The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) and Volkswagen have a long history together from the end of the Second World War and the intervention of a young British Army officer whose actions changed the future of the fledgling giant of European motoring.
On Sunday September 26th 2010 the REME Museum at the Arborfield Garrison Nr Reading Will be hosting a ‘meet up’ for Volkswagen enthusiasts and officially unveiling their new exhibition dedicated to the memory of that officer Major Ivan Hirst REME.
Full details of the show will be published here in the next few weeks.
Pre-registration is open and recomended for display cars, please read the display guidelines.
With less than a month to go the show is shaping up nicely – with over 50 vintage Volkswagens registered, including a previously unseen Schwimmwagen built in 1946 by Ivan Hirst's REME team.
Over the next few days the events team are meeting up to start to put the finishing touches to the display of Vintage VW's. We are trying to form a chronological line-up of 20+ years of the Beetle starting with the the late 40's through to the end of the six volt era in 1967. there are a few gaps that we are hoping to fill but it is looking like a strong possibility.
Here's hoping!
You are invited to trade at the upcoming Maj Ivan Hirst Volkswagen meet up.
The event is already attracting press attention and already has 40+ historic Volkswagens from the earliest Beetle imported into the UK through to the late 1960’s – including Barn Door type 2’s, Schwimmwagens, Splits, Ovals and many others.
There are a LIMITED NUMBER of trade plots available; these will be made available for setting up early in the morning of the show. If you would like to reserve a 5m square trade plot, the cost for the day is £20 (including one vehicle and two people) and will be payable on the morning of the show however registering in advance is essential.
The ticket prices for this event reflect the standard admission prices for the REME Museum of Technology. (The price includes both the Volkswagen meeting and the Museum).
Adults £5
Children £4
Family £15 - Family Ticket for 2 Adults and up to 3 Children.
This grainy photograph of a unique Volkswagen engine built in the late 1940’s – can you tell what horsepower the engine is rated for and what makes it unique?
Click the photo for a better view and the the ‘read more’ link for the answer.
Volkswagen powered press release getting us noticed! - Download the Press Release as a PDF
The good people at Volkswagen have been kind enough to issue a Press Release for us and its already getting the REME Museum and the Maj. Ivan Hirst Volkswagen show a lot of press attention!
On behalf of the REME Museum and the events team I'd like to say a very big thank you to the Volkswagen Press and PR team for their kind help.
“Hirst’s fondness seems to have been shared by the other British officers, all of whom were especially enthusiastic about the amphibious VW ‘Jeep’, the Schwimmwagen. They would hold games in which they would run it off the wharves into the Mittelland Canal at 40 miles an hour, hitting the water with a great splash and then drive the cars up and down the canal.”
I love that quote… It totally shatters the whole image of the dry and dusty British Army officer often created by the passage of time... When Ivan Hirst arrived at Wolfsberg he was only 29 years old.
20 some years ago I met a quiet unassuming gentleman by the name of Ivan Hirst. I discovered him through an interview in a local newspaper – at the time, in almost every way, the forgotten father of Volkswagen. So I decided to go and find out more about the man. Surprisingly he was in the phone book so off I went in search of the man and the story…
It is not every day someone rings you up out of the blue and offers to lend you a Schwimmwagen, but when it happens it’s very nice. Today Paul Wisk offered me just that for our show.
The VW Type 128 and 166 Schwimmwagen (literally Floating / Swimming Car) were amphibious four-wheel drive off-roaders, Built by Volkswagen.
In today’s Daily Mail Peter Curran writes on his journey around Europe in an electric car. Then halfway down the page our friend Maj Hirst gets a mention…
"One of the other highlights of Germany was a visit to the VW factory at Wolfsburg, one of the biggest in the world - the factory floor is the size of 20 football pitches. It was scheduled for dismantling by the Allies after the Second World War, but saved by Major Ivan Hirst, who placed a substantial order to replace the British Army's depleted fleet of small vehicles. Today, manufacture is in the arms of the robots."
