Solved: Wendax 1577 - Rex-Simplex 13/35 PS (or 13/38 or 13/40)

[targhediferro]

Opel 8/25?

[Wendax]

Two more nos

[4popoid]

Beckmann Type 8/32 circa 1925?

[Wendax]

No

[luisps]

EHRHARDT

[4popoid]

Lipsia circa 1923?

Apollo circa 1924?

[targhediferro]

Benz 10/30?

[Wendax]

3 x no

[4popoid]

Lipsia circa 1923?

[Wendax]

No

[luisps]

KOMNICK

[Wendax]

No

[luisps]

PETER & MORITZ (PM)

[Wendax]

Apollo
Beckmann
Benz
Dixi
Ehrhardt
Elite
Hataz
Komnick
Ley
Lipsia
NAG
NSU
Opel
Peter & Moritz
Phänomen
Presto
Selve
Steiger
Stoewer

[4popoid]

Brennabor Type P (8/24 HP) circa 1922?

[Wendax]

Not a Brennabor either

[targhediferro]

AGA?

[4popoid]

Elitewagen (formerly Rex-Simplex) 13/40 PS circa 1921?

[Wendax]

Not Elite, but Rex-Simplex. I'll have to look up the model tonight. Meanwhile locked for you.

[Wendax]

The year should be about right. The horsepower rating is close, but not correct, and I need the type designation.

[4popoid]

Thanks for the lock Gerd.  Sorry for the slow reply, but I have been away from my computer all afternoon. 

The source I was using when I made my initial post cited Linz/Schrader regarding the only surviving Rex-Simpex after the Elite takeover as the 13/40 hp which was sold as the Elitewagen 13/40 PS.  This source made no reference to any other post-war Rex-Simplex models.  Despite the lack of Rex-Simplex information, I have managed to find a second internet source (I have no idea regarding its reliability) which says:

"After the war were updated two designs from before the war, the 10 / 28hp and 13 / 40hp.
In 1921 the company was absorbed by the "Elite Motorenwerke AG". Over the next two years until 1923, it continued to produce a single model, the 13 / 40hp (3176cc)."

So, if the puzzle car is a post-war Rex-Simplex and the above information is correct, but it is not a 13/40 hp, it must be a 10/28 hp.

As for the model designation I can find nothing, so I can only speculate.  The puzzle car appears to have six seats, although the middle two may be jump seats.  In earlier times I would suppose this type would have been called a Phaeton (either Double Phaeton if it has jump seats, or Triple Phaeton if it has permanent seats).  In the early teens the term Phaeton tended to fade in favor of the term Torpedo, which in the post-war period (at least in the US) tended to morph into the term Touring Car, or Pullman (or Limousine) Touring Car if it has extended length for extra seats.  Based on this I would suppose that this vehicle would be marketed as a: 1921 Rex-Simplex 10/28 hp 6 seat Touring Car, or perhaps: 1921 Rex-Simplex 10/28 hp Pullman Touring Car.   

[Wendax]

Let's call this puzzle solved. I agree with you that it is not easy to find reliant information about Rex-Simplex after WW1. The few sources I have are contradictory. Some say that after WW1 no Rex-Simplex cars were built except for the 1921 Elitewagen which was a rebadged Rex-Simplex. But that has to be wrong, as I found a picture from the 1920 automobile exhibition at Berlin showing the Rex-Simplex stand with cars looking like the puzzle car (see below). I think the puzzle car is the 13 PS car, while for the real power output I found three different possibilities: 13/40 PS, 13/38 PS or 13/35 PS, the last one from a 1920 magazine. Some sources claim the 13/38 PS to be a Typ B IV (or BIV), others say it was a carryover of the prewar Typ B IV.

One point for you.

[Wendax]

The unmolested puzzle picture: