Spatz (automobile)

" Sparrow ", built in 1956

The sparrow and the further developed from him model Victoria 250 are micro cars of the Bavarian Auto Werke GmbH ( BAW) in Traunreut or Victoria Werke AG in Nuremberg. 1588 the small roadster with a plastic body were built from 1956 to 1958 ( 859 " Spatz " 729 " Victoria 250 ").

Development of the Sparrow

The racer and designer Egon Brütsch († 1988) was a pioneer in the construction of plastic bodies. His aim was to work without costly metal presses and produce vehicles that are lighter than those with conventional designs. 1954, the Brütsch the " sparrow ", a three-wheeled mobile without chassis. The suspension of the front wheels and rear wheels have been attached directly to the body shell.

Harald Friedrich, managing partner of Alzmetall P. Meier & Friedrich GmbH in Altenmarkt an der Alz, acquired the license to build the " Sparrow " and founded in July 1956 with the Victoria works as a partner, " Bavarian Auto Werke GmbH " ( BAW). Before that Frederick had the " Sparrow " tested. Test drives on an uneven road showed that the forces at work on the suspension directly to the body, leading to severe cracking.

Therefore Friedrich instructed the then 77 -year-old Hans Ledwinka, formerly Tatra designer to construct a stable chassis for the " sparrow ". The result was a central tube frame and four wheels - as opposed to the original three-wheeled Brütschs. Frederick felt itself no longer obligated to pay royalties to Brütsch, which led to a lawsuit, the Friedrich won. The judges saw it as proven that Brütschs construction traffic was unfit.

Design Features

The molded polyester resin open body is screwed to the frame. It has no doors and offers on a bench three people side by side, sitting " comfortably " according to the former advertising. As weather protection, there was either a folding top fabric or a hardtop with gullwing doors. Under the bonnet there is a small trunk. Engine and transmission are mounted transversely behind the driver's seat or in front of the rear axle ( mid-engine ); behind it is attached to the tank (with " Sparrow " in a somewhat higher position).

The first vehicles had a single-cylinder two -stroke engine of Fichtel & Sachs with a displacement of 191 cc (10 hp), which proved to be too weak, despite the low curb weight. Therefore developed Victoria designer Richard Loukota a 250 cc single-cylinder two -stroke engine (14 hp) and in collaboration with a gear manufacturer suiting the needs of the motor electromagnetic five-speed gearbox instead of the original four-speed transmission. The revised " Sparrow ", which was also outwardly slightly changed except the new engine -transmission unit (including side vent windows ), was renamed " Victoria 250 " and built in Nuremberg. Only the plastic shell of the body still came from Traunreut.

The electromagnetic transmission also sparked the steering circuit of the " Sparrow " from. It is connected with three buttons to the right of the steering column: middle button idle, right button first course, left button reverse. A small lever above the keys, the other gears are selected and connected with kicking the clutch.

Specifications

  • Probably the weights apply even for the prototype without steel frame.

Low sales success

Despite interesting design features was the sales success of the " Sparrow " and the " Victoria 250 " low, so the production was stopped in February 1958. Reasons for the lack of demand is likely to be particularly been the arduous and sunroof closed almost impossible entry into the car. Added to this was the reputation of large fire hazard after several vehicles had gone up in flames during tests.

After the end of production the company castle falcon wanted to continue building the Victoria cars from 1959 under the name " Castle Falcon 250 Export" in Obermurnthal, but put forth only a few single copies and took otherwise only the supply of spare parts for 1956 produced up to 1958 vehicles.

Swell

  • Hanns Peter Rosellen: German small car ... Weltbild Verlag GmbH, Augsburg, 1991, ISBN 3-89350-040-5.
  • Reinhard Lintelmann: Motor scooters and small cars of the fifties. 3rd edition. Publisher Walter Podszun, Brilon 1995, ISBN 3-86133-136-5.
  • Microcars
  • Car model
  • Roadster
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