You don’t need to be the first to do something to receive the credit of invention. Apple has become the most valuable company on earth not by their own invention, but by refining other companies’ ideas and marketing them to the masses. The iPod was the first portable mp3 right? Er… no. The iPad the first touch screen tablet? Not even close. And yet what was this blog entry typed on? Yup, a Mac.
– The Volkswagon Golf GTI is considered a leader in innovation. –
Such practices (and consumer delusions) are just as rife within the automotive industry as they are within tech. In fact, many Americans still wrongly believe that the American, Henry Ford, invented the motorcar. In reality, Karl Benz invented the automobile 20 years before Ford introduced his famous “Model T”!
Anyway, the point here is not that people need to read their history (although that is a valid point…), but that those that did something best are the ones we talk about today. Those that did it first (unless they also happened to be the best) are just a page in the dark recesses of Wikipedia.
And so too it was with Volkswagen and the hot hatch. Widely credited with creating the formula, Volkswagen’s Golf GTI was not the first sporty hatchback, but much like the iPod, it quickly became regarded as the best, and as such is now synonymous with creating the genre.
– If you can’t do it first, do it best. –
This neat LEGO recreation of the iconic Volkswagen is the work of Hasan Kabalak, and you can make sure that you do give credit where it’s due by visiting Hasan’s Flickr and Eurobricks
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Hasan’s Volkswagon could become an actual LEGO set. The first step to making this possible if getting 10,000 votes on LEGO ideas – he’s almost halfway there.
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