Classic Cars and Coffee - Sunday 7th May 2023

I took my DKW F94 to the meet and was interviewed by Marc, who is a regular attendee and video blogger. Check out his video below. My interview starts at 4.05.



There actually wasn't any rain to speak of on Sunday morning, most falling overnight and during the early morning. Nevertheless, rain scares away classic car drivers so the turn out was extremely small.

Mini rolling in. 

Renault 10

The dog admires an Audi R8

Reliant Scimitar

Ford trio line-up

Ford Thunderbird, Ford Consul Capri and Ford Cortina

Landrover Mark II

Put a tiger in your tank.

1949 Morgan Coupe

Citroen DS

Lamborghini

Nissan Be-1

The most interesting car of the day in my opinion - Commer van

Volkswagen Oval 

Good to see one that hasn't been messed about with.

Austin Seven - for sale if you're interested.

Renault Dauphine and Renault 10

Mercedes-Benz 190SL - see the video for the details.

Next Classic Car and Coffee is Sunday 4th June 2023

FAMO Sd.Kfz 9 in Post-war service

After Germany began rearming in 1933, the Wehrmacht recognized that it would need heavy haulers to tow large artillery pieces and act as tank recovery vehicles. Many companies built a variety half-tracked vehicles of various sizes, but the Sd.Kfz 9 20 ton heavy hauler built by FAMO (Fahrzeug- und Motorenbau GmbH) of Breslau, a truck and tractor manufacturer, was the largest built in Germany during the war. Although designed at a time when the largest German tank was the Panzer IV, it proved powerful enough to tow the Tiger and Panther heavy tanks. Around 2500 thousand were built during the course of the war, including a number outsourced to the Tatrawerkes in Czechoslovakia. FAMO were considered such an important military facility that entire factory was dismantled and evacuated south as the eastern front collapsed in 1945.

A wartime article from the Ringhoffer-Tatrawerkes on the production of Sd.Kfz 9s.

The dismantled FAMO plant was abandoned in Leipzig at the end of the war, where it was recovered by the Soviet Occupation Forces. Some designs and machinery were shipped to the Soviet Union as reparations, but FAMOs tractor and engine lines were rebuilt in East Germany. The Sd.Kfz 9 did not continue in the post-war period, but those that did survive the war were too useful to simply be abandoned or scrapped and some went on to long service lives as heavy haulers and mobile cranes. Crane and hauler company R & H Heydemann of Duisburg acquired two Sd.Kfz 9s for their fleet, where they gave sterling service well into the 1960s.