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Hi Alex,

Thanks for your message. The English book is scheduled for publication in September 2011, but I will keep you updated! The Dutch book is now on the market for euro 24.95. I don't know yet how much the English book will be.

The color pic of Joe Ganz is said to have been taken behind the parking lot of the GM Holden factory:



And here is another pic of Joe Ganz with his Holden:



And a picture of his Holden with registration number FJ GLY718 (does this car still exist?) on the corner of Aclani and Barkley st in St Kilda:



By the way Ganz also worked for the Standard motor company in Australia in the 1950s. Is there anything known about retired employees from that company?

I am looking for retired GM Holden employees who can remember Joseph or Joe Ganz working there in the late 1950s / early 1960s:



Joe Ganz originated from Europe, where he was editor-in-chief of motoring magazine Motor-Kritik until 1934, worked as a technical consultant for such makes as BMW and Mercedes-Benz, and above all developed a Volkswagen. His design formed the basis for Porsche's Volkswagen as ordered by Hitler, while Joe Ganz as a Jew had to escape from Germany for his life in 1934. He then lived in Switzerland until emigrating to Australia in 1951. He lived in Edgewater Towers appartment building in St. Kilda for a number of years until his death in 1967. From the mid-1950s until the early 1960s he worked at GM Holden as an engineer, working on "special projects". Originally under chief engineer Mr Lewis and alongside chief engineer Mr Quarry (later under mechanical design engineer Mr Ambor).

I researched the life story of Josef Ganz for over 5 years and last year published a book about him and his work on the Volkswagen Beetle. See: http://www.ganz-volkswagen.org/



My book will be published in English next year and I am working on a documentary about his life. For this especially we are looking for anyone who can remember Joe Ganz. Please contact me either directly or through my website: http://www.ganz-volkswagen.org/

Many thanks,

Paul Schilperoord