Re: What's in a name?

[Roland.Greppmeir@t-online.de (Roland Greppmeir)]

WALTEE wrote:
> 
> This is for anyone fluent in German- a translation, possibly?
> I have an old VW sales brochure, printed in German, of the '71 VW model
> line (Das VW-Programm). I was wondering about some of the terms used.
> The cabriolets- the 1302 and 1302S are called "Kafer" with an umlat
> (sp?) over the "a". Any English word for "Kafer"? Ghia's are called
> "Karmann Ghia Coupe' und Cabriolet" which is pretty self explanatory,
> but the Type III's are another story. They're called VW 1600 in the
> brochure, but in German it reads "Stufenheck, FliebBheck, oder Variant".
> Variant seems to be common, and I was told that "Stufenheck" means
> step-back, or notch-back and that "FlieBheck" (my "B", it actually looks
> different) means fast-back. Is this right?  For short, would it be
> "stufen" or "stufe"? I've heard it both ways, but "mein stufe" would fit
> on a plate, and "mein stufen" wouldn't. Verstehen Sie?
> David Walters
> '73 Stufenheck

O.K. since I´m German translating the above stuff is no problem.
Kaefer = beetle (ae = umlaut, like you already realized. I could type
         the right character on my german keyboard but it wouldn`t
         help you, so if the character is not available you write "ae"

Stufenheck = notch back. Stufe is singular
                         Stufen is plural

          when you talk about your car you say: Mein Stufenheck
                         or short               Meine Stufe
                so for your plate "Meine Stufe" would be right, but
                with the extra "e" it would fit, I guess. But for
                me "Mein Stufe" would be O.K. also not 100 % correct.
                why not I would have to go deeper into German grammar.

Fliessheck = fastback, that character that looks simular to B is
             German only, again, and can also be written "ss"

Variant = squareback. The name "Variant" is VW only word for station
                      wagons. E.g. Audi calls theirs "Avant" and
                      BMWs are called "Touring"

Bye

Roland

`69 squareback ( Variant )
`69 fastback   ( Fliessheck )
`69 beetle     ( Kaefer )