Maikäfer Josef Ganz.

The beetle car won the accolade, car of the nineteenth century. As this has all the hall marks of an epic film, May Bug prototype was assembled in 1930, in the Ardie motorcycle company from Nuremberg by Ganz gave a glimpse towards new opportunity to build his first German peoples car as manufactured in 1930. This was his dream car made for safety to passengers as with an air cooled engine at its back first little Volkswagen. The prototype featured a central backbone chassis with a mid-mounted engine, all-round independent suspension with swing axles, and simple, open, beetle-shaped bodywork .

Production to plans, however this was halted when the consortium of leading German car manufacturers were blocked when a bylaw was introduced as this change the regulation proposal. This law stipulated not to let holders of motorcycle-driving licenses operate or drive small cars. Blocked the manufacturing market for competitive smaller models, also changed niche market in favor, for example Opel. (Josef Ganz test-driving the 1930 Volkswagen Ardie-Ganz prototype) The remarkable construction attracted the attention of car manufacturer from Frankfurt Adler. Which Ganz employed as a consulting engineer and offered him their facilities to build a new and improved car prototype.Ganz completed this car in May 1931 and nicknamed the brainchild his new 'Maikäfer (May Bug). To comply with the conventional buying and public perceptions, Ganz gave the car a more, conventional looking, low-slung body with a fake radiator at its front. (Josef Ganz in the May-Bug prototype, 1931)  As Porsche test-drives the May Bug just as had happened at Ardie, industrial development force a block by the further meaning leader. This car was been marketed in a car show 1933 as these sketches brought to attention Ferdinand Porsche.

Top of the May Bug at Adler, but Ganz was allowed to keep the prototype. He used the May Bug and technology as a demonstrator and took countless engineers and journalists on test-drives in this, proving all its worth of his Volkswagen concept. This included people that no longer available such as Ferdinand Porsche. He tested the May Bug before designing a similar vehicle for the motorcycle company Zündapp. In the summer of 1931 was the May Bug was transported by truck to Stuttgart, where it was severely tested by the board of directors and engineers of Mercedes-Benz. This resulted in the development of a Beetle-like car with a rear-mounted 4-cylinder boxer engine,  with designed  assistance of Josef Ganz. He had by then been employed as a consultant engineer by Both Mercedes-Benz and BMW. (the 1931 Beetle-like Mercedes-Benz 120H prototype with a rear-mounted engine) May Bug Becomes Superior Car as the May Bug, had set off a bomb in the industry. Manufacturers that had previously fought Ganz and his Motor-Kritik magazine critical to silence this voice now started adopting these new evolutionary ideas. The race was one for who would be the first to create a successful rear-engine, lightweight, streamlined Volkswagen, Ganz, However, was the first to market in the Volkswagen, backed by the motorcycle manufacturer of Standard Fahrzeugfabrik from Ludwigsburg. 

Using Ganz's many patents they developed as with the Standard Superior, a production version of the May Bug-like Beetle with enclosed bodywork, which was now introduced at the Berlin motor show in February 1933. Hitler Had Been appointed Hitler as Chancellor of Germany less than two weeks prior, and in this new capacity opened the motor show. He praised the work of the German engineers and during his tour of the exhibits expressed serious interest in the 'Standard Superior' and the idea of a Volkswagen to motorize the German people in safety with affordablity. One of the first new laws introduced by his office was that holders of a motorcycle-driving license could operate small cars like the Standard Superior. A Standard Superior was even tested by the 'National Socialist Motor Corps' and a favorable report appeared in the official army magazine. (Superior standard as displayed at the 1933 Berlin Motor Show) Then things took an unfavorable turn. The Gestapo falsely accused of Josef Ganz blackmailing the automotive industry and arrested him in Berlin in May 1933, Ganz was imprisoned for a month and was only released thanks to highly influential friends. ​​sure that any Jewish connections to the Volkswagen were erased from  any of this history. They Ganz banned from publishing, as well as the Entire German press from publishing anything about him. Overnight the name Josef Ganz disappeared from the German motoring scene.

Although he was released from prison, the Gestapo forced Ganz out of his positions as editor-in-chief of his Motor-Kritik, and as consulting engineer at BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The Standard Superior was meanwhile claiming successes in trials and car races. A new and improved version was Introduced in September 1933, and Marketed as the 'fastest and cheapest German 'Volkswagen'. (Brochure for the Standard Superior Used, 1933) Hitler Assigns Porsche by then Hitler was determined to support the development of a Volkswagen for the German people. Having found no cooperation among the big car manufacturers, an independent development consortium was created, led by Ferdinand Porsche. As a Jew, Josef Ganz was an impossible choice. Porsche was now set the task to design a people's car for 1,000 Reichsmarks - a maximum selling price propagated by Ganz in Motor-Kritik. The Nazis made

Swiss Volkswagen Just three months later, frightful during 'The Night of the Long Knives', the Gestapo appeared at Ganz's home in Frankfurt to arrest and most probably murdered him. As Ganz was saved from this horrific affairs by extraordinary luck: he was on holiday in Switzerland to calm his nerves. He was later warned by a friend not to return to Germany. He only made ​​one trip to salvage his daring secret archives from Frankfurt. After wondering around Europe for almost a year, Josef Ganz settled in Zurich in Switzerland. There he demonstrated the May Bug prototype as Standard Superior before Swiss Government Officials and landed a contract to develop a 'Swiss Volkswagen' with're funding - exactly as Porsche was doing in Germany. The first Swiss prototypes of the Volkswagen were finished in 1937 and closely resembled Ganz's original sketches from 1923 as production plans in Switzerland, France, and Poland came to an abrupt halt after the German army invaded Poland in 1939 Europe was now at war. (Josef Ganz in one of the Swiss Volkswagen prototypes in 1937)

Sanctuary in Australia Josef Ganz survived the war in Switzerland, but faced many problems with a Swiss company trying to lay claims to his Volkswagen design, and Gestapo officers after his blood as to erase him. These and other events resulted in lengthy court cases after the war. The Swiss Volkswagen was only produced in small numbers, as was a French variation called the Julien MM5. Leaving all of his problems in Europe behind, Josef Ganz He immigrated to Australia in 1951 found employment as an engineer at General Motors - Holden until health problems forced him into retirement. He suffered multiple heart attacks and practically Became an invalid, after spending his days at home working on his final memoirs. Josef Ganz died in obscurity on July 26, 1967. here as book club highlight a few examples with this intriguing story.