Forgotten German Classics ( Auto Review Album Number 215)

Author: Rod Ward

In this Auto Review publication we look at some German car-makers with less-familiar names, though they were prominent brands in their day. They often began their existence making everyday mechanical items including typewriters (Adler), sewing machines (Dürkopp and Stoewer), prams (Brennabor) or bicycles before turning to motor vehicles. They mostly entered the field cautiously, via motorised bicycles, motorcycles, and three-wheelers which often had the engine perched over the single front wheel (Phänomen, Cyklon). These firms were all successful in their automotive efforts. Brennabor became the biggest car producer in Germany in the 1920s, and Adler was the third largest manufacturer a decade later.

These companies were often well-funded by their production of non-automotive products, and they could afford to employ well-known car designers such as Porsche, Rumpler, Rohr and Ganz.

Three firms found themselves in Soviet-controlled regions after the Second World War. Phänomen evolved to make Robur trucks in East Germany, and Brennabor returned to pram-making, but Stoewer, ending up in Poland, disappeared entirely. The other companies mostly returned to their core product lines; typewriters, sewing machines, bicycles or motorcycles, and a number of them had a stab at motor scooters in the 1950s. Some of these great names had to combine in order to survive, such as Dürkopp-Adler, while others faded into obscurity as the big car marques came to dominate the motor industry.