This is the lore thread for Anhultz Automobile Manufacturing (international name) made for Generations II: The full line challenge.
Before WWII
Not much is known about pre-WWII Anhultz as most of it was lost within the war.
What IS known, however, is that Anhultz was founded sometime in the 1920s as an automobile manufacturer making mostly upscale cars.
The founder, Siegwald Anhultz soon wanted to appeal to the less money-sprawiling population by introducing a more aff… WHOOPS WWII happened.
During WWII
Throughout the 1939 model year, Anhultz operated “without” much disturbance due to their home country, the Netherlands, being neutral. Lack of demand for cars still forced mass layoffs and loss of sales, until disaster struck when Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940.
Siegwald WANTED to remain neutral and thus immediately closed any and all operations and had any trace of Anhults’s existance hidden and/ or destroyed. This included the instruction to the government to temporarily erase “Anhultz Automobile Manufacturing” from the list of registered compaies to avoid detection by the Germans. The operation was somewhat succesful, with Anhultz not being mentioned in any form of German WWII development program. However their factory was used as a factory for war materials during the remainder of the war.
The remainder of the war was spent with important engineers rounded up in an out-of-country operation to restart operation as quickly as possible when the war is over, planning to make a relatively affordable family car to sell to the general population.
Just after WWII
WWII has ended and Siegwald Anhultz sadly won't be able to finish the plan off by himself, through reasons unknown.Responsibility was handed to his son, Willem Anhultz, who, while also wanting to start production of the family car, does have a different approach to future models…
Willem Anhultz and the team of engineers head back to wher the factory should be and discover about two thirds of it still standing and structurally stable.
With the blueprints for their fist post-war car in hands, tooling for the factory began less than two weeks after. Reconstruction of the destroyed part went MUCH slower because the reconstruction also included higly ambitious expansion plans.
Luck eventually did came Willem’s way with this letter…
To the Esteemed Mr. Willem Siegwald Anhultz:
It has been an honor for myself and my brother, Thomas, to host your family and associates during their time of need. Now that you are planning your return home, we felt that it was time to present you with a token of our esteem.The Townsend family would like to extend an offer of a long-term, low-interest loan in order to assist the reconstruction of Anhultz Automobile Manufacturing. We hope that this will help pave the way to a healthy, productive company in your home country of the Netherlands.
Should you care to proceed with receiving these funds, please have your Chief Financial Officer contact Jeffrey Moss, our counterpart within Townsend Coachworks.
We will remember your family with fondness, and hope to see you in the future, should you visit the United States, or should we visit Europe.
Warmest Regards,
Earle Townsend Jr.
…along with the conditions of the loan offered.
Dear Mr. Bastiaan Rynsburger:
This letter is to notify you that Townsend Coachworks is offering to extend an installment loan to Anhultz Automobile Manufacturing. The terms of the loan are as follows:
Amount of Loan: $200,000 USD
Interest Rate: 5.9 percent
Compounding Period: Monthly
Length of Loan: 20 years
Installment Period: Monthly
Total Number of Installments: 240
Installment Amount: $1421.35 USD
First Installment Due: September 15, 1945
Final Payment Due: August 15, 1964If these terms are to your liking, please fill out and have notarized the included documents, and return them to me.
Regards,
Jeffrey L. Moss
Corporate Financial Officer
Townsend Coachworks
A board meeting was called and the following conversation followed.
Rynsburger estimated that the monthly loan payments would equal the wage of a few additional engineers. This would slow development a bit, but allows Anhultz to kickstart the rebuilding early and sell cars much more quickly than otherwise possible.
Thus, the filled out loan form was sent back with a copy of it kept in office to ensure the validity of the loan.
Funds were transferred as soon as Anhultz became a listed company again and the rebuilding could now be kicked into overdrive…
to be continued… (in a seperate post)