The Shape of Quality, Volkswagen Australasia documentary, c. 1965

Rounding out the VW 1500 Film Festival is this 26 minute promotional documentary about Australian VW production in the mid-'60s. VW 1500s appear throughout -- at the beginning where various VWs are subjected to all manner of off-road hoonery, later on the assembly line, and loaded onto a car carrier at the end. All this and a jazzy soundtrack straight out of a Russ Meyer movie. What more could you ask for?
















It's nice to see how the cars were assembled, though it's not clear how much of what's shown is representative of production methods worldwide and how much is specific to Australia. The film states that the VW Australasia's goal was to build cars with 95% Australian content within a few years, including the engines. Impressive -- I had always thought Australian VW production was mainly assembly with a limited amount of locally produced parts, but that's obviously not the case. I wonder if the 95% goal was ever met?