It is indeed possible that the vehicle you found is a VW3 prototype.
Hitler became chancellor in February 1933 and declared his intention
to get Germany "motoring" at the '33 Berlin Auto Show. He announced
the "people's car" concept... a vehicle that could transport two
adults and three children, sustain 80 km/h (60 mph), deliver fuel
economy of 14 km/L (33 mpg) and cost about 1,000 ReichMarks... at the
'34 Berlin Auto Show. Dr. Ferdinand Porsche doubted that the price
could be met, but he considered Hitler's specifications to be a
challenge and undertook the project, which he designated Typ 60.
Porsche had previously worked on some other small cars that used many
elements later to be included in the Beetle. The Typ 32 prototype NSU
of 1934 was an air-cooled rear-engined four-cylinder horizontally
opposed powered car that used torsion bar suspension and featured
beetle-like styling. Many of the Typ 60 components were derived from
the NSU design.
A Typ 60 prototype was reportedly unveiled during the Nazi party
convention at Nuremberg during the first week of September 1934. Leni
Riefenstahl's documentary of that event ("Triumph des Willens")
reportedly has an image of that prototype, but I have yet to find that
image.
By late 1935, the first prototypes were on the autobahns; the V1
saloon and a convertible V2, which had aluminum bodies mounted over
traditional wooden frameworks. In 1936, steel bodies mounted over all-
steel floorpans were used for the VW3 revision... powered by a 984cc,
22bhp engine that could reach a top speed of around 65 mph. Another 30
prototypes were then made by Daimler-Benz who was not keen to make
such a cheap car as they thought it would damage their high-class
reputation.
An image of the VW3 prototype can be found at
http://people.westminstercollege.edu/staff/bknorr/html/history2.htm.
Your sighting shares the flat windscreen and correct side window
shapes with that image. However, I do not believe that your
observation about a spare tire is correct. The dark area to the back
of that vehicle does not appear to have enough mass to be a
"continental"-type spare, but it could be shadows produced by the
engine louvers on the prototype's windowless decklid. The light area
also corresponds to the white-colored number plate shown in the
prototype image at http://www.pre67vw.co.uk/history/.
Jim
http://vwfilms.net/
Post by LIBERATORhttp://youtu.be/vwO30VlJscY
IS that a VW bug precisely at 4:00? Freeze your video at 4:00, and
review.
It looks like one, except the spare tire on the trunk would make that
incorrect.
Anyone who knows their German history enough to know if the early
models had spare tires on the trunk, fill us in.