Steiger (automobile company)
The company Steiger was founded in 1914 by Swiss engineer Walter Steiger in Burgrieden near Laupheim as Maschinenfabrik Walther Steiger & Co.. In 1921 she was converted into a public limited company ( AG Steiger ). In the short time of its existence about 3,500 people and sports cars were produced.
During the First World War were repaired at Steiger aircraft and aircraft engines. In 1917, the owner and his designer Paul Henze is already busy with cars. Originally they were planning the production of tractors, but soon laid on the development of passenger cars. In 1918 the first model, the Steiger 10/50 hp, out. The Touring Car with 2.6 L - four-cylinder engine (50 PS / 37 kW) was also the most important model, which was also offered to the collapse of the company in 1926. The peculiarity of his modern concept of OHC engine consisted of a vertical shaft which drove the overhead camshaft via spiral bevel gears. The vehicles with U-shaped pressed-steel frame, two leaf-sprung rigid axles and pointed radiators were considered technically remarkable re-creation of the early 1920s and as the most advanced German production car of its time.
Short flowering
From 1921, also own bodies were manufactured. In 1922 a two-seater roadster with a larger engine (2.8 liters, power 55 hp / 40 kW) out of from 1924 to yet stronger variant ( 2.9 liter displacement, power 70 hp / 51 kW) was delivered. The vehicles have brought it to a top speed of at least 140 km / h (100 - hp race versions were up to 180 km / h ), costing 18,000 RM. In 1925 the more powerful touring car Steiger 11/55 hp with an extended wheelbase and the engine of the first sports car. The high-performance sports and racing versions were successful in the 1920s in numerous Car Racing ( Solitude, Avus, Eifel, Klausen, Monza, Targa Florio ).
Time, the operation employed up to 500 workers and employees. Despite their high-class products that have been compared in many ways with Bugatti, the company was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1926 as part of the automotive crisis. Until then arose around 3,500 vehicles.
- Steiger Automobile
Ing Walter Kaufmann in Steiger race car type Targa Florio
Eye-catcher on the airfield - Steiger 10/50 hp ( 1922)
Car models
Steiger Martini
Walther Steiger went to the liquidation of his company to the Swiss automobile manufacturer Martini, in which he and his brother Robert in 1924 held the majority of shares, and brought, amongst others, a 95 hp (70 kW) six-cylinder model out strong. The luxurious car with a 4.4 liter - engine, which came on the market in Switzerland as a Martini -Six, was offered in Germany under the name Steiger Martini 17/100 PS.
As in the case Steiger different racing versions have also been developed at Martini, with whom you some spectacular successes have been achieved (eg twice first four places at the Klausenrennen 1929). However, the vehicles produced in careful order production could not compete with the increasingly cheaper mass-produced competition from Germany, France and America in the long run. The end of the traditional brand was inevitable: on June 12, 1934 left the last Martini the factory in Saint -Blaise on Lake Neuchâtel.