Quote from Samba advert

Own a piece of history! Buy this Mercedes 170H. This is the car that the VW prototype was modeled after. Long story short. When

From the back

More here......
merc vw prototype

Cited from the Tatra story in site of the week

http://www.aussieveedubbers.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=8947

'It is not difficult to spot the close resemblance between the Tatra T97 and the VW Beetle. For several years, ever since the 1933 Tatra V570 prototype, Ledwinka and Porsche regularly met each other to discuss their automotive work and designs. When the T97 was launched Porsche was working on the KdF-Wagen, the later VW Beetle, for Hitler's promotion purposes. Hitler considered the T97 to be too similar to his KdF-Wagen which was to be produced by the new Volkswagen factory, even though the T97 was listed at more than five and a half times the KdF-Wagen's target selling price. In 1939 the T97, along with the T57, were ordered to be removed from the Tatra stand at the 1939 Berlin Autosalon, because of their close resemblance to the KDF-Wagen. In the late 1930's it became clear VW had used several patents of the Tatra factory. Just before the war Tatra had ten legal claims against VW for infringement of patents. Although Ferdinand Porsche was about to make a settlement with Tatra, he was stopped by Hitler who said he would "solve his problem". Shortly after he invaded Czechoslovakia and gained control over Tatra, stopping the T97's production.'

Then from the Samba story on the Merc

'Own a piece of history! Buy this Mercedes 170H. This is the car that the VW prototype was modeled after. Long story short. When Porsche was unable to produce the bodies for the VW prototype the RDA, read Hitler, ordered Mercedes to build the bodies for him. Remarkably, the last rear engine Mercedes and the prototype VWs look very similar.'

You can definitely see the resemblance of the beetle to both the Tatra T97 and the Merc 170H

There seems to be a definite Porsche connection showing here

Hey, fill us in on some more, history buffs:bounce:bounce

Good ole Hitler, eh? :vader

i hate to say it, but ive never heard of it. it almost looks like a morris minor or more like a fiat topolino roughly cut up.

Hitler was a fine man not

The beetle was his only saving grace

Volkswagen's History of Forced Labour. Porsche gets his name in again

GMH and Ford factories in Europe also used forced labour along with other companies. Not nice times at all

http://mondediplo.com/1998/01/11volkswag

Thank GOODNESS for a certain Major Ivan Hirst :kiss

http://mondediplo.com/1998/01/11volkswag

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3104469.stm

Signed 6 June 2002 by Volkswagen and is a trend by multinational companies thank goodness

Volkswagen code of conduct
A code of conduct, entitled a Declaration on social rights and industrial relationships at Volkswagen was signed on 6 June 2002 in Bratislava, Slovakia, by representatives of the management of the German multinational motor manufacturer Volkswagen, the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) and the Volkswagen world works council


http://www.imfmetal.org/main/index.cfm?id=47&lid=2&olid=2&cid=7215

That Mercedes 170 certainly looks like a prototype Beetle for sure...
thanks grey57 and Jenz for all the info...
cheers
Lee

i cant help but notice the resemblance, maybe fiat was in on the design as well! these cars were also from the mid 30s:

:

:

ultra rare smith version:

and 4 seater:

Now You can't say those pommie & italian cars look like a Beetle.....
they have a grill at the front... and a front engine....

If you look at a lot of cars of the 1930s you will notice they have many similarities.
I think the Fiat looks more like a 1934 Ford, than a beetle.
Cars reflect other cars all the time.
maybe its like compareing lasers to 323s,
Riley elfs to Minis,
Morris 1100s, MG 1100s,Vandenplas 1100s,
http://www.bmc1100.co.uk/makes.htm 
http://www.bmc1100.co.uk/wcs/wcs.htm 

But heres something to think about,
Why to UFO sightings involve spaceships that reflect the contempary style and current design trends of the time they are reported,??????
Has anyone else noticed that?

I was just talking to a couple of mates about this yesterday whilst working on his 1967 Plymouth Fury 4 door pillarless.
It seem that the most diverse period of car styling was the 60's and 70's.
A lot of the old cars had bodies built by the same manufacturer. For example Holden used to make bodies in the early part of last century for GM Chevrolet as well as Ford. The body would be the same on two different makes of car.

I hear people say "cars all look the same now" Back then the emblem on the radiator was about the only distinguishing feature on some models.

This is one of the reasons I like custom cars so much.

I have a custom Clone

Its a funny catagory, many mods made but to make it look just like another car.
Luckily I have a Split Kombie to go nuts on, Although I wont do so much that I wreck it, but I think it will stand out in the crowd.
Cheers Tony

Hear what your saying Helbus:thumb

Look what we have new on the roads now, a lot of look-a-likes:o

At least the NB and Mini are different. Lots of the mini appearing (saw 3 old bricks on a cruise yesterday with club stickers)

If it wasn't for their badges most of us wouldn't know the difference

At least the old cars have more character, style and personality, well VW's anyway:kiss