Major Ivan Hirst (1 March 1916 – 10 March 2000), was a
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
officer and engineer who was instrumental in reviving
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
from a single factory in
Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, located on the river Aller. It lies about east of Hanover and west of Berlin.
Wolfsburg is famous as the location of Volkswagen AG's hea ...
, Germany, into a major postwar
automotive manufacturer
The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries by revenue (from 16 % such a ...
.
Education
Hirst was born in
Saddleworth
Saddleworth is a civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England. It comprises several villages and hamlets as well as suburbs of Oldham on the west side of the Pennine hills.
Areas include Austerlands, Delph, ...
, West Riding of Yorkshire, England and attended
Hulme Grammar School
Oldham Hulme Grammar School, formerly Hulme Grammar School, is a private grammar school in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England.
History
Oldham Grammar School was founded in 1611 by several charitable individuals including Laurence Chadeton, b ...
in
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...
, across the county boundary in
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
. His family had founded the Hirst Brothers Company, a manufacturer of
watches
A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached by ...
,
clock
A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and the ...
s and optical components in
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...
. He studied optical engineering at the
University of Manchester
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
, prior to forming his own company repairing optical instruments. While a student he was a member of the university's
Officers' Training Corps
The Officers' Training Corps (OTC), more fully called the University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), are military leadership training units operated by the British Army. Their focus is to develop the leadership abilities of their members whilst ...
contingent.
World War II
Hirst was
commissioned as a
second lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank.
Australia
The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...
in the 7th Battalion,
Duke of Wellington's Regiment
The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, forming part of the King's Division.
In 1702, Colonel George Hastings, 8th Earl of Huntingdon, was authorised to raise a new regiment, which he di ...
(
Territorial Army) on 27 June 1934,
and promoted to
lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...
three years later. A
Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
on the outbreak of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, he was appointed
adjutant
Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...
on 1 October 1939. He transferred to the
Royal Army Ordnance Corps
The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equip ...
(RAOC) as a Mechanical Engineering Officer on 14 November 1941, and to the
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's Professional Engineers".
History
Prior to REME's for ...
(REME) on its formation on 1 October 1942.
In the period after the D-Day landings, he was in charge of a tank repair facility in Belgium. He arrived in Germany in the summer of 1945, along with his colleague, Colonel Charles Radclyffe, when the British Army took control of the town of Wolfsburg. Russian ground troops had already located a factory in the town after crossing the
Mittelland canal
The Mittelland Canal, also known as the Midland Canal, (german: Mittellandkanal, ) is a major canal in central Germany. It forms an important link in the waterway network of that country, providing the principal east-west inland waterway connec ...
but were not interested in it. Then the US army found it but once again it held no interest. When the UK came across it, Hirst, sensing something was not right, quickly cleared some debris from the generating plant building and discovered it had been put there to disguise the fact that it was still operational. Hirst then found a pre-war prototype Volkswagen in a remote workshop on the site and realised that the factory could be used for producing
cars
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded as t ...
for the British Army. Hence, Hirst and Radclyffe laid the foundations for Volkswagen's successful automotive business.
Much of the machinery had survived the bombing, having been stored in various outbuildings. Cars were put together with old-stock and whatever could be found, many using parts from the
Kübelwagen until 1946, when the factory produced about 1,000 cars a month.
Hirst was fascinated by the potential of a
four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...
"Commanderwagon", which he was confident would sell to the French and Canadian forestry industries. He also liked the proven versatility of the Volkswagen chassis demonstrated by
Ambi Budd
Ambi-Budd was a German automobile body company founded by Edward Gowen Budd
In Germany, Edward Gowen Budd worked with Arthur Müller and set up a steel pressing plant ''Ambi Budd Presswerke'' (ABP) in the old Rumpler factory and became a successfu ...
,
Karmann
Wilhelm Karmann GmbH, commonly known as simply Karmann, was a German automobile manufacturer and contract manufacturer based in Osnabrück.
Founded by Wilhelm Karmann in 1901, the company specialized in a variety of automotive roles, includi ...
and other coachworks.
Hirst ended the war as a
major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
.
Post-War specials
Two of the most significant 'special' cars developed by Volkswagen while under the control of the British were the '
Radclyffe Roadster', and a four-seater convertible, both custom-built by
Rudolph Ringel. The Radclyffe was a two-seater
roadster that was the transport of Colonel Charles Radclyffe over the summer months of 1946. The four-seater
convertible
A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers.
A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...
was Ivan Hirst's personal transport.
Karmann was asked to build a four-seater, another coach-builder,
Hebmüller
Hebmüller Sons (') was a coachbuilder founded in 1889 by Joseph Hebmüller in the town of Wuppertal in Germany.
History
Hebmüller initially constructed horsedrawn carriages, but after the death of its founder in 1919 his sons started building ...
, was asked to make a two-seater roadster. Its design was not unlike the 'Radclyffe Roadster', with a similar hood and side windows. The rear engine cover, however, was a hand-formed panel, not a converted front bonnet as was the Radclyffe version.
REME
The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME), to which Hirst belonged, has a relationship with Volkswagen which began in 1945 with a REME detachment using the factory to repair captured enemy vehicles and later to overhaul
Willys MB
The Willys MB and the Ford GPW, both formally called the U.S. Army Truck, -ton, 4×4, Command Reconnaissance, commonly known as the Willys Jeep, Jeep, or jeep, and sometimes referred to by its List of U.S. military vehicles by supply catalog ...
and other British Army vehicle engines. Hirst, the Control Commission for Germany's British Senior Resident Officer, arrived at the Volkswagen factory in August of that year.
From 1946 the Volkswagen factory focus was on repairing and reconditioning Volkswagens and became known as 'No 2 REME Auxiliary Workshop'. As the company's prospects improved, the unit became essentially civilian-run but directed by the Army. The REME link ended when, on 6 September 1949, ownership transferred to the
West German
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
government. Since then VW has recognised the role that Ivan Hirst and the REME played in its rise from the ashes of the Second World War. A close bond exists between Volkswagen and REME to this day.
Memories
Hirst had strong memories of his time at Wolfsburg which he would share with local Volkswagen enthusiasts. The one strongest memory he would refer to regularly was the smell of the
fish glue
Animal glue is an adhesive that is created by prolonged boiling of animal connective tissue in a process called rendering. In addition to being used as an adhesive it is used for coating and sizing, in decorative composition ornaments, and as a ...
used to fix the cardboard headlinings in early cars. In later life, he became somewhat more reticent about his involvement, often saying that it was only by chance that he had been involved and that if he had not done it someone else would have.
Being a keen amateur photographer, his home was littered with images taken in the early days at Volkswagen, including one really early picture of a prototype coupe which was very similar to the
Volkswagen Type 14A Hebmüller Cabriolet cars of the early 1950s.
Presentation of the model cars
Hirst once showed a friend a
scale model
A scale model is a physical model which is geometrically similar to an object (known as the prototype). Scale models are generally smaller than large prototypes such as vehicles, buildings, or people; but may be larger than small prototypes ...
of a
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, ...
that Volkswagen had presented to him. The 1:10 scale model, now on display in the
REME Museum
The REME Museum is within the MoD Lyneham site, in Wiltshire, England, about southwest of Swindon. The museum holds collections of technological and historical artifacts associated with the work of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (' ...
, was one of three made by Koch in Cologne. The second model was given to Colonel Charles Radclyffe; the third was presented to
Heinrich Nordhoff
Heinz Heinrich Nordhoff (6 January 1899 – 12 April 1968) was a German engineer who led the Volkswagen company as it was rebuilt after World War II.
Life and career
Nordhoff was born in Hildesheim, the son of a banker. He graduated from the Tech ...
, whom the British occupying authorities appointed managing director of Volkswagen in early 1948.
Later life
Hirst later joined the industry staff of the German section of the
Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* Unit ...
, where he stayed until 1955 when he joined the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) (before it became the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries ...
(OECD) in 1961) in Paris until his retirement in 1975.
Obituary in the Guardian
/ref> He died on . Just one month earlier, he had appeared in an edition of the British ''Top Gear
Top Gear may refer to:
* "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission
Television
* ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme
* ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...
'' magazine, which revealed the story of how Major Hirst revived the Volkswagen car plant. He was also photographed driving a new front wheel-drive, front-engined Beetle in the magazine.
He had no children.
Honours
* A road in Wolfsburg, not far from Volkswagens factory buildings, is named in his honour "Major-Hirst-Straße" (Major-Hirst-Road).
References
Notes
Sources
*
*http://www.mishalov.com/Hirst.html
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirst, Ivan
1916 births
2000 deaths
British automotive pioneers
People from Saddleworth
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers officers
Royal Army Ordnance Corps officers
Duke of Wellington's Regiment officers
British Army personnel of World War II
Alumni of the University of Manchester
People educated at Oldham Hulme Grammar School
Volkswagen Group people