 37 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:27,480 Speaker 1: pretty early on. By eight nine seven, he was beginning 38 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: to experiment with the design and production of electric hub motors. So, yeah, 39 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 1: we get to talk about some tech, Okay, So first, 40 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:40,640 Speaker 1: let's remind ourselves about the basics of electric motors, and 41 00:02:40,639 --> 00:02:44,480 Speaker 1: it all comes down to harnessing electromagnetic energy and making 42 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:47,920 Speaker 1: it do mechanical work. So it's all about that interplay 43 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 1: between electricity and magnetism. Now, remember electromagnetic energy is one 44 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:57,400 Speaker 1: of the four fundamental forces of nature, along with gravity 45 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:00,880 Speaker 1: and then the strong and weak nuclear forces. There are 46 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 1: other people who hypothesize additional fundamental forces that would help 47 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:09,160 Speaker 1: explain things that these forces don't explain in our current 48 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: understanding of the universe, but that's a topic for a 49 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 1: different show alright. So electric motors, essentially, it's all about magnets. Now, 50 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:21,320 Speaker 1: as I'm sure you all know, magnets can either attract 51 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: or repel each other. It all depends upon the magnetic polls. 52 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:30,200 Speaker 1: Opposite magnetic poles attract one another, so north pole attracts 53 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 1: to south pole. Now, if you have like poles, those 54 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:36,240 Speaker 1: repel each other. So the north poles on two different 55 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 1: magnets will push against each other. And if you could 56 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 1: just harness this natural phenomenon, you can make magnets do work. 57 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 1: That's the basis behind the electric motor. It's also the 58 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:49,960 Speaker 1: basis behind a lot of people's assumptions that you can 59 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:52,840 Speaker 1: use magnets to create some sort of perpetual motion machine, 60 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:56,120 Speaker 1: but there are other factors at play that prevent that, 61 00:03:56,240 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: largely things like friction. Again, that's a topic for another show. 62 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: So a very simple electric motor has a few basic components. 63 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 1: One is a field magnet. It's typically a permanent magnet. 64 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: This is the stationary magnet or pair of magnets that 65 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:16,719 Speaker 1: is positioned so that the north and south poles of 66 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:20,159 Speaker 1: the magnet are on either side of an armature that's 67 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:23,680 Speaker 1: positioned in the middle. So think of like a horseshoe 68 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:26,040 Speaker 1: magnet right has a north pole in the south pole, 69 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: think of it holding it up right like a U, 70 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:34,560 Speaker 1: and then think about suspending an axle in between the 71 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,760 Speaker 1: north and south poles right in the middle. Now attached 72 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:39,479 Speaker 1: to the armature are a couple of other elements that 73 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 1: I'll get to in a moment. The armature itself is 74 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 1: a rotor, which means it can rotate, so unlike the magnet, 75 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:50,240 Speaker 1: which is stationary, the rotor can actually rotate. And it's 76 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:53,159 Speaker 1: also an electro magnet, meaning you have some sort of 77 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:57,080 Speaker 1: conductive wire wrapped around a core running a current through 78 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,520 Speaker 1: that conductive wire generates a magnetic field. This is a 79 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 1: basic feature of electromagnetism, where running a current through a 80 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:09,320 Speaker 1: conductive wire that's in a coil will generate a magnetic field. Also, 81 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:12,159 Speaker 1: if you bring a coil of conductive wire within a 82 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:15,479 Speaker 1: magnetic field, that will induce a current to flow through 83 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:18,599 Speaker 1: that wire, at least briefly. A fluctuating magnetic field will 84 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:22,120 Speaker 1: cause it to do that repeatedly um and make a 85 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:25,359 Speaker 1: steady flow of current. Well, the magnetic field of the 86 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 1: electro magnet interacts with the magnetic field of the field magnet. 87 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: The north pole of the electro magnet gets repelled by 88 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,360 Speaker 1: the north pole of the field magnet, and the north 89 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:39,920 Speaker 1: pole of the electro magnet would be attracted to the 90 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 1: south pole of the field magnet. And since the rotor 91 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 1: can rotate, the armature will twist. As a result of 92 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:50,560 Speaker 1: this natural effect, the magnetic field creates a rotational motion 93 00:05:50,839 --> 00:05:56,000 Speaker 1: in the armature. Ah, you say, but what happens when 94 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 1: this twist is complete? I mean when in the north 95 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: and south poles of the two magnets just match up, 96 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 1: and thus your motor would just stop turning. I mean, 97 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:06,919 Speaker 1: the north pole of the electro magnet would be in 98 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:09,520 Speaker 1: in uh, you know, near the south pole of the 99 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:12,719 Speaker 1: field magnet, and then it would just stay there because 100 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 1: that's where the attraction is. So wouldn't it just lock 101 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:18,840 Speaker 1: into place, and wouldn't the wires get twisted up? So 102 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:21,200 Speaker 1: even if it did keep rotating, it would eventually have 103 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:25,000 Speaker 1: to stop. Anyway, Well, if all you had done is 104 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 1: rat to wire around a rotating you know, electro magnet 105 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:31,560 Speaker 1: and turned it on, then yes, it would stop. It 106 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:35,080 Speaker 1: wouldn't be able to continue rotating, or the wires would 107 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:38,839 Speaker 1: twist up and stop it that way, But you have 108 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:42,080 Speaker 1: to add in an extra element, and you get what 109 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:46,040 Speaker 1: most electric motors are based off of. And so this 110 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:49,120 Speaker 1: element is called a commutator. All right, Now, this is 111 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:51,760 Speaker 1: a little tricky to describe in an audio podcast, but 112 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:55,839 Speaker 1: stick with me. So imagine that you have a copper 113 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: band like a copper ring, but it's a wide band. 114 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:02,400 Speaker 1: Only we're not gonna put it on our finger and 115 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:05,760 Speaker 1: make it turn green. So instead, imagine that you've got 116 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:09,800 Speaker 1: this wide ring band ring and you cut it in half, 117 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:13,520 Speaker 1: so now you've got two half bands. And imagine that 118 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 1: you shave a bit off the ends of the bands 119 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:19,520 Speaker 1: or the half bands, so that they don't quite make 120 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:22,400 Speaker 1: a whole ring anymore when you bring them together. And 121 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:25,120 Speaker 1: then you take your armature, which is just the right 122 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:28,320 Speaker 1: diameter for these half bands to fit on the outside, 123 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 1: and you attach those half bands, so there's a little 124 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:36,280 Speaker 1: gap in between these half bands, but otherwise they are 125 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 1: clasping either side of this armature. Now, the electromagnetic wire 126 00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: is attached to those copper plates, which means the wire 127 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:50,280 Speaker 1: and the plates are all part of the same rotating piece. 128 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: They are not connected to the larger device, so they 129 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:58,040 Speaker 1: aren't going to get tangled up right because they're not 130 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:01,120 Speaker 1: actually making contact with any of the state actionary elements 131 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:05,800 Speaker 1: of the motor. The armature and commutator can rotate within 132 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:09,600 Speaker 1: this uh this motor and the motor itself has another 133 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:13,560 Speaker 1: piece called the brush. The brush is stationary. You can 134 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 1: think of that as an even larger ring that fits 135 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:21,080 Speaker 1: right around where the copper plates are, and it has 136 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:24,840 Speaker 1: elements that can reach out and brush those copper plates 137 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:28,440 Speaker 1: through which electric current can flow through. So when you 138 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 1: turn it on, electricity flows through the brush and then 139 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:36,360 Speaker 1: makes contact with these copper plates, which generates the current 140 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:40,000 Speaker 1: that goes through the electro magnet and then that generates 141 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:43,840 Speaker 1: a magnetic field, and thus it needs to turn because 142 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 1: of the field magnet. Now the current is of the 143 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:50,800 Speaker 1: direct current variety. This is the type of current that 144 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:54,200 Speaker 1: moves in one direction only. This is your basic electric motor. 145 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:56,520 Speaker 1: There are some that work with alternating current, but we're 146 00:08:56,559 --> 00:09:00,120 Speaker 1: specifically talking about d C here. So this is the 147 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:02,280 Speaker 1: type that comes from a battery. And as the current 148 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:06,240 Speaker 1: moves through the brush, the copper plates of the commutator 149 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:08,960 Speaker 1: transfer the electricity to the wire and the electro magnet 150 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:12,760 Speaker 1: that generates the magnetic field it interacts with the field 151 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:15,880 Speaker 1: of the permanent magnet. The armature rotates, but through this 152 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:21,800 Speaker 1: rotation the copper plates change positions, they flip, and you know, 153 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 1: it's not a full connected ring. There's that little gap 154 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:30,800 Speaker 1: in either side, so there's a moment where the plates 155 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:34,200 Speaker 1: are not making full contact with those sides of the brush. 156 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:38,360 Speaker 1: So when the commutator turns, this has the same effect 157 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:43,280 Speaker 1: as the direction of electricity changing. Because the orientation of 158 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:46,080 Speaker 1: the rest of the circuit has changed, the electricity is 159 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:48,040 Speaker 1: still flowing in the same direction that the effect of 160 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:51,080 Speaker 1: the circuit is as if it's an alternating current That 161 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:55,040 Speaker 1: means the magnetic pole of the electro magnet flips as well. 162 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:58,640 Speaker 1: That means the process will repeat itself because what used 163 00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:01,520 Speaker 1: to be the north pole of electro magnet is now 164 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:04,560 Speaker 1: the south pole, and the south pole is not going 165 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:07,000 Speaker 1: to get along with the south pole the field magnet. 166 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 1: It's gonna get repelled, so it again twists. That whole 167 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:16,280 Speaker 1: twisting rotating process repeats itself and again. As it continues 168 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:19,760 Speaker 1: to turn, the copper plates rotate and the direction of 169 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:24,199 Speaker 1: electricity switches again, and this happens over and over. The 170 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: poles of the electro magnet keep switching, and that ends 171 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:33,360 Speaker 1: up creating this magnetic force between the field magnet and 172 00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:38,200 Speaker 1: the electro magnet, and it perpetuates this rotational motion. So 173 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:42,120 Speaker 1: that's the basis of an electric motor. You essentially get 174 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:45,960 Speaker 1: a generator if you reverse this, where you're using the 175 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:50,280 Speaker 1: rotation of the different elements to generate electricity through the 176 00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:55,840 Speaker 1: conductive wire. But that's matter for another time. So an 177 00:10:55,880 --> 00:10:59,160 Speaker 1: electric hub motor is a motor that's mounted on the 178 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:02,680 Speaker 1: inside of the hub of a wheel. The motor is 179 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:06,400 Speaker 1: stationary with regards to the vehicle frame and the end 180 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:10,920 Speaker 1: of the rotor attaches to some element on the inside 181 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:13,880 Speaker 1: of the wheels hub, and the rotational force of the 182 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:16,320 Speaker 1: motor transfers to the inside of the wheels hub, so 183 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:19,120 Speaker 1: that the wheel of the vehicle begins to rotate. This 184 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:22,560 Speaker 1: is a type of direct drive motor and you frequently 185 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:25,520 Speaker 1: see it in stuff like electric bikes and e bike 186 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:30,120 Speaker 1: conversion kits. So Porsche was making vehicles that used motors 187 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:34,000 Speaker 1: that were inside the wheels of the vehicles themselves, and 188 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 1: this created the rotational force necessary to make those vehicles go, 189 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:41,600 Speaker 1: and he would raise them against other similarly designed vehicles 190 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:45,240 Speaker 1: in the late nineteenth century, and frequently he won. So 191 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:49,120 Speaker 1: Porsche then went on to join a company called hoff 192 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:53,800 Speaker 1: Vagen Fabric Jacob Loner and Company. And I apologize for 193 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:58,720 Speaker 1: my terrible pronunciation. This was part of the Austro Hungarian Army. 194 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:02,200 Speaker 1: The army itself own this company, and he was one 195 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 1: of the first employees in a brand new department within 196 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:09,119 Speaker 1: the company that developed electric cars. And at that department 197 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:12,760 Speaker 1: he developed a vehicle called the Sea Point to Phaeton, 198 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:17,800 Speaker 1: which he designed as the P one and P one. 199 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:21,839 Speaker 1: The P and P one stands for Porsche, so technically 200 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:25,199 Speaker 1: you could argue this was the first Porsche. It looks 201 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:27,440 Speaker 1: a bit like the type of carriage that you would 202 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:31,040 Speaker 1: typically see pulled behind a horse, except this one didn't 203 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:33,920 Speaker 1: need the horse. But yeah, you look at and you're like, oh, yeah, 204 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:36,960 Speaker 1: that looks kind of like a horse drawn carriage, just 205 00:12:37,679 --> 00:12:42,000 Speaker 1: there's no horse there. One interesting historical note about Ferdinand 206 00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:46,280 Speaker 1: Porsche involves another Ferdinand. This one would be the Archduke 207 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:51,280 Speaker 1: Franz Ferdinand of Austria. Back in nineteen o two, Porsche 208 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:54,160 Speaker 1: was drafted into army service, which was sort of a 209 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:57,400 Speaker 1: matter of course at the time, and he happened to 210 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:00,720 Speaker 1: serve as the chauffeur to the arched Duke for a 211 00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:05,560 Speaker 1: short while. This is the same Archduke who on June 212 00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:10,960 Speaker 1: nineteen fourteen was assassinated and his death precipitated World War One. 213 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:13,520 Speaker 1: And I know that sounds like a tangent for a 214 00:13:13,559 --> 00:13:16,120 Speaker 1: show about Volkswagen, but I would argue, there's actually a 215 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:18,800 Speaker 1: through line that we can apply with the benefit of hindsight. 216 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:22,559 Speaker 1: So let's get back to Porsche. After his service and 217 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:26,679 Speaker 1: after working for loner, Porsche switched companies again. He joined 218 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:30,440 Speaker 1: the Austro Daimelric company in nineteen o six. He worked 219 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:33,320 Speaker 1: there for nearly twenty years, and during World War One 220 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:37,240 Speaker 1: was part of engineering teams who developed aircraft engines for 221 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:42,199 Speaker 1: the Austrian Emperor, as well as heavy land vehicles designed 222 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:45,719 Speaker 1: to pull artillery. After the war, he would then join 223 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:49,760 Speaker 1: the Daimler Motor and Gazelle Shaft Company in Stuttgart in 224 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:53,360 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty three. He worked on many projects, including a 225 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:58,280 Speaker 1: Mercedes the introduced the supercharger. Uh. This is a mechanism 226 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:01,200 Speaker 1: that supplies high pressure air to the cylinders of a 227 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:05,240 Speaker 1: combustion engine in order to increase the efficiency of combustion 228 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:09,000 Speaker 1: to get a bigger bang, which is the secret to 229 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:12,959 Speaker 1: internal combustion engines. It's really a series of controlled explosions 230 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:16,680 Speaker 1: within cylinders that push out pistons. I'll talk more about 231 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:19,880 Speaker 1: that a little later in this episode. Porsche worked as 232 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:23,280 Speaker 1: a manager at Daimler for several years until nineteen thirty one. 233 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:28,400 Speaker 1: Then he would leave to found his own company named Porsche. Well, 234 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:32,520 Speaker 1: technically it had a much longer name, but I've butchered 235 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:35,000 Speaker 1: enough germantic pronunciation up to this point, so I'm not 236 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 1: going to try that one. Porsche's son, Ferdinand anton Erst Porsche, 237 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:44,920 Speaker 1: would work with him at this new company and his 238 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:48,000 Speaker 1: son would play an important part in developing the first Volkswagen. 239 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:51,840 Speaker 1: But something else would also play a pivotal part in 240 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:57,760 Speaker 1: this story, and that someone was Adolph Hitler. Hitler was 241 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:01,640 Speaker 1: Chancellor of Germany in nineteen thirty four and he issued 242 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:06,320 Speaker 1: a challenge to the automotive manufacturers in Germany. He wanted 243 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:09,840 Speaker 1: a German company to design a vehicle that could be 244 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:13,200 Speaker 1: mass produced easily and cheaply enough to be affordable to 245 00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:17,600 Speaker 1: the average family in Germany. Now, ideally, a German family 246 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:21,440 Speaker 1: consisting of a husband, wife and three children would be 247 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:24,120 Speaker 1: able to use such a car to travel throughout the 248 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:27,760 Speaker 1: country on the new Autobahn. The price of the car 249 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:32,160 Speaker 1: should be no more than nine hundred reich Mark that 250 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:35,560 Speaker 1: was the currency of the time, and a national savings 251 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:39,640 Speaker 1: plan was proposed that would allow citizens to put money 252 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:42,560 Speaker 1: toward the vehicle so they would be able to save money. 253 00:15:42,560 --> 00:15:45,520 Speaker 1: Specifically for one of these it was to be the 254 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:51,320 Speaker 1: People's car, thus the Volkswagen or Folkswagen you can think 255 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:54,640 Speaker 1: of that as folks Wagon. The father and son Porsche 256 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:58,680 Speaker 1: team decided to take the engineering challenge and to submit 257 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:02,600 Speaker 1: a design for consideration. So the two got to work. 258 00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:05,920 Speaker 1: They came up with an idea that would essentially be 259 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:10,160 Speaker 1: a a predecessor to the Volkswagen Beetle, and they submitted 260 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:13,840 Speaker 1: it to the German government. Their work earned them a contract. 261 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:17,920 Speaker 1: Hitler himself praised Porsche in n five at the German 262 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:22,360 Speaker 1: Auto Show, stating that the design met his vision for 263 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:26,320 Speaker 1: what a people's car would be and that the path 264 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:29,640 Speaker 1: had been laid to make that design a reality. This 265 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:32,480 Speaker 1: design would lead to the production of the first volks 266 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:37,800 Speaker 1: Folkswagen UH the Type one or Folkswagen Beetle. The curvy 267 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:40,640 Speaker 1: car which housed its engine in the back of the 268 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:43,680 Speaker 1: vehicle rather than under the hood in the front, would 269 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:48,320 Speaker 1: become a true icon. Porsche would get considerable support from 270 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:52,360 Speaker 1: the German government in order to manufacture this car. There 271 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:55,440 Speaker 1: was no manufacturing facility in Germany that was suitable for 272 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:57,760 Speaker 1: the task at that time, so they were gonna have 273 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:01,040 Speaker 1: to build a new one. And more over, the site 274 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:03,280 Speaker 1: for the factory needed to be in a location that 275 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:06,399 Speaker 1: was easily accessible. It had to be close to major 276 00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:09,760 Speaker 1: areas of transportation in order to get materials and then 277 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:12,760 Speaker 1: to ship cars back out when they were done. So, 278 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,359 Speaker 1: the team began to search for a suitable location, trying 279 00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:17,600 Speaker 1: to find one that would be accessible by boat through 280 00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:21,480 Speaker 1: a canal system, by vehicle via the Autobahn, and by 281 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:25,480 Speaker 1: railway lines. They settled on a location near a medieval 282 00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:29,760 Speaker 1: castle named Wolfsburg. They built not just a factory, but 283 00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:32,840 Speaker 1: an entire small city to support the people who would 284 00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:36,120 Speaker 1: be working in the factory, so it would include homes 285 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:42,320 Speaker 1: and later more insidious structures. Get to that. The name 286 00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:47,240 Speaker 1: of the city was originally Statt derk KDF Vaughan, or 287 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:52,440 Speaker 1: City of the KDF Car. KDF itself stood for craft 288 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:56,199 Speaker 1: Dutch Freudough, which means strength through joy, and it referred 289 00:17:56,240 --> 00:18:00,080 Speaker 1: to a Nazi organization that promoted a vision of wealthy 290 00:18:00,119 --> 00:18:04,919 Speaker 1: and advanced Germany. Things would not turn out to be 291 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:08,760 Speaker 1: strength through joy, however. I'll explain more in just a moment, 292 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:19,159 Speaker 1: but first let's take a quick break. Money to build 293 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:24,600 Speaker 1: out this manufacturing facility came largely from trade unions in Germany. 294 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:27,960 Speaker 1: The unions actually provided so much of the cash that 295 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:30,480 Speaker 1: was needed to get the factory up and running that 296 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:33,520 Speaker 1: to this day they still hold some sway in the company. 297 00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:38,320 Speaker 1: Union representatives still sit on the supervisory board for Volkswagen today, 298 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:41,040 Speaker 1: and the company is not allowed to just move production 299 00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:45,040 Speaker 1: from one plant to another without their express approval. First, 300 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:50,280 Speaker 1: the manufacturing facility itself got the name Volkswagen Plant, probably 301 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:53,680 Speaker 1: because Porsche didn't want to call it the Porsche Plant. Now, 302 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:57,480 Speaker 1: as the facility was being built, things were changing rapidly 303 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:01,440 Speaker 1: in Germany. The Nazi Party essentially took over the unions 304 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:04,480 Speaker 1: and made them part of the German Labor Front, the 305 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:08,040 Speaker 1: party's own union organization, and it was under this version 306 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:11,440 Speaker 1: of Germany's unions that Volkswagen the company would come into being. 307 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:15,320 Speaker 1: Germany would also start to invade other countries in Europe, 308 00:19:15,359 --> 00:19:19,000 Speaker 1: and World War Two happened as a result of that. Now, 309 00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:21,760 Speaker 1: due to all these changes, the facility would actually produce 310 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:26,600 Speaker 1: relatively few cars, rather than the mass produced vehicles that 311 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:30,400 Speaker 1: had been envisioned for every German family throughout the country. 312 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:33,080 Speaker 1: It would actually end up building fewer than seven hundred 313 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:37,280 Speaker 1: Volkswagen Beetles before World War Two really started to ramp up. 314 00:19:37,760 --> 00:19:41,240 Speaker 1: Most of those would end up going to influential German families, 315 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:45,119 Speaker 1: particularly members of the Nazi Party, um not the common 316 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:49,919 Speaker 1: German resident. Hitler notably received the first convertible off the 317 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:54,320 Speaker 1: manufacturing floor. The savings plan that had been proposed, the 318 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:57,040 Speaker 1: one that promised to give the average German a chance 319 00:19:57,080 --> 00:20:00,159 Speaker 1: at owning a vehicle of his or her own, was 320 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:03,440 Speaker 1: pretty much out the window as the company shut down 321 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:07,640 Speaker 1: all of civilian production during the war. Most of Volkswagen's 322 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:12,520 Speaker 1: plants assets were actually directed towards producing equipment and munitions 323 00:20:12,560 --> 00:20:15,479 Speaker 1: for the German armed forces in support of the Access 324 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:19,000 Speaker 1: Powers during the war, and that included stuff like land 325 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:23,680 Speaker 1: mines and tank parts. Also, something that absolutely should not 326 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:27,520 Speaker 1: be forgotten that we have to address is that much 327 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:31,720 Speaker 1: of the labor at this facility was forced labor. In fact, 328 00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:36,680 Speaker 1: a lot of the early workforce came from Soviet prisoners 329 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:41,200 Speaker 1: of war who were forced to work at Volkswagen's manufacturing facility. 330 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:43,920 Speaker 1: Over time, the company would put other prisoners of war, 331 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:49,000 Speaker 1: also displaced people essentially kidnapped people from Eastern Europe, and 332 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:52,960 Speaker 1: concentration camp inmates all to work at the facility. The 333 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:56,399 Speaker 1: site became home to a concentration camp called our Bites 334 00:20:56,440 --> 00:21:00,440 Speaker 1: Dworff in nineteen forty two. Ultimately, three more con centration 335 00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:04,640 Speaker 1: camps would be added to the campus and eight forced 336 00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:08,480 Speaker 1: labor camps as well. As the war progressed. At one point, 337 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:12,159 Speaker 1: forced labor made up sixty percent of the total workforce 338 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:16,160 Speaker 1: for the company, so it's impossible to describe the labor 339 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:20,000 Speaker 1: practices of Volkswagen as anything other than deplorable during this time. 340 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:22,720 Speaker 1: It would also be a part of Volkswagen's history that 341 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:27,360 Speaker 1: the company avoided acknowledging officially for many decades. It would 342 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:30,840 Speaker 1: eventually make reparations for this, but it would be many 343 00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:34,680 Speaker 1: decades before that would actually happen. The plant did manufacture 344 00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:38,440 Speaker 1: a couple of different cars specifically for military use during 345 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:41,560 Speaker 1: this time. The first became known as the kuble Wagan, 346 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:45,679 Speaker 1: which means bucket seat car. It was essentially the German 347 00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:50,000 Speaker 1: counterpart to the US general purpose military vehicle a k a. 348 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:53,640 Speaker 1: The Jeep. Now that's not to say that the kuble 349 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:56,840 Speaker 1: Wagon and the Jeep were similar. They were actually very 350 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:00,440 Speaker 1: different in lots of different ways, but they were each 351 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:05,080 Speaker 1: intended to serve a similar purpose, namely, moving people too 352 00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:12,040 Speaker 1: difficult to reach destinations over rough terrain, often in battle situations. Initially, 353 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:15,439 Speaker 1: officers in the armed forces in Germany were at odds 354 00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:18,199 Speaker 1: of whether or not they should even implement the kuble Wagon, 355 00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:21,360 Speaker 1: but that prompted Hitler himself to step in and demand 356 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:25,040 Speaker 1: Porsche's vehicle be put into use. Also, it was in 357 00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:28,800 Speaker 1: many ways of variation on the Volkswagen Beetle. Although Porsche 358 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,640 Speaker 1: would work with other designers to solve problems like reducing 359 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:35,160 Speaker 1: the weight of the vehicle while still achieving the performance 360 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:39,320 Speaker 1: that the military was demanding, the kubel Wagen was a 361 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:43,880 Speaker 1: really lightweight vehicle and that was mandated by the German government. 362 00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:47,199 Speaker 1: It was one of the requirements. The most common version 363 00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:50,800 Speaker 1: of this vehicle did not have four wheel drive, but 364 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:54,760 Speaker 1: it did have a limited slip differential. So what what 365 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:59,600 Speaker 1: the heck is that? Alright? So a differential is a 366 00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:03,800 Speaker 1: gear assembly, and its purpose is to allow one wheel 367 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:07,080 Speaker 1: on an axle to turn at a different speed than 368 00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:09,800 Speaker 1: the other wheel on the axle. So you've got these 369 00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:12,320 Speaker 1: two wheels. They're on the same axle, but you want 370 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:14,840 Speaker 1: them to be able to rotate at different speeds. Now, 371 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:17,640 Speaker 1: if you're someone like me who doesn't know a ton 372 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:20,520 Speaker 1: about cars, you might ask, why the heck would you 373 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:23,040 Speaker 1: want two wheels on the same axle to turn at 374 00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:28,320 Speaker 1: different speeds? And the answer is physics. Use silly person. Okay, So, 375 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:30,920 Speaker 1: if you're traveling in a straight line. You know you're 376 00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:33,280 Speaker 1: on level ground, You're just going down a straight road. 377 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:36,159 Speaker 1: You wouldn't want your wheels turning at different speeds. That 378 00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:39,120 Speaker 1: would be kind of disastrous. You want them all rotating 379 00:23:39,119 --> 00:23:42,320 Speaker 1: it essentially the same speed as you go down the road. 380 00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:45,919 Speaker 1: But of course roads are not perfectly straight. They have 381 00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:48,240 Speaker 1: curves that you have to navigate, and this is where 382 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:52,800 Speaker 1: a differential is important. See a four wheeled vehicle, if 383 00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:54,800 Speaker 1: you've got one of those, If you got driving a 384 00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:57,280 Speaker 1: standard car, that means two wheels are going to be 385 00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:00,719 Speaker 1: on the inside of any given curve, and two wheels 386 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: are going to be on the outside of any given curve, 387 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:06,399 Speaker 1: and the wheels on the inside have to travel a 388 00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:10,000 Speaker 1: shorter distance than the wheels on the outside. Right, the 389 00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:12,920 Speaker 1: further out from the middle of the curve you get, 390 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:15,159 Speaker 1: the greater the distance you're going to cover in the 391 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:17,480 Speaker 1: same amount of time, which means the wheels on the 392 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:20,560 Speaker 1: outside curve would need to rotate faster than those on 393 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:23,240 Speaker 1: the inside in order to make a smooth turn. Otherwise 394 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:26,239 Speaker 1: you would have an enormous amount of tension build up 395 00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:28,960 Speaker 1: on that outside wheel and you would either get some 396 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:32,440 Speaker 1: skipping with the wheel or the axle itself would break 397 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:38,400 Speaker 1: apart from the pressure the incredible tension that was being 398 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:43,119 Speaker 1: built up. So differentials allow wheels to spin at different 399 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:46,159 Speaker 1: rotational speeds, and they do this with a series of 400 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:51,200 Speaker 1: interlocking gears, and open differential is the simplest form of this, 401 00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:54,720 Speaker 1: and it supplies an equal amount of torque or rotational 402 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,879 Speaker 1: force to each of the wheels on an axle. But 403 00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:00,720 Speaker 1: that can sometimes be a problem particul sularly if you're 404 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:03,560 Speaker 1: working with an off road vehicle like the Kuble Wagon. 405 00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:06,920 Speaker 1: Those vehicles can sometimes end up in places where one 406 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:09,399 Speaker 1: of the wheels on an axle has little to no 407 00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:12,720 Speaker 1: contact with the ground. And if that happens to be 408 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:15,720 Speaker 1: one of the wheels that's actually you know, connected to 409 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:19,159 Speaker 1: that drive train. Because remember it's a two wheel drive vehicle. 410 00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:22,359 Speaker 1: Only the front or back wheels are connected to one another. 411 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:25,000 Speaker 1: The other two wheels are independent of each other. In 412 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:27,359 Speaker 1: the case of the Kuble Wagon, it's the rear wheels. 413 00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:30,520 Speaker 1: It was another real rear wheel drive vehicle. But if 414 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:33,159 Speaker 1: you have one of those two rear wheels up in 415 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:35,879 Speaker 1: the air, it's just gonna spin, right. If it's just 416 00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:39,240 Speaker 1: an open differential, that torque is still being applied to it, 417 00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:42,800 Speaker 1: it's spinning and that energy is going to waste. Limited 418 00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:45,879 Speaker 1: slip differentials allow a car to apply more torque to 419 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,920 Speaker 1: a non slipping wheel. So if one wheel is spinning 420 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:52,560 Speaker 1: more or less freely, then more torque can go to 421 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:57,320 Speaker 1: the wheel that has greater traction and potentially dislodge the 422 00:25:57,440 --> 00:26:00,920 Speaker 1: vehicle from whatever position it's stuck in. Not to describe 423 00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:03,679 Speaker 1: it in further detail would be pretty tricky for an 424 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:07,480 Speaker 1: audio podcast, so instead, I recommend you look up how 425 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:10,960 Speaker 1: differentials work on how stuff Works dot com. That's my 426 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:15,959 Speaker 1: old employer. I don't have any association with them anymore, 427 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:19,400 Speaker 1: but I still love that website. It's still an amazing 428 00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:22,480 Speaker 1: resource and it does a great job at describing how 429 00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:27,040 Speaker 1: differentials work and gives illustrations and explains in greater details. 430 00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:29,480 Speaker 1: So go check that out. But for our episode, the 431 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:32,160 Speaker 1: important thing to note is that the limited slip differential 432 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:35,360 Speaker 1: allowed the lightweight Kuble Wagon to perform nearly as well 433 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:40,000 Speaker 1: as the four wheel drive vehicles could in off road situations. Now, 434 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:43,119 Speaker 1: there were a few of these produced that did have 435 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:46,879 Speaker 1: four wheel drive, but in general, Porsche found that the 436 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:50,000 Speaker 1: process of creating a four wheel drive Kuble wagon was 437 00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:53,800 Speaker 1: pretty expensive and it was hard to justify because you 438 00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:57,879 Speaker 1: only got relatively minor improvements in performance capability. So, in 439 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:01,800 Speaker 1: other words, the the hay out was less than the 440 00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:04,840 Speaker 1: investment you were putting in, so very few were actually 441 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:08,679 Speaker 1: made that were four wheel drive vehicles. The Volkswagen Company 442 00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:12,120 Speaker 1: would design and produce another military vehicle during World War 443 00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:16,360 Speaker 1: Two called the schvim Wagan, which, as the name probably 444 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:20,320 Speaker 1: hints to you, was an amphibious vehicle, meaning it could 445 00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:23,560 Speaker 1: go from land to water and water to land. At first, 446 00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:26,399 Speaker 1: the company tried to rely upon the Kobo Wagan's body 447 00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:31,320 Speaker 1: as the basis for this vehicle, but designer Irvin Kommenda 448 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:35,160 Speaker 1: found that the chassis was hindering the vehicle's movement through water. 449 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:39,800 Speaker 1: It just wasn't working. The Swimwagan would get a different 450 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:44,080 Speaker 1: kind of vehicle body that actually look more like a 451 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:47,120 Speaker 1: boat or honestly, I think if you were to pull 452 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:49,960 Speaker 1: the top off a Schwemwagan, it would look like you 453 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:53,280 Speaker 1: were left with a bathtub on wheels. The schvim Wagan 454 00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:56,119 Speaker 1: had a propeller that was on the back of the 455 00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:59,120 Speaker 1: vehicle as well. It was actually on a hinge, so 456 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:01,199 Speaker 1: you can have it flipped up when it was just 457 00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:03,840 Speaker 1: in regular land use mode, and then when you went 458 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:06,879 Speaker 1: into the water, you could flip down the propeller and 459 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:10,520 Speaker 1: it would engage in an extension to the vehicle's drive train, 460 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:13,399 Speaker 1: and the drive train would provide the rotational power to 461 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:16,439 Speaker 1: the propeller. It could only go forward. You could not 462 00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:20,920 Speaker 1: move the propeller in reverse. And that is why Germany 463 00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:27,480 Speaker 1: issued oars to Schwimwagan drivers or pilots or captains or 464 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:30,960 Speaker 1: whatever they were called. Anyway, they got oars as well 465 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,120 Speaker 1: in case they ever had to go backwards. In y one, 466 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:39,320 Speaker 1: Ferdinand Porsche's son in law, Anton pH became the manager 467 00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:44,080 Speaker 1: of the Volkswagen factory, and he had been a member 468 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:47,240 Speaker 1: of the Nazi Party since nineteen thirty three. He would 469 00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:51,000 Speaker 1: actually end up being inducted into the s S before 470 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:53,320 Speaker 1: the end of World War Two. He was in charge 471 00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:57,200 Speaker 1: of the Volkswagen Facility uh And and most of the 472 00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:00,000 Speaker 1: operations that saw the company make use of forced labor 473 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:03,040 Speaker 1: and the construction of concentration camps. He was also the 474 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,440 Speaker 1: head of a group of reserve soldiers who worked for Volkswagen, 475 00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:10,800 Speaker 1: and when Allied forces made their way into Germany towards 476 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:13,400 Speaker 1: the end of World War Two, he would command the 477 00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:17,360 Speaker 1: soldiers and he also ultimately fled to his father in 478 00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:22,560 Speaker 1: law's estate, Ferdinand Porsche's estate in Austria UH. In the process, 479 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:26,960 Speaker 1: he also made sure to transfer about one point four 480 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:31,520 Speaker 1: million dollars worth of reich Mark from the company Coffers 481 00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:34,320 Speaker 1: to his own personal accounts. At the end of World 482 00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:39,000 Speaker 1: War Two, both Fernand Porsche and his son Faery Porsche 483 00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:43,040 Speaker 1: Uh that's you know, the other Ferdinand Porsche, as well 484 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:48,120 Speaker 1: as Anton Pish were arrested and held by French authorities. 485 00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:52,640 Speaker 1: Fairy was released after six months, so Porsche the younger 486 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:55,640 Speaker 1: was let out after half a year. But Porsche the 487 00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:59,080 Speaker 1: elder and Anton were a different story. They were in 488 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:02,800 Speaker 1: prison for about two years but were ultimately set free. 489 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:07,200 Speaker 1: As well. As for the manufacturing facility, much of it 490 00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:10,719 Speaker 1: was destroyed during World War Two. The fact that it 491 00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:13,880 Speaker 1: was a manufacturing center that played an important role in 492 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:18,120 Speaker 1: producing material for German forces meant it was also a 493 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:22,280 Speaker 1: prime bombing target for the Allies. After the war, the 494 00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:25,600 Speaker 1: British took control of the facility and they had the 495 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:31,440 Speaker 1: opportunity to essentially liquidate everything, sell off everything, but instead 496 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:36,280 Speaker 1: they decided to reconstruct the facility. They decided that the 497 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:40,560 Speaker 1: vehicles themselves had value. A British Army officer named Major 498 00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:44,560 Speaker 1: Ivan Hurst was in charge of this operation. He was 499 00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:49,120 Speaker 1: the one who was convinced that the Volkswagen Type one 500 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:54,680 Speaker 1: or Beatle had real value. First, however, he had a 501 00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:59,960 Speaker 1: small matter of disarming an unexploded bomb that had broke 502 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,400 Speaker 1: and through the roof of the manufacturing plant and was 503 00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:08,160 Speaker 1: stuck between production equipment, So that was scary. The facility 504 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:10,480 Speaker 1: would get a new name, and by that I mean 505 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:13,440 Speaker 1: it was actually an old name. It became known as 506 00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:19,600 Speaker 1: Volksburg or Wolfsburg, after the nearby medieval castle. Hurst lobbied 507 00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:22,960 Speaker 1: for the British government to order twenty thousand of the 508 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:28,440 Speaker 1: Volkswagen Type one two uh end up using them in 509 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:32,280 Speaker 1: various official capacities, and the government ultimately agreed. By the 510 00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:34,960 Speaker 1: end of nineteen forty five, the factory had made around 511 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:38,440 Speaker 1: seventeen hundred of the cars and it was starting to 512 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:43,400 Speaker 1: ramp up production slowly. By nine the plant was finally 513 00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:46,560 Speaker 1: mass producing the vehicle for which it had been intended, 514 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:50,080 Speaker 1: the Volkswagen Beetle or Type one. The British would hand 515 00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:52,840 Speaker 1: over control of the company to the government of West 516 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:57,120 Speaker 1: Germany in nineteen forty nine. For the younger folks out 517 00:31:57,160 --> 00:32:00,000 Speaker 1: there in the audience, Germany at one point was split 518 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:04,080 Speaker 1: it into two countries. For many decades you had East Germany, 519 00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:07,800 Speaker 1: which was a communist country and West Germany, which wasn't. 520 00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:11,400 Speaker 1: And the company would pay a licensing fee to the 521 00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:15,720 Speaker 1: Porsche Company for the rights to produce the Type one 522 00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:19,360 Speaker 1: or Beetle. The two companies, Volkswagen and Porsche would be 523 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:23,600 Speaker 1: linked together through a relationship that's frankly so legally complicated. 524 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:26,440 Speaker 1: I really can't get a grip on it, but they 525 00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:31,760 Speaker 1: would remain linked for up to today. So let's talk 526 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:36,000 Speaker 1: about the Volkswagen Beetle a little bit. So the car 527 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:39,400 Speaker 1: would become a true staple in Germany. In fact, by 528 00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:43,640 Speaker 1: nine more than half of all the passenger cars produced 529 00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:47,960 Speaker 1: in Germany were Volkswagen Beetles. The cars were truly iconic. 530 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:50,440 Speaker 1: There was even a series of Disney films in which 531 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:53,600 Speaker 1: a Volkswagen Beetle was the title character that would be 532 00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:56,880 Speaker 1: Herbie the love Bug, and the word bug was often 533 00:32:57,000 --> 00:33:00,320 Speaker 1: used as a nickname for the VW Beetle as well. Now, 534 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:04,600 Speaker 1: the Beetle has a pretty distinctive curvy, almost bulbous shape, 535 00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:09,600 Speaker 1: but not that distinctive. What I mean by that is 536 00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:12,640 Speaker 1: that before the VW Beetle, there was actually a car 537 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:16,880 Speaker 1: called the Tatra V five seventy. It was produced by 538 00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:22,400 Speaker 1: a check automaker named Hans Ledvinka, and the VW Beetle 539 00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:26,360 Speaker 1: didn't just look a little like the older Tatra V 540 00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:28,320 Speaker 1: five seventy. It looked a lot like it, and it 541 00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:32,560 Speaker 1: also featured some of the same engineering innovations. Like the Tatra. 542 00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:35,880 Speaker 1: The Beetle had a rear mounted and air cooled engine, 543 00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:40,560 Speaker 1: and Porsche himself essentially admitted to lifting some design ideas 544 00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:43,840 Speaker 1: from the Tatra vehicle. Before World War two broke out, 545 00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:48,240 Speaker 1: Tatra was bringing a lawsuit against Porsche because of this, 546 00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:54,719 Speaker 1: but then Germany invaded Czechoslovakia or what was then Czechoslovakia, 547 00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:57,680 Speaker 1: and that brought all the lawsuits to an end. Once 548 00:33:57,680 --> 00:34:00,080 Speaker 1: World War two was over, the matter was revisited it 549 00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:03,840 Speaker 1: and ultimately Volkswagen would pay a few million Deutsche marks 550 00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:08,880 Speaker 1: to Tatra income compensation for the use of intellectual property. 551 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:12,280 Speaker 1: Let's say the financial setback is part of the reason 552 00:34:12,480 --> 00:34:15,839 Speaker 1: that Volkswagen kept producing the Beetle for as long as 553 00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:18,359 Speaker 1: it did. It remained on the market and in the 554 00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:21,480 Speaker 1: production line for so long because the company literally couldn't 555 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:24,680 Speaker 1: afford to design a lot of new vehicles, and so 556 00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:28,560 Speaker 1: the Beetle would remain in production longer than you typically 557 00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:31,960 Speaker 1: would see a car be in production. And when we 558 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:34,440 Speaker 1: come back, I'll talk more about the Beetle and it's 559 00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:45,200 Speaker 1: design features, but first let's take another quick break. Okay, 560 00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:50,319 Speaker 1: So the engine in a Volkswagen Beetle, the Volkswagen Type one, 561 00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:55,000 Speaker 1: is a type called a flat four air cooled engine. 562 00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:58,160 Speaker 1: So what the heck does that mean? Well, let's start 563 00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:01,719 Speaker 1: with the flat four. Now, that essentially refers to the 564 00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:06,279 Speaker 1: arrangement of the cylinders for this internal combustion engine. The 565 00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:09,560 Speaker 1: cylinders are where a mixture of fuel and air get 566 00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:14,120 Speaker 1: compressed before a spark plug ignites that mixture and that 567 00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:18,959 Speaker 1: creates the explosion that forces the piston that's that's compressing 568 00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:24,160 Speaker 1: this gas back out to the far end of its stroke. 569 00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:28,440 Speaker 1: This motion, in turn, provides the force that turns a crankshaft. 570 00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:31,040 Speaker 1: Now I've covered the basics of car engines before, so 571 00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:33,600 Speaker 1: I'm not going to go into much further detail here. 572 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:37,359 Speaker 1: But the cylinders are where explosive force gets harnessed into 573 00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:40,799 Speaker 1: doing useful work of making a vehicle go. In a 574 00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:45,240 Speaker 1: typical engine, like an inline engine, the cylinders are arranged 575 00:35:45,239 --> 00:35:46,960 Speaker 1: so that if you were looking at the engine as 576 00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:49,360 Speaker 1: it was mounted in the car, everything is vertical. The 577 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:51,840 Speaker 1: cylinders are up and down. The pistons move up and 578 00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:55,600 Speaker 1: down according to your frame of reference. So again that's 579 00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:59,640 Speaker 1: called an inline or straight internal combustion engine with the 580 00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:03,760 Speaker 1: four or however many cylinders in line with one another. 581 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:07,879 Speaker 1: But the Volkswagen Beetles engine is a flat four. Now 582 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:11,360 Speaker 1: that means the cylinders are in a horizontal position. You 583 00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:15,000 Speaker 1: have two on either side of the center of the engine, 584 00:36:15,239 --> 00:36:17,960 Speaker 1: so you have two cylinders that are essentially pointing to 585 00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:20,799 Speaker 1: the left and two that are pointing to the right, 586 00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:24,960 Speaker 1: and the pistons in the cylinders opposite each other move 587 00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:28,880 Speaker 1: in sync at least with the Volkswagen's engine. So the 588 00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:32,240 Speaker 1: piston in the cylinders closest to the front of the engine, 589 00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:34,240 Speaker 1: like if you were looking at the engine from the front, 590 00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:36,960 Speaker 1: the two cylinders on the cylinder on the left and 591 00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:39,719 Speaker 1: right that are closest to you, those pistons would be 592 00:36:39,719 --> 00:36:43,879 Speaker 1: moving in and out in sync with one another. So 593 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:46,359 Speaker 1: not alternating, they would be doing it together. They'd both 594 00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:48,400 Speaker 1: be coming in and both be moving out at the 595 00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:53,759 Speaker 1: same time through each cycle. The two cylinders behind that, 596 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:56,640 Speaker 1: the ones that are towards the back of the engine 597 00:36:56,640 --> 00:36:59,480 Speaker 1: from your frame of reference, would also be moving in 598 00:36:59,560 --> 00:37:04,040 Speaker 1: sync with each other. Now, the front cylinders and the 599 00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:07,479 Speaker 1: back cylinders would alternate, so the left and right would 600 00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:10,680 Speaker 1: be going in while the left and right in the 601 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:14,680 Speaker 1: back would be going out. Uh, that's the way they 602 00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:19,520 Speaker 1: would alternate from your perspective. But otherwise you I hope 603 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:21,960 Speaker 1: you can kind of visualize what I'm saying. And the 604 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:24,080 Speaker 1: whole point of this is that the motion of the 605 00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:27,080 Speaker 1: cylinders or the motion of the pistons really are what 606 00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:31,600 Speaker 1: transfer energy to the crank shaft and power the drive train. Now, 607 00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:33,920 Speaker 1: as for the air cooled part of this air cooled 608 00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:37,880 Speaker 1: you know, four flat engine, Well, cooling an engine is 609 00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:40,560 Speaker 1: really important because, as you might imagine, if you have 610 00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:46,000 Speaker 1: a machine that relies upon harnessing explosions, that machine can 611 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:48,880 Speaker 1: get pretty hot, and as things heat up, they can 612 00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:54,280 Speaker 1: expand or even fail Outright, So stuff gets hot beyond 613 00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:58,360 Speaker 1: whatever the operational tolerances, and then you've got a mechanical 614 00:37:58,400 --> 00:38:00,520 Speaker 1: failure just waiting to happen. So you have to have 615 00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:03,800 Speaker 1: some way to pull that heat away from the engine 616 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:06,719 Speaker 1: and to keep the engine at operational levels. There are 617 00:38:06,719 --> 00:38:08,919 Speaker 1: a couple of different ways to do this, and air 618 00:38:09,040 --> 00:38:13,280 Speaker 1: cooled is probably the most basic method of doing it. Typically, 619 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:18,400 Speaker 1: the engine casing has some fins that emerge from it. 620 00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:21,600 Speaker 1: These fins create a lot of surface area, so heat 621 00:38:21,920 --> 00:38:25,520 Speaker 1: moves from the engine out towards the fins, and then 622 00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:28,480 Speaker 1: air passes over those fins, and as the air passes 623 00:38:28,520 --> 00:38:30,800 Speaker 1: over it starts to take away some of that heat, 624 00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:33,960 Speaker 1: allowing the heat to dissipate. Most of your heat is 625 00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:37,200 Speaker 1: actually lost through exhaust, not through the fins, but the 626 00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:42,799 Speaker 1: fins do provide additional means to dissipate heat from the engine. Now, 627 00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:46,520 Speaker 1: this works pretty well for smaller engines uh and it 628 00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:49,680 Speaker 1: can even work in larger engines if those are vehicles 629 00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:52,600 Speaker 1: that are being operated in cold climates. So let's say 630 00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:55,920 Speaker 1: that you add a really big snowplow, Well, you might 631 00:38:55,960 --> 00:38:59,080 Speaker 1: have an engine that's air cooled, because presumably you're only 632 00:38:59,120 --> 00:39:02,400 Speaker 1: operating the snow plow when it's cold, when it's snowed. 633 00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:06,640 Speaker 1: Lots of motorcycles used this type of engine cooling method, 634 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:09,600 Speaker 1: though more and more are moving more towards you know, 635 00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:13,720 Speaker 1: liquid cooling mechanisms as a port posed to air cooling anyway. 636 00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:18,320 Speaker 1: The engine for the Type one Volkswagens, the original version, 637 00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:22,120 Speaker 1: was an eleven hundred c C engine. Now c C 638 00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:26,440 Speaker 1: stands for cubic centimeter and it describes the volume or 639 00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:30,799 Speaker 1: capacity of an engine. It's also sometimes called engine displacement 640 00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:34,080 Speaker 1: because it specifically is referring to the volume of space 641 00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:39,279 Speaker 1: that the pistons within the cylinders are displacing, and you 642 00:39:39,320 --> 00:39:43,399 Speaker 1: measure it by going from the top dead center as 643 00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:47,840 Speaker 1: in the furthest out a piston gets from the interior 644 00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:52,160 Speaker 1: of its cylinder to the bottom dead center, the full 645 00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:56,840 Speaker 1: extent of the piston extending down into the cylinder, and 646 00:39:56,920 --> 00:40:01,360 Speaker 1: that tells you the volume of your engine. And you 647 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:04,640 Speaker 1: also have to do that with all the cylinders, like 648 00:40:04,680 --> 00:40:07,200 Speaker 1: you have to you have to add up all the 649 00:40:07,239 --> 00:40:10,799 Speaker 1: cylinders together to get the full volume. So that would 650 00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:14,120 Speaker 1: mean that the Volkswagen Type one that with the original 651 00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:17,359 Speaker 1: engine would have cylinders that each had displacement of two 652 00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:21,640 Speaker 1: hundred seventy five cubic centimeters because it had four cylinders 653 00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:25,239 Speaker 1: and four times to seventy five eleven hundred. Now, we 654 00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:28,200 Speaker 1: in the United States often refer to engine displacement in 655 00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:32,960 Speaker 1: leaders as opposed to cubic centimeters. So how does that translate. Well, roughly, 656 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:35,880 Speaker 1: you can say that a one thousand cc engine is 657 00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:38,600 Speaker 1: one leader, So in this case, you could say an 658 00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:41,719 Speaker 1: eleven hundred cc engine would be equivalent to a one 659 00:40:41,800 --> 00:40:46,360 Speaker 1: point one leader engine. Engine capacity plays a role in 660 00:40:46,400 --> 00:40:52,680 Speaker 1: an engine's outputs, such as torque, power, and mileage. Generally speaking, 661 00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:56,040 Speaker 1: the power output of an engine is directly proportional to 662 00:40:56,080 --> 00:41:00,120 Speaker 1: its engine capacity or volume. But the bigger volume, the 663 00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:02,919 Speaker 1: more fuel the engine will burn through in a given 664 00:41:02,920 --> 00:41:06,520 Speaker 1: amount of time. So mileage tends to suffer as engine 665 00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:09,319 Speaker 1: volume increases. It's a bit of a balance, and there 666 00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:13,000 Speaker 1: are different technologies that help mitigate that in different ways. 667 00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:17,440 Speaker 1: But again that's another episode. So the Volkswagen Beetles engine, 668 00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:20,759 Speaker 1: the original version wasn't much of a powerhouse, but the 669 00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:24,200 Speaker 1: car itself was small and UH didn't need a whole 670 00:41:24,239 --> 00:41:27,479 Speaker 1: lot of power to to have it put around. The 671 00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:32,200 Speaker 1: original version was a twenty five horsepower engine, and horse 672 00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:34,439 Speaker 1: power is a measurement of the rate at which work 673 00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:37,239 Speaker 1: is done. UH it compares the amount of work and 674 00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:40,080 Speaker 1: engine is capable of doing against the amount of work 675 00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:42,880 Speaker 1: a typical draft horse could do. Have to do a 676 00:41:42,880 --> 00:41:45,600 Speaker 1: full episode to explain stuff like horsepower at some point too, 677 00:41:45,640 --> 00:41:48,920 Speaker 1: I suppose. But the engine's output could push the original 678 00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:51,800 Speaker 1: Beetle up to a top speed of around a hundred 679 00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:56,360 Speaker 1: kilometers per hour, which was one of Hitler's goals, and 680 00:41:56,480 --> 00:41:59,839 Speaker 1: that's about sixty two miles per hour. It would take 681 00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:03,560 Speaker 1: about half a minute to accelerate from a full stop 682 00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:08,920 Speaker 1: to top speed, so it wasn't exactly a speed demon now. 683 00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:12,440 Speaker 1: As I've mentioned earlier, the Beatles engine mounting was in 684 00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:15,560 Speaker 1: the rear of the vehicle, not the front where you 685 00:42:15,560 --> 00:42:18,279 Speaker 1: would find it in most cars. The Beetle was a 686 00:42:18,360 --> 00:42:20,680 Speaker 1: rear wheel drive vehicle as well, so that means the 687 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:23,680 Speaker 1: back two wheels were the ones getting power. They're actually 688 00:42:23,680 --> 00:42:27,040 Speaker 1: getting rotational force. The engine provided the force needed to 689 00:42:27,040 --> 00:42:28,919 Speaker 1: turn those back wheels of the car, and the front 690 00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:31,840 Speaker 1: of the car, where the engine would be in most vehicles, 691 00:42:32,239 --> 00:42:35,240 Speaker 1: was used to store luggage. That was what would normally 692 00:42:35,239 --> 00:42:38,960 Speaker 1: be the trunk or boot of a standard car. There 693 00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:42,320 Speaker 1: was also a small area for luggage and other stuff 694 00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:45,040 Speaker 1: behind the back seat in the in the car, not 695 00:42:45,120 --> 00:42:47,279 Speaker 1: a whole lot of space, but a little bit. The 696 00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:51,960 Speaker 1: original Beetle was also called the split screen Beetle because 697 00:42:52,160 --> 00:42:55,200 Speaker 1: the rear windshield of these original Beetles that rolled off 698 00:42:55,239 --> 00:42:59,920 Speaker 1: the assembly line back in nineteen were actually two panel 699 00:43:00,200 --> 00:43:02,920 Speaker 1: that were split by the windshield frame itself, so you 700 00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:05,640 Speaker 1: had a little, you know, strip of metal right down 701 00:43:05,719 --> 00:43:08,480 Speaker 1: the middle of the windshield holding these two frames in place. 702 00:43:09,200 --> 00:43:12,920 Speaker 1: After nineteen fifty three, the company ditched the split backwind 703 00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:16,040 Speaker 1: shield design, and the cars from nineteen fifty three to 704 00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:20,719 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty six had an oval shaped wind shield, and 705 00:43:20,719 --> 00:43:23,319 Speaker 1: then the ones after nineteen fifty six went to a 706 00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:27,800 Speaker 1: larger rectangular windshield for the back. That became the standard 707 00:43:27,960 --> 00:43:32,080 Speaker 1: from that point moving forward. There were several variations of 708 00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:35,480 Speaker 1: the Volkswagen Type one. One of them didn't see much 709 00:43:35,560 --> 00:43:40,160 Speaker 1: widespread use, but it was a necessity during wartime, and 710 00:43:40,239 --> 00:43:43,640 Speaker 1: that was a wood burning Volkswagen. It's a type of 711 00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:48,040 Speaker 1: producer gas car. This type of car would use wood 712 00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:51,280 Speaker 1: and would heat the wood up to very high temperatures 713 00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:54,960 Speaker 1: like around fourteen hundred degrees celsius or two thousand, five 714 00:43:55,040 --> 00:43:58,800 Speaker 1: hundred fifty degrees fahrenheit. And at that temperature, the wood 715 00:43:58,840 --> 00:44:03,319 Speaker 1: decomposes to a combustible gas. That combustible gas would be 716 00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:08,000 Speaker 1: fed into the car's cylinders much like a conventional petrol 717 00:44:08,640 --> 00:44:12,440 Speaker 1: type of fuel would be, and it would then ignite 718 00:44:12,480 --> 00:44:14,840 Speaker 1: and create the explosions, and so you would still have 719 00:44:14,880 --> 00:44:17,759 Speaker 1: an internal combustion engine, but instead of running on gasoline 720 00:44:17,840 --> 00:44:22,840 Speaker 1: or petrol, you were using you know, gasified wood. Cars 721 00:44:22,880 --> 00:44:27,120 Speaker 1: with these engines had large gasification units attached them, typically 722 00:44:27,160 --> 00:44:31,040 Speaker 1: to the back of the vehicle, sometimes even trailing behind 723 00:44:31,080 --> 00:44:34,040 Speaker 1: in its own little trailer, and there was usually a 724 00:44:34,080 --> 00:44:38,000 Speaker 1: pipe that was running from the gasification unit over the 725 00:44:38,120 --> 00:44:42,760 Speaker 1: length of the vehicle, feeding into the car's engine. Uh. 726 00:44:42,840 --> 00:44:47,120 Speaker 1: They look a little odd, to say the least. After 727 00:44:47,160 --> 00:44:51,080 Speaker 1: the war, when gasoline became available, these things pretty much vanished. Now, 728 00:44:51,080 --> 00:44:54,320 Speaker 1: in the case of the Volkswagen Beetle, they didn't have 729 00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:56,120 Speaker 1: to have a pipe run the entire length of the 730 00:44:56,200 --> 00:44:59,840 Speaker 1: car because again the engine was in the back. So 731 00:45:00,520 --> 00:45:03,960 Speaker 1: mounting a gasification chamber on the back of the vehicle 732 00:45:04,120 --> 00:45:06,719 Speaker 1: just meant that you could supply the gas directly to 733 00:45:06,760 --> 00:45:10,120 Speaker 1: the engine without having to run a pipe through the 734 00:45:10,200 --> 00:45:15,200 Speaker 1: length of the vehicle. More conventional variations on the Beetle 735 00:45:15,640 --> 00:45:20,160 Speaker 1: included the Beatle Cabriolet, which was a convertible. Beetle had 736 00:45:20,200 --> 00:45:23,480 Speaker 1: a soft top uh and numerous other tweaks to the design. 737 00:45:23,520 --> 00:45:25,799 Speaker 1: It wasn't just that it had a soft top as 738 00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:28,240 Speaker 1: opposed to the hard top Beatles. There were other differences 739 00:45:28,280 --> 00:45:31,920 Speaker 1: as well. But before introducing the Beetle to the American market, 740 00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:36,120 Speaker 1: Volkswagen began to install heftier engines that provided a bit 741 00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:39,319 Speaker 1: more oomph. So Beatles would come in engine sizes that 742 00:45:39,600 --> 00:45:43,400 Speaker 1: range from the original eleven hundred ccs up to sixteen 743 00:45:43,520 --> 00:45:47,360 Speaker 1: hundred ccs also known as one point six Leaders. In 744 00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:51,839 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty eight, an American advertising agency called Doyle dan 745 00:45:51,920 --> 00:45:55,440 Speaker 1: burn Bach launched an ad campaign for the Volkswagen Beetle, 746 00:45:55,560 --> 00:45:59,360 Speaker 1: and it was called Think Small and The ad featured 747 00:45:59,400 --> 00:46:02,520 Speaker 1: a mostly blank page with a small photograph of a 748 00:46:02,600 --> 00:46:05,520 Speaker 1: VW Beetle in it. At the base of the page 749 00:46:05,560 --> 00:46:08,560 Speaker 1: was a short rundown of the car's features, worded in 750 00:46:08,600 --> 00:46:11,560 Speaker 1: a way that was a bit self deprecating and humorous. 751 00:46:11,960 --> 00:46:14,600 Speaker 1: It became one of the most successful ad campaigns of 752 00:46:14,640 --> 00:46:18,120 Speaker 1: the twentieth century. A decade later, Disnety release that movie 753 00:46:18,120 --> 00:46:21,319 Speaker 1: I was talking about earlier Herbie the love Bug. In 754 00:46:21,360 --> 00:46:24,320 Speaker 1: that comedy, a race car driver discovers that a nineteen 755 00:46:24,360 --> 00:46:27,920 Speaker 1: sixty three Volkswagen Beetle has its own personality and a 756 00:46:28,080 --> 00:46:31,000 Speaker 1: mind of its own. And it's a cute little movie, 757 00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:34,040 Speaker 1: and it spawned several sequels, and it also helped boost 758 00:46:34,120 --> 00:46:36,759 Speaker 1: the Beatles profile. That year marked when the U S 759 00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:41,920 Speaker 1: would become the home fortent of the Volkswagen Beetles produced 760 00:46:42,120 --> 00:46:46,560 Speaker 1: by the company. In ninety two, the Beatle overtook the 761 00:46:46,640 --> 00:46:50,719 Speaker 1: venerable Model t Ford to become the best selling car 762 00:46:50,960 --> 00:46:54,160 Speaker 1: of all time. Uh it no longer holds that title 763 00:46:54,160 --> 00:46:56,800 Speaker 1: as I understand it, but it did at one point. 764 00:46:57,280 --> 00:47:01,000 Speaker 1: The Volkswagen Beetle remained in production until nine seventy nine 765 00:47:01,040 --> 00:47:04,480 Speaker 1: in Germany, which is pretty darn phenomenal. It would be 766 00:47:04,520 --> 00:47:08,040 Speaker 1: continued to be produced in Mexico. Part of the reason 767 00:47:08,480 --> 00:47:13,640 Speaker 1: why the Beetle was discontinued was that over time, emissions 768 00:47:13,760 --> 00:47:18,040 Speaker 1: standards were getting more restrictive in various parts of the world, 769 00:47:18,160 --> 00:47:22,360 Speaker 1: and the Beatle performance just didn't meet up to those standards. 770 00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:28,000 Speaker 1: But in Mexico those restrictions did not uh evolve quite 771 00:47:28,040 --> 00:47:31,319 Speaker 1: as quickly, and so for a much longer time it 772 00:47:31,400 --> 00:47:33,840 Speaker 1: was being produced out of Mexico. So for a while, 773 00:47:34,719 --> 00:47:37,279 Speaker 1: if you were determined to get a Volkswagen Beetle, you 774 00:47:37,320 --> 00:47:40,320 Speaker 1: could still get one, even after nineteen seventy nine. You 775 00:47:40,320 --> 00:47:42,640 Speaker 1: could get a new one. Even after nineteen seventy nine, 776 00:47:42,640 --> 00:47:44,880 Speaker 1: it would just be one that was produced in Mexico 777 00:47:45,040 --> 00:47:50,080 Speaker 1: as opposed to in Germany. Anyway, there were changes over 778 00:47:50,120 --> 00:47:53,640 Speaker 1: the course of the entire run of the Volkswagen Beetle 779 00:47:53,920 --> 00:47:57,720 Speaker 1: from nine to nineteen seventy nine, but overall it stayed 780 00:47:57,760 --> 00:48:00,960 Speaker 1: pretty consistent. Now and then next episode, we're going to 781 00:48:01,040 --> 00:48:03,920 Speaker 1: talk about some of the other vehicles that Volkswagen produced 782 00:48:03,960 --> 00:48:07,480 Speaker 1: throughout its history, and we'll also look at the New Beatle, 783 00:48:07,880 --> 00:48:11,000 Speaker 1: which is no longer new, but it was so called 784 00:48:11,040 --> 00:48:13,600 Speaker 1: the New Beatle when when debuted, as well as the 785 00:48:13,680 --> 00:48:18,080 Speaker 1: VW Beetle final Edition. So that's a bit of foreshadowing, 786 00:48:18,560 --> 00:48:22,000 Speaker 1: and also the controversy surrounding that in missions scandal that 787 00:48:22,040 --> 00:48:25,040 Speaker 1: I mentioned at the top of this episode, not to 788 00:48:25,080 --> 00:48:29,520 Speaker 1: mention other elements that play into Volkswagen's history. Not all 789 00:48:29,560 --> 00:48:33,400 Speaker 1: of it is happy and not all of it is positive, 790 00:48:33,760 --> 00:48:38,520 Speaker 1: but it's all fascinating stuff. So that wraps up this 791 00:48:38,719 --> 00:48:42,200 Speaker 1: first episode about Volkswagen. I hope you guys enjoyed it. 792 00:48:42,360 --> 00:48:46,080 Speaker 1: If you have any suggestions or requests or comments or anything, 793 00:48:46,080 --> 00:48:48,799 Speaker 1: you can reach out to me on social media. The 794 00:48:49,160 --> 00:48:52,480 Speaker 1: handle for our podcast on both Twitter and Facebook is 795 00:48:52,640 --> 00:48:56,200 Speaker 1: text Stuff hs W and I'll talk to you again 796 00:48:57,040 --> 00:49:03,799 Speaker 1: really soon. Text Stuff is a production of I heart 797 00:49:03,880 --> 00:49:07,280 Speaker 1: Radio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, 798 00:49:07,640 --> 00:49:10,800 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 799 00:49:10,880 --> 00:49:12,400 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.