356 The way it was...

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[Henk Vasmel]

Quite a remarkable license plate. According to "Registration Plates Of The World" this plate belongs to the German Democratic Republic, 1945-1947. That would be to early for such a car. KB means "Kommandantura Berlin" (West Berlin).
Somebody needs to explain to me how this all fits in with the political situation in Berlin, just after the war.

[revron]

The car is 1950 or very early 1951. How do you date the license plate?
Ron

[Henk Vasmel]

The info comes from the book I quoted. That means the license plate has been issued in 1947 at last, if the book is correct. After that it may have been used on different cars (don't know the rules for that for this issue). It also doesn't mention when those plates where withdrawn, i.e. replaced by a later series. Still, the fact that a Porsche is driving around on DDR plates makes me curious.

[revron]

Henk,
Thanks for the info. Considering the political situation the authorities probably would not let someone run around with the wrong "papers," even a license plate for nostalgia. Don't have my history book handy, but was the "Deutche Democratic Republic, 1945-1947" only during those years? "Kommandantura Berlin" would be the commander's office who may have had special privileges, like being paid enough to afford a new Porsche. Wonder who the three guys in the photo are, since none of them look like the commander, although the guy with his foot on the plate looks like a wanna-be. Maybe they just put the plate on for the photo, knowing what it meant. And I guess the KB was before Berlin was designated east & west? Perhaps just an interesting academic question.
Ron

[Henk Vasmel]

I was convinced it was a DDR license plate, so when I found it under the German Democratic Republic, I didn't search any further. However, now I also looked at the West-German entries, and there it is listed too. From 1948 they changed to black plates with white characters, with the exception of KB which remained white with black characters. So, yes, it can be later, and yes it can be West-Berlin. I now suppose that until 1947 Berlin was commonly ruled by all the allies, and then East and West separated.

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[revron]

Interesting to see them polishing this car after it was assembled, although the front Porsche badge appears to have been removed. Must have been an end-of-line repair, cause getting all the dust and residue off is going to be a bear . . .
Guy on the left looks like he is really leaning on that polisher.
Ron

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[roy mawbey]

That welder in the centre of the picture is just about as dirty as you could possibly get his clothes as well as his face and hands. Now I do remember working in machine shops in the 1950's but never got quite that dirty. How times have changed! Been retired now for ten years but remember well visiting all the largest car plants in the UK including the Japanese ones and they were all so clean in comparison 50 years after that photo was taken.

I do remember the Ford factory in Dagenham near London in the early 60's after a visit there organised by the company I worked for. It again was rather black and depressing from my memory. When Ford fully organized their Engine plant in Bridgend in Wales by 2000 it was a clean great shop like also the BMW engine plant near Birmingham.

These photos are so interesting to see, especially those from the early 356 factory days. Thank you.

Roy