This week’s history article is about the Trabant – the classic small car from the other side of the Iron Curtain. It should really be classed as a sub-marque due to the way East Germany structured its businesses. After the Second World War had ended, the Horsch and DKW factories were taken over by the East German Government. The Iron Curtain was going up and Communism was … [Read more...]
Transverse Engines
This week’s technical article is about the transverse engine – found in most modern front drive cars and it follows on from a recent article about DKW. DKW were the first to have a successful transverse engine in a production car. It helped that their engine was a tiny two stroke, two cylinder motor derived from a motorcycle engine. This was in the 1930s and they were very … [Read more...]
Peel
Peel Engineering was formed on the Isle of Man between England and Ireland in the small town of Peel, founded as a settlement prior to 800 when the Vikings arrived from Scandinavia. On this windswept island were a group of boat builders who recognised that Glass Reinforced Plastic, or GRP, could be used for more than building boats. In the 1950s they started to make fairings … [Read more...]
DKW
DKW wasn’t the first car company to supply other manufacturers however their name certainly appears in the history books of many other companies. Not only did they become the worlds largest motorcycle manufacturer for a while but also their engines went into quite a few other manufacturers models. DKW was founded in 1916 by a Danish engineer based in Germany. Jorgen … [Read more...]
SAAB
Saab was founded as an aircraft company in 1937 although its heritage goes back to 1921 when Svenksa Aero was formed to build German aircraft under licence. In 1932 they were bought by ASJA – in English these letters stood for the Swedish Railroad Workers Air Plane Department. After several years with no commercial success, ASJA was reformed as Svenska Aeroplan AB, or SAAB. I … [Read more...]