A point for you, if you tell me what this is:
Experts?
Pro time!
Is this German?
This is a tale of 2 countries, one of which indeed is Germany ;)
With a connection to J. S. RASMUSSEN, and Bohnstedt & Petersen-DK-A?
I'm thinking a DKW?
You mean this one:
Bugace, I'll lock it for you to come up with the rest of the story.
The other half of the story lies not in Denmark and therefore it's not Bohnstedt & Petersen
This will not be easy...
The D.K.W. is a Slaby Beringer, converted from to electric to petrol :)
I haven't been able to connect the story and names that I'm looking for to either D.K.W. or SB, but it almost cannot be another car.
I'll keep digging!
I do not think it is a Slaby Beringer, they always had only one door to the right side:
It looks a bit like a cross between an SB and a Mollmobil
But the screen and the fenders are rounded at the Mollmobil...
Perhaps someone will get to the truth after finding out which name I have for this car.
I do have a 2nd photo ;)
From what I have found out, if it is a DKW, it's based on the electrocar mentioned ower here. Rasmussen mounted the 40 ccm engine on the side. The twostroker was just a helpengine for the elektroengine, but this extra power gave the car the oppertunity to climb a lot steaper hills. In other words a early hybrid. In the small pieces of text I have found, this Bergsteiger, are mentioned too only have reach the prototype stadium, not knowing how many cars actually built.
When talking about doors, the driver had doors both sides, but the passanger only on the left side.
I'm sorry, but this is all I can find about this vehicle.
I've found a similar story.
However, a while ago I first stumbled stumbled upon the 2 photos I posted here and the story behind these cars. There is no mentioning of Rasmussen or D.K.W. there, but there is another German name known in the industry at that time. The make that I'm after is not German, but it was backed by a German investor.
Later I came across the D.K.W. "der kleine Bergsteiger" advert and concluded that there must be a link, but I haven't found anything yet to prove it.
I found a photo of the D.K.W. "der kleine Bergsteiger". My puzzle car lacks the outboard engine...
I also found a few D.K.W. factory photos
Was this German investor also involved with one or more German automobile manufacturers?
He has the same name as a known manufacturer of that time. He even could be the same man, but I don't have any proof of that.
Is it related to Borgward?
No, not Borgward
Dürkopp?
Not that either
Austrian?
that "known manufacturer" which you mentioned - was that a German brand? I mean the industrialist was German, but the brand name, which his name rhymed with was it a German automobile make?
Yes, indeed and one of the autopuzzlers should know it very well ;)
Opel?
No, this make is long gone
Lead the trace to Japan?
Stoewer?
Not to Japan and not Stoewer
So the puzzle car itself is not German. Is it from Europe though?
Yes, it's European. The photo's were taken at or near the factory site. It's is certain that there was a factory with the necessary machinery, but it is uncertain if production really got started at that site. Some of the machines were still in use over 50 years later!
Besides the German investor there was also a local wealthy man involved.
Was this factory in Eastern Europe (including Romania, Poland etc.)?
Not in that direction ;)
Norway?
Not in Scandinavia ;)
Switzerland?
Not in the Alpine region
Spain?
Not from the Iberian peninsula
UK?
Not an island country ;)
France?
Italy?
Not in Southern Europe ;)
Well, then, France?
Not from France, either. Not much left now...
Dutch?
:thumbsup: Yes, indeed!
According to Autodesign in Nederland this is the Ley. And indeed I found the page on Machinefabriek W. Ley which in 1922 offered this little car.
Ley is indeed the name of the German man behind this, but according to my source it's not the name of the factory that made it. Locked for you, of course :)
Now I know where I saw this picture not long ago. I might even have saved it to my computer, but in a unsorted map.
There was a Norwegian car simular to this, but there the driver was sitting in the rear. ;)
Autodesign in Nederland features an ad where it says Machinefabriek W. Ley in Wiehl produced this car.
The photo source mentions Machinefabriek Bergia in Zeddam which put together this car.
Bergia is what I was looking for indeed. I think I can call this puzzle solved now. After reading the online source it appears that Lammerse was right, the factory was in Wehl. After they stopped production the machines went to the companies "Bergia" and "Reform" in nearby Zeddam.
However, it would be nice to find out more:
Was Mr. Ley connected to the German make with the same name?
Was there a relation with the D.K.W. vehicle it very closely resembles?
How was it powered?