Eigenbau of the month

[Djetset]

Congratulations Wendax on the first anniversary of sharing your fascinating Eigenbau vehicles with us every month. Bravo, and long may they continue...

[kwgibbs]

I totally agree,please keep,em coming!

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: April 2017

A few days ago I came across a picture of a car that already has been part of one of my Enigma Variations puzzles of unknown cars. It even has been identified, so why should it be featured here as Eigenbau of the Month?
Having a close look at the newly unearthed picture you can see a name not mentioned here before. This microcar had been identified as the Müller & Schmidt-Mobil, homebuilt by Albert Hahne of Thale (http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/the-black-hole/enigma-variations-(postwar-edition)/msg213975/#msg213975). But that name might be a nickname or a later invention. In fact its right name was Harzperle (Pearl of the Harz mountains), Thale being a small town in the northeastern part of the Harz.The car was built in 1950 by Albert Hahne and his father. The roadster body on the backbone chassis housed a 200 cc Framo engine of 3.5 hp, bought from a scrapyard in Eisenach. The car was only 1.6 m wide, but Albert Hahne and his wife Herta surely didn't mind, as you can see on the second picture below. Hahne even planned to show the car at the 1951 Leipzig spring fair, but that didn't happen, because Hahne was accused and jailed, having bought the wheels  illegally in West Germany. Tragedy took its way, as Hahne's father felt guilty for this and committed suicide shortly after. Albert Hahne regained freedom and got his car back in 1952. Six years later, he left the GDR without permission together with his wife and his two daughters, but he had to leave the Harzperle behind. Hahne died in 1973, never seeing his car again. After the end of the GDR, the Harzperle went into ownership of the Hahne family again. Three years ago it was restored and one of Hahne's daughters was surprised with a ride in the Harzperle at her 70th birthday. Pictures of her sitting in the car together with her nephew can be seen here: https://www.kreiszeitung.de/lokales/diepholz/syke-ort44535/zeitreise-dreieinhalb-3416738.html. Quite a resemblance of her parents sitting in the Harzperle.

[barrett]

This is a fantastic thread, thank you

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: May 2017

A picture taken at some alpine frontier. As I can see French and Italian numberplates, perhaps at the French-Italian border. What really caught my eye are not the Citroen, Ford or Fiat, but the car moving into the picture at the right hand side. A pontoon body hiding the rear wheels - or is it just a single rear wheel? The louvers at the back are hints for a rear engine, perhaps it used a VW chassis? But are the front wheel caps really VW ones? The body seems to be well finished, hard to believe it is an eigenbau at all. But although the car doesn't look very old at the time the picture was taken, the driver's door is already hanging a bit too low. The door handle has left its horizontal position, too. Certainly an interesting car, maybe someone around here knows more about it? At first sight I was reminded of the Altona Condor, but that one has a much more angular bodywork, as can be seen on grob's picture below.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: June 2017

This month I will present you a rather unusual vehicle. Three wheels like a small van, but only a small compartment behind the rear axle to carry goods. A low front with the engine behind the front wheel which leaves the space for the passenger's bench just in front of the rear axle. The high-rising windshield makes it obvious, how low the front is. How would you call the body style? Well, the front half is of sheet metal, the rear mainly made of wood. I guess the French would name it a Normande. The two pictures don't reveal whether the elderly owners could steer this vehicle by handlebar or steering wheel. The license plate tells us that it comes from Niederösterreich, the Norteastern part of Austria. The number belongs to the district of Waidhofen an der Thaya, close to the Czech border.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: July 2017

He reached his goal. The Continental tire banner in the back says it all: Ziel = finish. This little sports car seems to be a rebodied VW, probably a Kübelwagen chassis which survived the war. The body follows the long-and-low fashion of the early postwar years with its sloping back. The overall appearance, as with many VW-based sportscars of the 50s, reminds me of the contemporary Porsches. In this case, the 540 America Roadster comes to mind, even though that one has doors, which the featured car seems to lack. This month's eigenbau was registered in Hamburg, the license plate dates from before 1956. Obviously, the driver had his doubts about the cars rigidity. How else can you explain the straps around the car's body on the heighth of the axles?

[grobmotorix]

Concerning the Karmann Ghia with the Alfa grille you have mentioned above, I am sure it was a regular aftermarket part:

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: August 2017

Not a completely self built car this time, but a nice homemade modification. A prewar Tempo E 200 van turned into a stylish coupe when it wasn't needed as a daily workhorse anymore. Do I detect a styling similarity to the Riva speedboats at the back?  The proud owners from Hessia had a vehicle looking like a passenger car, that was the important thing. There even was a VW rear bumper attached to it. I think you would get much more attention at a veteran car meet nowadays than with many other cars.

[grobmotorix]

Supercool

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: September 2017

This time I may introduce to you a neat little sportscar. At first sight one might think of a Porsche Speedster, but probably it isn't even based on a Volkswagen chassis, as one can see a little bit of a radiator frame up front. I like these homemade Brooklands-like windscreens. The odd shape of the door cutout may find its reason in avoiding to put hinges in the curved upper part of the door. The lady drivers (!) seem to enjoy this little beauty very much, and I'm sure the spectating boys would love to take a ride. All I know about this sports car is that the picture is supposed to have been taken in Lünen, a city at the Northern border of the Ruhr district.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: October 2017

When we talk about German eigenbau cars, we have to talk about the Dixi resp. BMW 3/15 PS. It was the German licence built version of the Austin Seven, very successful and not requisitioned by the German army during WW2. So there were quite some left after the war, but the chassis must have been more solid than the bodywork. At least when you take into account, how many privately built bodies have been created on this chassis, not to talk about the famous Ihle bodies already done in the early years of the Dixi's existence. This month's eigenbau is a saloon body following the BMW lines of the late 30s, but probably done after the war. The short wheelbase ruins the proportions a bit, the radiator grille is a mixture of BMW and DKW Sonderklasse. The license plate is East German, from the Gera district in Thuringia.

[grobmotorix]

 

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: November 2017

This month not another Dixi-based Eigenbau as planned, but a quite professional looking convertible from the 1950's. I don't know anything about its underpinnings, most probably prewar, perhaps a larger Hanomag judging by the wheels. The bodywork surely was inspired by contemporary American cars or its European stylemates like Opel Olympia Rekord or Borgward Hansa 1500, where the rearlights come from. The split windscreen and the missing trunk lid as well as the high pile formed by the opened hood tell of the problems building a one-off. Interestingly it seems to have window rails on some pictures, but not on all of them. This convertible surely was the closest you could get to a personal dream car back in those days in Germany. The car was registered in North Rhine-Westphalia sometime between 1950 and 1956.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: December 2017

This month's car is not a total mystery like some other cars featured here before. It appeared for sale some days ago, but the ad has already disappeared again. So instead of creating an unsolvable puzzle I decided to present it as an Eigenbau of the Month. It was built by W. Schütze of Halle/Saale in Saxony-Anhalt in 1950. Powered by a 198 cc DKW engine of 5.5 hp, it weighed 280 kg and was allowed to carry another 150 kg, which makes it officially a two-seater. You can still see the remains of its GDR number plate KH 22-72 (?) for Halle district. Looking similar to other contemporary microcars like a Rovin, for example, it surely was built by someone familiar with coachbuilding. Good to see this nice car has survived in some shed or garage and hopefully it will appear in better shape some day again.

[cljo]

I have been absent from this wonderful forum for too long. Have som catching up to do. I just want to say that I really enjoy the Eigenbau thread.  This stuff is right up my alley. The Swedish three wheeler has been a mystery for me as well for some time.  And the great VW Camper – wow! Thank you for showing this amazing stuff!

Best Regards

Claes Johansson, Stockholm

[Carnut]

Do stick around.
It just gets better and better all the time!

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: January 2018

Happy New Year to all of you. This year starts with a prewar Eigenbau, a threewheeler from the southern part of the Donaukreis in Württemberg around Ulm. The picture was sent by some Dolf on Christmas 1927 with the caption that it shows a gentleman driver looking for help. The general lines of the car follow other three-wheeled cars like the Mops.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: February 2018

As the carnival season in Germany is about to reach its peak within the next days, I will present you a more humorous approach to the Eigenbau theme this month. According to the "number plate" it is a 90 years old creation from Thuringia with interesting detail solutions. Have fun and I'll be back with a more serious car next month!

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: March 2018

Starting into the new classic car season with some engine trouble, this car has been redesigned to look more modern than it really was. The front resembles the coffin noses of the Cord 812 or the 1939 Opel Kapitän. The car itself might be a DKW, but that is just a guess. The car carries a postwar German AE license plate, which stood for Amerikanische Enklave (American enclave). That was the description for the American occupied Bremen and Bremerhaven within the British occupation zone. I love the ADAC roadside assistance motorcycle with sidecar.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: April 2018

This month the featured car is a small roadster from Eastern Germany. It has already been part of one of my enigma puzzles, but it deserves a feature of its own, as I have quite a few pictures of it. The base car is a BMW 3/15 PS, like with so many postwar Eigenbaus. The bodywork is a clean design of a pontoon-bodied sports car in the heritage of BMW Mille Miglia and Veritas. For the colder time of year there even was a hardtop, so the young family could keep the severe weather outside. The car was registered in the Frankfurt (Oder) district in Brandenburg, but later changed to Leipzig district in Saxony.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: May 2018

This one I don't know anything about. I guess that it is a postwar German Eigenbau. Although its size and overall appearance is quite similar to some invalid carriages (e.g. the Westfalia M50: https://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/2009-37/solved-djetset-31-westfalia-m50), I think it is not one of those, but an ordinary microcar, because of the steering wheel. Invalid carriages most often had a handlebar instead, because it was easier to incorporate other manual controls on that than on a steering wheel. The electric motorcycle headlamps make me think that it was engine-powered rather than propelled by pedals. It seems the proud builder / owner had just finished his task and presented himself and his work.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: June 2018

A new month gives me the opportunity to present you an absolutely stunning car. This low and streamlined coupe from Vienna was probably built on a VW Kübelwagen chassis like the one right next to it, but its design even makes a contemporary Porsche look slow. The rear window is hidden under the engine cover, a feature we know from the streamline Tatras or the VW prototypes. The bodywork above the waist line is rounded so much that the door windows couldn't be wound into the door, but had to be flipped open. I'd love to see a front view of this car in order to know what the windscreen looks like, and whether the front design is more Beetle or more Porsche.  As a comparison I add a picture of a modern custom car on an old Porsche base, one of the Runge Flyers, the FF007.

November 2021: Side view added. 

August 2024: The builder's name is now known to me. He was Karl Bedrich, according to a book I acquired today in Vienna.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: July 2018

Vacation time just ahead, today I present you a motorhome which probably is an Eigenbau. It was built in 1961 based on a 1954 DKW Schnellaster. The old black and white picture shows a license plate from Karlsruhe in the southwestern part of Germany. What really makes it different is the fact that it is an integrated motorhome of quite harmonic lines. Usually a platform van was taken and an older camping trailer put on the chassis just behind the cab, when a camper van was built privately. This one rather reminds of the Mikafa motorhomes (cf. https://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/2012-41/solved-wendax-616-hans-helfritz's-mikafa-camper-on-vw-chassis/msg232128/#msg232128). And of course, the dust gives it a beautiful barnfind look.

Additon: In April 2019 it was featured in a German veteran car magazine, but the owner doesn't have any information about the builder of this motorhome.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: August 2018

A small roadster might be the right thing for this hot and dry summer? Here is one! A home-built car from Austria, probably built on a Hanomag 2/10 PS ("Kommissbrot") chassis, judging by the large wheels, the rear mid-engine and the rather large right-hand steering wheel. Below a picture what it might have started as.