Saturday, January 8, 2011

Revised 'favourites' list

My ongoing love affair with vintage machines has not dimmed over the years despite their lack of reliability, numerous breakdowns and constant expense. Much to Shelly's frustration, my list of 'most desired' vehicles just keeps on getting longer and longer. A couple of years ago I posted my 'most desired' vehicle list on the sidebar but as time has ticked by my tastes have changed somewhat, so it's time to do a new list. My old favourites I've tracked here, including the original weblinks. This of course doesn't mean I don't want these beauties!

Trabant P50

The Trabant is often lambasted in the popular press as one of the worst cars ever made. That completely misses the point. All the features that come in for criticism - the tiny two stroke motor and duraplast bodywork - had nothing to do with communism or design by committee. They were the direct descendents of DKWs pre-war designs. In the prewar years DKWs cars were all built of wood with leather, plywood or synthetic body panels. Duraplast, a composite product made of resin impregnated cotton or paper pulp, was one of the products they were experimenting with before the war. Shortages of steel in East Germany meant that VEB Sachsenring continued to use Duraplast, while DKW in the West could afford to abandon it. These decisions, driven by necessity and hardship meant that while the Trabant would never be a high performance vehicle, it was practically indestructible - the body would never rust, could be easily patched if damaged and the engine would run just about forever. It was, as its makers intended, a perfectly adequate, low cost peoples' car.
http://trabantforums.com/
http://www.ifaclub.co.uk/
http://www.trabantforum.de/index.php
http://wartburg353knight.blogspot.com/
http://sachsenringtrabi.blogspot.com/

Maicomobil

Maico's answer to the scooter craze in the early fifties was certainly distinctive. Built between 1950 and 1956, it was described as a two-wheeled car it was built like a enclosed motorcycle. Big, chunky and slow, it's a magnificent beast and highly desirable. Information on the web can be hard to find in English.
http://philippe-devant.over-blog.com/article-4619194.html
Philippe Devant in Paris is Mr Maicomobil.
http://www.maicomobil.de/
http://www.dropbears.com/m/motorcycles/maico-mobil.htm
http://www.cybermotorcycle.com/euro/brands/maico_scooters.htm

Simson Schwalbe

http://www.mz-und-simson.de/simson/roller.html
Simson was part of VEB, the East German automotive collective. They originally built motorcycles but VEB assigned them the moped market (motorcycle production was assigned to MZ, formerly IFA, the old DKW factory in Zwickau). They upgraded their cute little S2 moped with scooter bodywork and created this little beauty. What the Vespa is to Italy, the Swallow is to East Germany. Thousands of these machines survive in Germany where they continue to be used as daily runabouts as they are almost indestructable. We saw dozens on the road in eastern Germany in 2009. They have now gained the status of a cult icon, up there with the Trabant. If you're interested in a Swallow, you need do no more than look on http://www.ebay.de/.
http://www.schwalbennest.de/
http://www.cybermotorcycle.com/euro/brands/simson.htm

ZU Victoria Type 115 Blechbanane

http://www.zweirad-union-mopeds.de/shop/index.php
Certainly one of the most stylish and elegant mopeds ever built. Originally released by DKW (see my posting "Das Kline Wunder"), it was something of a flop. The model was taken over by the Zweirad Union conglomerate of moped producers, but sales did not really improve. They are now regarded as collectors items. There is quite a bit of information on the Internet about them but it's all in German.

Achilles 175

These very rare little scooters, almost a covered motorcycle really, were built by the German Achilles company between 1952 and 1954. Powered by the ubiquitous SACHS 175cc engine, they were a short lived affair. There are very few left in existence and information about them is very hard to come by. http://www.cybermotorcycle.com/euro/brands/achilles.htm

Aeromacchi Chimera
 
Like Piaggio, Aeromacchi originally built aircraft but were stopped from doing so after the war. Instead they began building small, sporty motorcycles. In 1957 they developed this very advanced and streamlined model but the bodywork put off many buyers and the model flopped. In the end only about 300 were built. They reverted to traditional styling though and they continued to be successful, so much so that Harley-Davidson bought them out in order to introduce light sports bikes to the US. They flopped in the US so H-D sold them to the Italian motorcycle company, MV Agusta. In the 1990s, H-D, learning nothing from its own past bought MV Agusta, but their new products tanked again. After ten years of losses they sold MV Agusta back to its original owners for 1 euro!!
http://www.philsellers.com/gallery/bvmm/aermacchi/index.html
http://www.cybermotorcycle.com/euro/brands/aermacchi.htm
http://www.philsellers.com/gallery/bvmm/aermacchi/index.html

As my interests have changed over the years, I have rethought my 'favourites' and wish list:
https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2021/02/classic-car-wish-list-in-2021.html


Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Interesting Automotive Links (2011)


I do spend quite a lot of time on the internet looking for information about the machines that interest me. Over time I tend to lose track of them so here is a list of links - as much a reminder to myself as potentially of interest to others. So, it you too like German motorcycles, scooters and two-stroke engined cars, enjoy! I'll be updating these links periodically too.

Ariel Leader

Review of the Ariel Leader - http://sump-publishing.co.uk/ariel%20leader.htm
The Australian Ariel owners club - http://www.australian-ariel-register.com/
http://ariel-square-four.blogspot.co.uk/

BSA

http://www.mistgreen.com/mistgreen/index.htm
http://bsabantam.blogspot.com
http://mybsabantamd7.blogspot.com.au/

Auto-Union / DKW

An excellent resource for DKW motorcycles - http://www.dkw-geyer.com/DKW-Geyer/e/index.htm
More about DKW motorcycles (in German) - http://www.dkw-motorraeder.de/tiki-index.php
Well written history from the Australian Unique Cars website - http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/lost_marques_dkw.htm
DKW schnellaster vans - http://www.dkw-schnellaster.de/
DKW Maintal - https://www.dkw-autounion.de/
http://www.karmannghias.org/DKW3.htm
DKW Club of USA - http://lotsoc.com/dkw/dkw1.html
DKW Club of UK - http://www.dkw.org.uk/
DKW Club of South Africa - http://www.dyna.co.za/cars/dkw.htm
Auto-Union Veteran Club - http://www.auto-union-veteranen-club.de/startseite.html
Dutch DKW club - http://www.dkwclub.nl/
Spanish language website with lots of great photos of Auto Union cars from the 1930s and 40s. http://www.webkits.com.br/news/templates/news.asp?articleid=373&zoneid=30
Auto-Union 1000SP - http://www.ritzsite.nl/DKW1000SP/01_SP.htm
My own archive of DKW/Auto Union history and documents - https://dkwautounionproject.blogspot.com/

NSU

http://www.nsuprinz.com/

In the Second World War NSU built these interesting little motorcycle tractors.
http://www.kettenkrad.com/
http://www.kettenkrad.de/index_e.htm

Messerschmitt

http://www.messerschmitt.co.uk/
http://www.cybermotorcycle.com/euro/brands/messerschmitt.htm

Tempo trucks

http://www.tempo-tempo.de/
http://www.tempo-dienst.de/english/index.html
http://www.oldievan.de/html/tempo_hanseat.html
http://www.oldbug.com/tempo.htm
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/10/tempo-boy-the-other-tempo-three-wheeled-truck-200cc-and-world-speed-record-holder/
http://www.hanomag-kurier.de/willich.html

Barkas B1000 vans

http://www.barkas.de/

Borgwards, Lloyds and Hansas

http://www.borgwardisabella.com/
https://www.borgward-ig.de/
http://www.lloydselig.com/
http://www.baumaschinenbilder.de - Borgward Trucks
http://forums.vwvortex.com/-The-Borgward-empire
http://www.goliath-veteranen-club.de/
http://www.oldtimer-tv.com/oldtimer/DE/oldtimer/index.php?Seite=205 (video and photos)
http://www.buntbahn.de/modellbau/printview.php?t=8327&start=0 (lots of photos of old German trucks and commercials)

Zundapp

http://www.zundappfool.com/

Goggomobil

http://goggodart.com/goggo.html
https://goggomobil.com/
http://www.cybecom.com.au/Goggomobil/

IWL

1. EMW and IWL restorations
http://emw340-2.com/
2. IWL Stadtroller website
http://www.iwl-stadtroller-ig.de/
http://www.iwl-stadtroller-berlin.de/
3. IWL Roller website
http://www.iwlroller.de/index_eng.html
4. Troll owners guide (in German)
http://www.ostmotorrad.de/andere/iwl/trollb/TROLLB.HTM
5. IWL Calendar
http://www.motorradmeistermilz.de/
https://iwl-kalender.myshopify.com/

BMW motorcycles

http://www.vintagebmw.org
http://www.earlesfork.com/
http://www.bmbikes.co.uk/information.htm

BMW Isetta

http://bzisettas.blogspot.com/

Volkswagen

My history of the evolution of the Volkswagen (in three parts):
https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2012/03/volkswagen-world-beating-peoples-car.html

This is the amazing story of the discovery and restoration of a 1943 KDF prototype discovered in Lithuanian. Prior to its purchase by Grundmann the story was tracked in a very long forum discussion on The Samba website, here: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=340552

Microcars

http://microcarmuseum.com/virtualtour.html Bruce Weiner's amazing microcar museum (it's all there)
http://www.microcar.org/
http://minutia-microcarsminicars.blogspot.com/