British Army Major Ivan Hirst of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) was running Volkswagen.

The Radclyffe Cabriolet, as it is known in Volkswagen circles, obviously influenced Joseph Hebmüller II on his frequent trips to the Wolfsburg plant.

[1] In April 1949, the Type 14A passed a 10,000 kilometres (6,214 mi) rough road test by Volkswagen engineers.

Pleased with the results, Heinz Nordhoff ordered 2,000[1] production versions to be sold by Volkswagen through its agents.

It also shared the Type 1's crank starting,[2] and the cabriolet's cowl-mounted semaphore turn signals[3] and its pushbutton Telefunken radio.