1971 – At the age of 5, Mark Zanzig poses on the hood of a Vokswagen 1500 Variant in Kiel, Germany. Scan © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
I think it’s somewhat weird to post childhood images of yourself. However, they are without doubt a part of me and my history, and – in a way – also historic documents. At least they show how the status of the world at a specific point in time.
So, here is a shot that shows me in the summer of 1971, at the age of ‘almost six’ as my mother noted in the family archive. The car is a VW 1500 Variant. The appendix ‘Variant’ indicates an estate car in the VW portfolio. It’s been the business car of my father, and about once every month he would take the car to the car wash. I still remember those drives and was glad to get from the small village outside of Kiel in Germany to ‘the city’. A welcome distraction, especially during summer holidays.
I also remember the location of this car wash: At the corner of Königsweg and Sachaustraße. This car wash was really exciting as you could sit inside the car while it was pulled through the various brushes and cleaning stations.
The car wash went out of business a long time ago, probably in the 1990s. At the time of writing, Google Maps shows just an empty space where the car wash used to be.
In case you are wondering about the shop windows in the background on the right – these belonged to a SIMCA car dealer. SIMCA used to be a French car maker that got acquired by Chrysler and was sold to Peugeot in 1978 who discontinued the brand.
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | Summer 1971 |
| Location | Kiel, Germany |
| Image Source | 7 x 10 cm Color Print |
| Digital Image Source | EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 4825 x 3393 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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