Automuseum PROTOTYP in Hamburg
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
www.porscheroadandrace.com Automuseum PROTOTYP in Hamburg Published: 6th February 2019 By: Glen Smale Online version: https://www.porscheroadandrace.com/automuseum-prototyp-in-hamburg/ The author at the entrance to the Automuseum Prototyp, December 2018 This last December, we planned a trip to Hamburg to visit with family and to see the Automuseum PROTOTYP. This time, though, I wanted to travel via a different route, not the normal Dover-Calais channel crossing. Stena Line offer the Harwich to Hook-of-Holland www.porscheroadandrace.com crossing, which cuts out a lot of motorway driving through France and Belgium. We were late in booking and so could only get a daytime crossing, but for a small additional fee, we were able to access the Stena Plus feature which gets you into a private lounge. We took this option as it allowed us some quiet and the opportunity to plug in a laptop and to work, plus you get free teas and coffee throughout the crossing. www.porscheroadandrace.com Stena Superferry Hollandica www.porscheroadandrace.com Taking this route to Hook-of-Holland, our journey by car to Hamburg was reduced to only five and a quarter hours instead of the seven and a half hours (it’s always longer than that) driving from Calais to Hamburg. It also means that by disembarking in Hook-of-Holland, you hit the German autobahns sooner, where you can make up extra time on your journey. Workshop area with race cars in the process of being rebuilt (December 2011) There is a lot to see in Hamburg, it really is a notable cultural centre in northern Germany. If you make your way down to Hamburg’s old harbour district, you will find that it has been transformed into a modern, hip area where many large corporations have established their headquarters. Many of the large and spacious buildings, once neglected and bland-looking, have been given a complete and sophisticated make-over, bringing them into the 21st century. One such building, which neighbours onto the Speicherstadt district (spice city), is today the home of the Automuseum PROTOTYP in Hamburg – and no, the ‘e’ is not missing, www.porscheroadandrace.com it’s the German spelling of prototype. Convenient parking around the back of the building ensures that you don’t have to drive around endlessly looking for a parking before you can visit this fine establishment. As the name implies, the Automuseum PROTOTYP specialises in prototype models of both production and racing cars. By definition, the prototypes date from ca. 1930s forward, with the majority of vehicles on display originating from some of the bigger German manufacturers. While many of the display vehicles have German origins, there are some really special models produced by smaller companies that you may not have heard of before. Back in December 2011 I had just published my book on the Porsche 956/962, and the Automuseum Prototyp had some copies of it for sale in their bookshop. As result of this, they www.porscheroadandrace.com asked me to sign their wall inside the glass-walled workshop. I was both humbled and honoured when I saw the name on the wall just above…Hans Herrmann!! The reception is on the first floor, and so the atrium and stairway walls are richly adorned with period imagery, just to get you into the mood. Enthusiastic visitors can also explore the well-stocked shop at the reception, where you can choose from authentic scale models, books, marque-specific apparel and much more. Also in this area is a comfortable café area where you can rest your legs and enjoy a refreshment after wandering around the exhibits. Today, the wall inside the workshop contains many more autographs and signatures, and now includes amongst others: Herbert Linge, Peter Falk, Valentin Schäffer, Walter Röhrl, Jürgen Barth, Ralph Jüttner and many more! Visitors should remember that the German automotive industry was devastated as a result of the two World Wars, but despite this, there is still an interesting and wide representation of early models. One of the amazing realities is how innovative the German automotive manufacturers were before and after World War II, as evidenced by the prototypes on www.porscheroadandrace.com display. The Automuseum PROTOTYP celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2018, and I am privileged to be able to say that I have visited this institution three times now, my first such visit being back in 2009, just a year after it opened. The exhibition hall is not huge by comparison with other museums, but what they may lack in the quantity of vehicles on display, they certainly make up for in quality! In this feature are a number of photos of cars that form part of the museum’s permanent or specialist displays. Okay Dad, this is the one that I want…can we take this one please!! You can never start them too young, as my 18-month old grandson was wide-eyed from the moment we walked into the Museum www.porscheroadandrace.com Selected museum exhibits 1952 Fetzenflieger Capacity Output Top speed Weight 1498 cc 130 hp 210 km/h 395 kg In 1952, the Austrian mechanical engineer Otto Mathé built the Fetzenflieger using parts of the early Volkswagen Type 60 K 10 Berlin-Rom-Wagen racer and Porsche. The chassis and body are handmade. Body parts like the wings can be attached so that the Fetzenflieger can be used as a formula race car as well as a sports car. The shifter is installed on the left side because Mathé couldn’t use his right arm. To steer and to shift at the same time he leaned forward and pressed his chest on the steering wheel. The first engine – a 1500 cc pushrod Porsche racing engine and transmission were installed in front of the rear axle. In 1955, Mathé changed the engine and installed a 550 Spyder engine. He also improved the car by using rims and brakes from the 550 Spyder. The name Fetzenflieger is just a nickname because the engine was partly covered with linen fabric where a backfire could ignite the fabric causing the rear of the car to appear to be on fire. The Fetzenflieger was the most successful Austrian race car in the 1950s. www.porscheroadandrace.com Otto Mathé’s 1952 Fetzenflieger based on Porsche and VW components 1951 Porsche 356 Gläser-Cabriolet Capacity Output Top speed Weight 1286 cc 44 hp 140 km/h 830 kg To relieve the Stuttgart coachbuilder Reutter, where the Porsche 356 cars were built from 1950 until 1963, the Bavarian company Gläser was charged with building 356 convertibles. Gläser assembled each Porsche from steel panels supplied by Reutter, but in 1952 production was ceased. Today only about 20 Gläser convertibles still exist. www.porscheroadandrace.com 1951 Porsche 356 Gläser-Cabriolet 1949 Volkswagen WD Sport Capacity Output Top speed Weight 1131 cc 35 hp 130 km/h 600 kg After the end of World War II, Wolfgang Denzel built a sports car with a body of his own design, mounted on a modified VW Type 82 Kübelwagen chassis, in a repair shop in Vienna. Denzel presented his first sports car in Vienna in 1948, aptly named the Volkswagen WD Equipment. The body was made of fibreglass and had no side doors for reasons of stability. The engine was based on the standard 1131 cc VW engine but was further tuned by Denzel, www.porscheroadandrace.com enabling him to participate in Austrian car races. Six cars were built with fibreglass bodies and six with steel bodies, and while none of the fibreglass cars survived, this vehicle is the world’s oldest surviving Denzel. It is also the only surviving Denzel four-seater. 1949 Volkswagen WD Sport – a roadgoing sports car that looked remarkably similar to the Porsche 550 that would only be built four years later. The Denzel was an extremely attractive, streamlined and practical sports car when compared with what else was available on the market at this time 1952 Glöckler-Porsche Capacity Output Top speed Weight 1098 cc 67 hp 200 km/h 525 kg www.porscheroadandrace.com From 1950 to 1954, six Glöckler-Porsche cars were built, this car is the forth car built. The Glöckler-Porsches are regarded as the precursors of the Porsche 550 Spyder. The designers of this superb race car were the Frankfurt car dealer, Walter Glöckler, and his workshop manager, Herman Ramelow. This car was built for the race driver Richard Trenkel who participated in the 1100 cc sports car class and in 1953, he became German Champion with this very car. The car is clothed in aluminium, and the tuned Porsche engine is located ahead of the rear axle. The head lights were taken from Ford! The 1952 Glöckler-Porsche was the forerunner of the Porsche 550 www.porscheroadandrace.com The 1952 Glöckler-Porsche was a sleek design from any angle 1949 Petermax Müller Weltrekordwagen Capacity Output Top speed Weight 1100 cc 78 hp 215 km/h 550 kg Petermax Müller built one the first racing cars using VW and Porsche technology. Of the total of six hand-made racing cars, which are characterised by their aerodynamically shaped aluminium bodies, only this example still exists today in original condition. Müller used V- shaped hanging cylinder heads, and together with the VW engineer Gustav Vogelsang, he changed the pistons and cylinders and installed four Solex single carburettors. The so-called www.porscheroadandrace.com ‘Vogelsang engine’ is regarded as the forerunner of the Porsche 356 engine. In 1950 Petermax Müller, together with Fritz Huschke von Hanstein (later to become Porsche’s PR supremo), participated with this car as the first Germans in an international race after World War II, in the Targa Florio.