1950 VW Transporter
The Pon brothers' company is still responsible for the general import of VAG vehicles into the Netherlands. And it's been that way for a long time. The first contacts date back to 1939 and the Netherlands has been the first
export country for VW since 1947.
And what does that have to do with the VW transporter? Quite a lot, because it was one of the two Pon brothers who presented the idea of a transporter based on Beetle technology to the British, initially with little success and
then with more success in long discussions to the first VW director Heinrich Nordhoff (Figure 2 ). Of course, as with almost every good idea, he was not the sole originator.
Shortly after the Second World War in 1946, vehicles (pictured above) existed in the plant that had to take on transport tasks because the transport equipment borrowed from the British occupying forces was taken with them
when they withdrew, and came about as a result of the search for a transporter within the plant. A loadable surface was screwed onto the chassis of the
VW Beetle from the front to the rear of the engine. A seat and a steering wheel connected to the front wheels were attached above the
engine.
Ben Pon presented the vehicle to Dutch registration authorities, but was defeated by their opinion that the driver should be positioned in front of the load rather than behind it in order to have a better overview. Ben Pon then
came up with the idea of moving the space for the driver all the way to the front, in front of the front wheels. It was the basic idea of the T1. Ferdinand Porsche had probably had it before, but in the post-war period and with
business relationships already existing, no claims were made there.
The sketch in picture 2 above was created in 1947 during a visit to the British military headquarters in Minden, when Pon presented his changed vision. But it will take until the end of 1948 before this can begin to be put into
practice. The prerequisite is the installation of a civilian business management with Heinrich Nordhoff at the top. The currency reform in mid-1948 will also have played a role because it promised significantly more
purchasing power.
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