When I posted last week in response to VW's publicity splurge on winding up Beetle production, I had not only not seen James May's BBC-2 series on Cars of the People, I had not realised that it was about to be repeated on BBC-4. As a result of watching episode 1 last Sunday, I have learned that the Beetle was actually the "strength through joy" car when it was launched by Hitler and Porsche, and that the designation "people's car" only came about after the war. Consequently, I have made a couple of minor amendments to that previous post.
There was one inaccuracy in May's programme, though. The original Fiat 500 Topolino ("Little Mouse") was not the Cinquecento of 1957 to 1975, but the 1936 model of Mussolini's time. The innovative small car seems to have been part of a deliberate policy to abandon the international market and revert to domestic production as a result of the Fascists' rise, something which May might have made more of. 500s were another familiar sight on the streets of Benghazi along with the VW military utility vehicles and a Renault contender for a 1940s people's car, the 750. As this was born under the Nazi occupation of France and as Renault was nationalised after the war, I trust that the 4CV/750 will be featured in later episodes of May's series.
No comments:
Post a Comment