Celebration time

Commemorating VW’s early milestones in miniature

Words and photos: Bob Gilmore

The wartime history of VW, and the subsequent re-naming of the factory by the British army to Volkswagenwerk in 1945, has been well covered by this magazine over the years. As we’re here to talk about VW toys, this month we thought we’d take the opportunity to re-visit two of the more well-known moments in post-war VW history, the commemoration of 1,000 VWs being built, and that of the 10,000th VW. Both celebrations took place in 1946, and were documented in photographic form. The former shows the 1,000th VW being driven off the assembly line by Major Ivan Hirst of the British Army in March of that year; the latter, taken in October, shows the 10,000th VW under a large banner, surrounded by Major Hirst and a large group of…

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VolksWorld (Digital) - 1 Issue, April/May 2025

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