The people’s car, the birth of a legend, starts the VW story. Hitler wanted a car for the masses. The cars had to be reliable and inexpensive. He called on Ferdinand Porsche, who was employed as his technical director and became known as Dr. Porsche.
He worked on the Volkswagen design from 1906 to 1923, but had no backing from the government, until March of 1933, when Porsche again met with Hitler and persuaded him to continue the project .
It was not until late 1935 that the first prototype Volkswagen was finished. The war nearly ended the Volkswagen and with Hitler committing suicide on April 20, 1945, when Germany was in near collapse.
The factory was taken over by the British army whose efforts and all around ingenuity paid the way for Volkswagen’s future success.
A new town council was born who renamed the town Wolfsburg. Major Ivan Hirst of the British army was put in charge. He brought the factory out of ruins and the car design was complete.
Only a few cars were built in 1947. X-Opal general manager, Heinz Nordhoff, really got things moving. He officially took over in 1948, but it wasn’t until 1950 that luxury car importer Max Hoffman of New York City sold 352 Beetles marketing the colossal success in the United States.
On Feb. 17, 1972, the VW Beetle became the best selling car of all times, as it passed Ford’s legendary Model T.
The Beetle numbered 15,007,034 had been produced. On May 15, 1981, the 20,000,000th Beetle was assembled in Pueblo, Mexico. The Beetle remained alive in Mexico until production ended in 2003 with the last 3,000 Beetles dubbed Ultimate editions.
The little car that has become an American icon lives on here in Somerset in the form of Central Kentucky Volkswagen Club.
Beginning in September 2008, the club began and continues to grow.
“We are Volkswagen lovers who want to preserve these cars. Like our motto says, ‘It’s not a hobby, it’s a love affair,’” says club president Randy Edwards.
Edwards, who has owned more than a dozen VWs, says the club is a dream come true for himself.
Vice president Sergio Corona, whose ’69 Beetle is lovingly known as ‘Jessie,’ has been a VW owner for more than 20 years.
“All our club owners will tell you a VW story. Most got bitten by the ‘bug’ early and never got over it,” reports Corona.
Club members are looking to add to their numbers and their first show will be on Valentine’s Day, Saturday, Feb. 14, at Somerset Mall.
VW enthusiasts are invited to the show and see one club member’s own ‘Herbie, The Love Bug.’
Membership information will be available at the show from 10 a.m. till 9 p.m., and also on the club’s Web site:
www.centralkyvwclub.com
Local News
Related Photos
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Randy Edwards (right) and Sergio Corona will be The Mall Saturday, Feb. 14, showing their VWs.
The Mall to host VW car show
Community News
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Somerset on verge of becoming natural gas hub
It sounds like a Buck Rogers fiction series, but it’s true. The city of Somerset is about to become the energy hub of Kentucky, maybe even regionally or nationally.
Somerset Mayor Eddie Girdler, gas company manager Dan Henderson and city engineer Reggie Chaney discussed the grandiose energy network this week with a reporter for the Commonwealth Journal. It’s more than a vision. City officials say it’s about to become reality. -
Old districts are back ... for now
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Such is the legislative redistricting debacle in Frankfort.
Judge Phillip Shepherd in Franklin Circuit Court on Tuesday tossed out the General Assembly’s controversial redistricting plans and reverted everything back to where it was before. -
Fast-moving blaze guts mobile home off Slate Branch Road
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Big Bang Theory
Pulaski County is not at war. The booming you may hear at dusk is mock cannon fire to scare away birds.
Stuart Spillman, environmental director for the Lake Cumberland Health Department, said at least three cannons are on loan from the department to residents who want to scare away swarms of starlings and blackbirds settling in to roost.
He said a cannon is being used by a resident on Laura Lane off Ky. 39; another is in the Oak Hill Road area and a third is on Ashurst Street in the eastern part of Somerset.
Spillman said a timer on each cannon allows it to “fire” at whatever frequency is desired. The cannons must be used as the birds circle before going to roost. “After they settle in, nothing will chase them out,” Spillman said.
The Health Department doesn’t operate the cannons unless there is a specific complaint in an area where there are lots of birds, Spillman noted. He said so far this year the birds are not as bad as in the past. -
Boil water advisory is lifted countywide
The water controversy that Pulaski County has been boiling over — so to speak — for the last week is finally over.
At 10 minutes after noon Wednesday, the “boil water” advisory for the Western Pulaski Water District was lifted — almost a full week after the problems began around 1 p.m. last Thursday.
Prior to that, the Somerset Water Service — along with the other water providers in its system, including Science Hill Water, Southeastern Water, and Eubank Water — lifted their advisories, with Somerset on Saturday afternoon and the last, Southeastern, by Monday morning. Western Pulaski was the last in the system to complete sample testing for potential contaminants, due to not being able to access its Pikeville-based testing lab until Monday.
Somerset Mayor Eddie Girdler thanked the public for its patience and understanding during the duration of the boil water advisory — put in place to keep citizens from drinking water that could have been contaminated after an accident last Thursday at the water plant site — and also thanked all the city employees for their hard work during this time.
“The boil water advisory went about as well as would be expected,” said Girdler.
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