Josef Ganz

Josef Ganz was a Jewish-German car designer born in Budapest on 1 July 1898 who died in Melbourne, Australia on 26 July 1967. He studied mechanical engineering and edited the magazine Klein-Motor-Sport, renamed Motor-Kritik, using it to criticise heavy, unsafe cars and to promote a small, light car for the general population. His prototypes, the Ardie-Ganz of 1930 and the Adler Maikaefer of 1931, used a mid-mounted engine and independent wheel suspension, and the Standard Superior of 1933 was the first car built to his patents. He consulted on early independent suspension models at Daimler-Benz and BMW. How far he influenced the Volkswagen Beetle is a matter of dispute. Arrested by the Gestapo in May 1933, he fled Germany in 1934, worked in Switzerland, France and Australia, and died in obscurity.