Did Laurent Colson invent the Beach Buggy? (update: not German but Belgian)

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We all know the Buggy was invented in the early 1960s by California beach boy Bruce Meyers, right? Oh yes, there had been other VW based creatures before, but these were all meant to be upmarket Beetles, like the Rometsch Beeskow, Drews Cabriolet or Enzmann 506. However, in one of our 1950s collector cards books, a drawing of what looked like an earlier attempt to a VW Buggy existed (see here). Unfortunately with no information other than it was the work of one ‘Colson’ of Germany, who developed it as early as in 1949 with a fibreglass body. Even the world wide web knew nothing more. But last weekend gave the search for this mystery a bit of a boost. Looking for something completely different, we came across a picture of the Colson, photographed at the 1951 Motor Show in Brussels. There it was, looking very much like having been the inspiration for the drawing, too. And still looking very much to be a predecessor of the VW Buggy. It finally proved the car was not just a pipe dream. Colson existed, Laurent Colson to be precise, or so the sign in front of the wind screen says. But who was he? And did he ever build any more cars? What does this number plate tell us? And why is this sporty roadster shrouded in mystery? There must be someone out there who knows more. (picture reproduced with kind permission of the KNAC - the Royal Dutch Automobile Club)

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