Hebmüller Sons
TypePrivate company
IndustryAutomotive
Founded1889, Wuppertal, Germany
FounderJoseph Hebmüller
Defunct1952
FateBankruptcy in 1952
Number of locations
One
ProductsVolkswagen Type 14A, Opel Kapitan & Admiral, and many other manufacturers like Ford and Mercedes
Opel Kapitan Hebmüller from 1940; just 2 examples survive

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.[4] 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] [5] 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]

  • 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]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The VW Hebmüller story". Jan-Anders Lindqvist. web.telia.com. Archived from the original on 9 March 2009. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  2. ↑ "Hebmuller". geocities.com. Archived from the original on 2009-10-26. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
  3. ↑ Hot VWs, 7/84, p.38.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Hebmüller: Vom Beginn an war das Cabriolet Teil der Volkswagengeschichte.Selbst in den frühesten Testserien gab es schon Cabriolets. Hier einige Beispiele". Carsten's Classic Volkswagen pages, Plettenberg. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  5. 1 2 Reinhard Lintelmann (2010). VW Käfer und New Beetle. Komet Verlag GmbH, Cologne. p. 68. ISBN 978-3-89836-831-5.
  6. ↑ "Guide DB Tankoubon Vol.29 - DragonBallBook". Archived from the original on 2016-06-14. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
  7. ↑ "VIZ: Read a Free Preview of Dragon Ball Z, Vol. 13".
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