Hebmüller

Hebmüller Sons (Karosseriewerke Joseph Hebmüller Söhne) was a coachbuilder founded in 1889 by Joseph Hebmüller in the town of Wuppertal in Germany.[1]

History

Hebmüller initially constructed horsedrawn carriages, but after the death of its founder in 1919 his sons started building bodies for automobiles.[1]

After World War II, the company received an order from the British Army to build 15 Humber based cabriolets.[2]

The company's best known model is perhaps a 2+2 convertible based on the Volkswagen Type 1 platform - known as Volkswagen Type 14A or "Hebmüller Cabriolet". It also built a number of four-door cabriolets on the Type 1 platform (Type 18A), with canvas doors.[3]

By the end of the 1940s, Hebmüller's economic situation was deteriorating. However, it was widely reported that Volkswagen ordered 2,000 vehicles, with production starting in June 1949. A massive fire struck its Wülfrath factory on 23 July 1949, which, due to a water shortage, could not be extinguished before almost the entire facility was destroyed.[4] Although the factory was rapidly rebuilt, and over 350 more cars were produced in 1949 alone, the company never recovered from the destruction.[4] Only 696 cabriolets were completed before the company went bankrupt in May 1952,[4] with Karmann of Osnabrück[5] (which was already producing a four-seater Type 1 cabriolet to its own design) producing a final batch.

The Ford Motor Company subsequently purchased the former Hebmüller factory.[1]

In popular culture

• The cover of Volume 13 of the Dragon Ball manga (Volume 29 of the original Japanese[6]) features Gohan and Piccolo driving a Volkswagen Type 14A.[7]

External links

• The VW Hebmüller history
• The Hebmüller Registry
• Gallery of Hebmüller photos