Rapid Swiss Volkswagen

This charming little two seater with its single cylinder engine is a Swiss peoples car.

This unique, unrestored car was built in 1946 by Rapid A.G. in Dietikon, Zurich in Switzerland. In its construction, Jozef Ganz made use of numerous technical concepts and patented designs for a Volkswagen that he had devised himself. The concept of a car for the people had been advocated since the early 1920s by a Jewish engineer named Jozef Ganz (1898-1967). As editor-in-chief of the German trade journal Motor-Kritik, he was able to present his plans for an affordable yet safe car for the masses. In 1931, while employed by Adler, he built a prototype car which he christened the Maybug. It was a car with a backbone chassis and swing axles, components that would later reappear in the design of the Volkswagen Beetle. In 1934, shortly after Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor, Ganz was no longer allowed to publish his motoring magazine Motor-Kritik and was later completely boycotted. His name was even erased from history. Hitler, who commissioned Ferdinand Porsche to build a car for the people, in fact made use of Ganzs technical concept. Jozef Ganz escaped the Nazi regime and settled in Switzerland where, in 1946, with state support, he launched the Swiss Volkswagen project. The car in the Louwman Museum was built in the Rapid factory and is car no. 11 from a pre-series of 37 units. The project was terminated prematurely, so the car never went into production.