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 most criticism - the tiny two stroke motor and Duraplast bodywork - had nothing to do with communism or design by committee, but were the direct result of DKWs pre-war designs. In the prewar years DKWs cars were wooden bodies with leatherette coating for waterproofing. Nevertheless, the wood did rot over time. DKW sought to counter this by developing plastic thermoset body panels. This was eventually called Duraplast and was formed from phenolic resin impregnated into a sawdust substrate and compressed under high heat. The resulting panels could be preformed into complex shapes and proved to be more robust in crash testing than either wood or steel bodies. East Germany was perennially short of steel and in order to minimize dependence on western German steel imports, the East German motoring industry began experimenting again with Duraplast for automobile body panels in the late 1950s. After successfully using it on the AWZ P70 in the late 1950s, VEB Sachsenring use Duraplast panels on their new budget car, the Trabant P50 in 1959. This made the car light and practically indestructible as the body would never rust and could be easily patched if damaged. The lightweight twin cylinder air cooled two-stroke engine was a beacon of simplicity and, while performance was never going to be great, it was enough for a perfectly adequate, low cost peoples' car.
For the history of the Trabant, check out my post: https://dkwautounionproject.blogspot.com/2017/07/trabant-east-german-peoples-car.html
DKW experiments with Duraplast: https://dkwautounionproject.blogspot.com/2022/05/auto-union-and-development-of-duroplast.html
Other links:
http://trabantforums.com/
http://www.ifaclub.co.uk/
http://www.trabantforum.de/index.php
Maicomobil
Maico's answer to the scooter craze in the early fifties was certainly distinctive. Built between 1950 and 1956, this 'two-wheeled car' was constructed around a tube space frame with elaborate steel panel bodywork. 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 in the pre and early postwar period, but in order to streamline the chaotic East German motoring industry in the mid-1950s, VEB assigned them the market for lightweight motorcycles and mopeds (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 indestructible. 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
Zweirad Union Type 115 Blechbanane
Certainly one of the most stylish and elegant mopeds ever built. Zweirad Union was formed from the merger of Victoria, Express and the motorcycle division of DKW in 1958. Express was bankrupt due to fraud and mismanagement, while Victoria was insolvent as it was still manufacturing expensive, high quality motorcycles during a time when motorcycle sales in Europe were in terminal decline. Similarly, DKW's motorcycle division had seen a dramatic downturn in sales right at the time that Mercedes-Benz was being asked to buy the struggling company. Mercedes-Benz begrudgingly agreed to the buy-out, but this was conditional on selling the loss making motorcycle division. For Victoria, the leading entity in the merger, obtaining the DKW motorcycle division was a strategic win, as it bought with it extensive engine development expertise. Originally, each of the three companies continued to sell their own bikes under their own brand names, but models were soon consolidated and production streamlined. Despite the decline in motorcycle sales, moped sales continued strongly among the youth market. Consequently, Zweirad Union designers gave the Hummel 115 in the latest space age styling. Unfortunately, it was rather expensive so it did not sell as well as the company hoped. 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. https://dkwautounionproject.blogspot.com/2022/04/1965-zweirad-union-dkw-hummel-range.html
http://www.zweirad-union-mopeds.de/shop/index.php
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 'favorites' and wish list:
https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2021/02/classic-car-wish-list-in-2021.html
