Wilhelm Schwebe, Karmann chief construction engineer, passed away

[Tempest]

Sad news, see attached announcement and a page dedicated to the great man on the Dissener Scirocco Club website

Schwebe joined Karmann to work on the Beetle cabrio, then worked on the Ghia, the Mk1 and Mk2 Roccos (designed the duck tail on the Mk1, the recessed rain gutters on the Mk2, just to name a few of his contributions), and his favourite car of all he has worked on, the Corrado, where I still remember the fatal question that a colleague in the Corrado Club asked him, when we saw him last in September 2018 at his home: "Which parts of the Corrado did you work on?" Shocked expression on his face as he replied:

"What do you mean, which parts? All of them, the entire car!"

RIP

Tempest

[MRMENDER]

A top man
Through you Eric we met him twice
Ive got a sun visor, and a factory photo signed by him

[Tempest]

Drove 2 laps of honour for Schwebe, one lap in my Mk1 Rocco, the other one in my Corrado (the C was Schwebe's all-time favourite car that he has worked on at Karmann).

Dissen meet 2015:


Dissen meet 2012


Tempest

[GT_II]

It is clear Schwebe is revered in other circles too, as can be seen from his involvement at this large gathering of Triumph TR6s at the Karmann factory last year:

https://www.tr-register.co.uk/article/2 ... of-Karmann

I'd not heard of Schwebe before, nor had I appreciated the breadth of Karmann's work for manufacturers other than VW in which he clearly also had a big role.

[essextom]

RIP WIllli

[16v_coupe]

Yes, RIP Willi Schwebe the man who helped our type 53's at birth ... He will be truly missed

[GTXTRA]

Thanks for sharing Eric, I know how highly you thought of him.

Take care.