Name That Car #1465 - Mercur Ego 4/14 PS Typ MKA

[Otto Puzzell]

Know what it is?

Please, respond below and share your knowledge what this is, and who built it
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[Otto Puzzell]

Christmas come early, around the world
For Expert boys, and for Expert girls.

[pnegyesi]

Isn't it this one, after its restoration?

Ego was a German small car...

[Otto Puzzell]

You're halfway there. Need the manufacturer's name, too.

Locked for you for 24 hours. 

[pnegyesi]

BTW one such car, an Ego was part of my EU group puzzle. Anyhow, it was made by Mercur Flugzeugbau in Berlin, Germany in the early 1920s

[Otto Puzzell]

Mercur (or Merkur) is what I was looking for.

In his autobiography "Meine Welt" Rudolf Caracciola describes how he, as a sales representative for Fafnir, wanted to enter a Fafnir for a light car race in Berlin. Because of his bad sales results he was denied a car. Instead he borrowed a friend's 4 hp EGO, but before he could enter the race the little car had to be overhauled by the factory. After a hectic race Caracciola won first prize (of course!). The name Caracciola still is well-known, but almost nobody remembers the EGO. The car was made from 1921-1927 by Merkur, an airplane factory east of Berlin.

[Wendax]

To be precise, it is a Ego 4/14 PS Typ MKA. The manufacturer was definitely spelled Mercur, not Merkur (see attached clipout of an Ego brochure). The puzzle car is a four-seater from 1924. Another surviving Ego is a 1922 two-seater with more expressionistic hood louvers:

[Wendax]

A period ad:

[Wendax]

A period picture:

[Wendax]

A period picture:

[Wendax]

Another one:

[Wendax]

Another one:

[Wendax]

And one more:

[Fёdor]

 

[Wendax]

And another one:

[Wendax]

An advertising postcard for the delivery version: