That thing you mention that they were 'stupidly blind in' was precipitated by the insistence from that racist alcoholic, Winston Churchill, that the war couldn't be ended (see Hess) until the Germanic people were totally crushed. IOW blow-back.
What's the date on that 10,000th Final Body Assembly? Was it under the British? Wikipedia says only 50,000 total for the Kubelwagen Type 82.
The list of variants includes:
Quote:
The following body types and variants of the Type 82 were produced:
Type 62: Prototype Kübelwagen, constructed from 15 May 1938; pre-production models (1939) field tested in the invasion of Poland
Type 67: 2-stretcher ambulance; Type 60 Beetle chassis with modified Type 82 body
Type 82/0: Basic four seater
Type 82/I: Three-seat radio car
Type 82/2: Sirencar (Siemens motordriven siren mounted on passenger side in place of the rear seat)
Type 82/3: Mock-up armoured vehicle/command car with machine gun-fitted turret over the cabin
Type 82/5: Kübelwagen chassis with the Type 60 LO Lieferwagen (open pickup truck) body[6]
Type 82/6: Tropical version sedan-body box van
Type 82/7: Three-seat 'Command car' made up of a Type 82 chassis, fitted with a Beetle body and roll-up canvas roof section. These three-seaters had a co-drivers seat with fully reclining backrest for the commander.
Type 82/8: Like Type 82/0 but had an open body made of wood
Type 82/E: Kübelwagen chassis with Beetle body (688 manufactured)
Type 86: All-wheel drive prototype (6 fabricated)
Type 87: "Kommandeurwagen" Type 86 4×4 Kübelwagen chassis with Beetle command car body. Fitted with running boards, under-hood-mounted spare tire (accompanied by a gas can, a jack, a small tool kit, and a shovel), and widened fenders for its larger-diameter Kronprinz (Crown Prince) off-road tires, some were provided to preferred officers, who could push through virtually any kind of terrain with them (667 produced)
Type 89: Fitted with an experimental automatic transmission
Type 98: Beetle cabriolet body with the Kübelwagen 4×4 drive train
Type 106: Fitted with an experimental transmission (assumed different from the Type 89)
Type 107: Fitted with a turbocharger
Type 115: Fitted with a supercharger
Type 126: Fitted with a fully synchronized gearbox (assumed different from the Type 278)
Type 155/1: Half-track / snow-track Kübelwagen prototype. Pictures of several track-set designs exist,[9] although it is possible, that these were consecutively fitted to the same prototype. Trials proved, that the Type 155 was able to cover the most difficult terrain, but the modifications necessary to the standard Kübelwagen were extensive and the resulting vehicle was both very slow and forbiddingly inefficient.
Type 157: Railway car equipment, used for Types 82 and 87
Type 164: Six-wheeled, twin engine, dual-control prototype; never entered production
Type 177: Fitted with a five-speed transmission (as opposed to the standard four-speed unit)
Type 179: Fitted with fuel-injected Volkswagen engine
Type 179-F: Later updated directly to the Schwimmwagen (mentioned above)—Could cross water and temporarily be used as a small boat and/or landing craft. Because of a thick and bulletproof skid plate, the engine was protected and all valves in the rear were airtight. The engine had a flush-activated 179 Fuel Injected engine, that would act as a drainer to push water out and prevent the engine from flooding.
Type 198: Fitted with a PTO and auxiliary gearbox for starting the engines of armoured fighting vehicles[10]
Type 235: Fitted for power by an electric motor
Type 239: Fitted for power by a wood-gas generator mounted on the nose (also listed as Type 230)
Type 240: Fitted for power by bottled gas
Type 276: Type 82 fitted with a towing hook to pull a 37 PAK gun[11]
Type 278: Fitted with synchronized gearbox
Type 307: Fitted with a heavy-duty carburetor
Type 309: Prototype fitted with a diesel engine
Type 331: Prototype fitted for power by a "native fuel system" (acetylene gas) engine (also listed as Type 231)
Type 332: Fitted for power by anthracite coal
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So we have the Type 82/E with 688 and the Type 87 with 667, that leaves the 82/6, 82/7 and the 98. I don't believe there were any civilian chassis Beetles between the prototypes and the British production era.
But hey, turbocharger, supercharger, fuel injection, six-wheel twin-engined all with Type numbers that predate the Schwimmwagen.
Today I got the title, registration and plates and took a thirty mile ride. Performance is remarkably close to the Superbeetle. I will put a thread placeholder in Central, probably.