French wrench

[rusty]

>hilly country where it snows

One of the mysteries I have never figured out is why the old VW's had such awfull heat given that it does snow in germany...

[1930]

Heat exchangers under the seat would rot out too easliy

[Wrenchmensch]

In my experience, Germany is a fairly cool country. June temperatures in Germany were like late September temperatures in the Adirondacks, when I would visit our offices in the state of Hesse in western Germany.  Germany is located between the Alps to the south, and the North and Baltic seas to the north.  The cold North Sea dominates German weather systems most of the year. Germans probably tolerate cold weather a little better than we do, as a result. 

In the 1950s as today,distances traveled in winter were short: home to work and back again, or home to market and back again.  Long distance travel in cheap cars like the poorly-heated early VWs was pretty much restricted to August vacation times when the weather was relatively warm.   

[Billman49]

My first car was a 1950's UK Ford - the  e93A Pouplar - it didn't have any heater - in cold weather we used to have to drive with a blanket over our knees. It had vacuum wipers that stopped when the throttle was fully open. Not a good thing half way up a steep hill in the pouring rain....My mate had a 1930's Morris 8 that had electric wipers, but still no heater - it did have an opening windscreen - when it was iced up, with no heater and no de-icer fluid, we had to drive with the screen up to see the road. An air cooled VW with a heater would have been much appreciated....