Topic: Eigenbau of the month

[pnegyesi]

I often think of how much fun it would be to research properly the background of these Eigenbaus. But with my limited German and even more limited time I  can't do it

Just to give you an idea. When I researched Hungarian home made cars, I looked at old regional newspapers and also had reader's letters and/or articles published in local newspapers, magazines which resulted in plenty of interesting correspondence, photos, documents etc.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: April 2022

What's the worth of progress if it isn't understood? This month's Eigenbau is based on a car whose bodywork was far ahead of its time, the Hanomag 2/10 PS. Omitting fenders allowed a whole-width body with maximum interior space preceding the post-WW2 pontoon body style by decades. But sometimes in the 1930s this car's owner had the idea of turning its appearance into more common looks and mated the original rear end with a usual wide fenders / non-integrated headlights / tall narrow radiator front and a two-seater coupe middle part. When passing by, one might think it was a contemporary DKW or something alike. So the owner's task was fulfilled and he could cruise happily on the streets of Berlin where the car was registered. I'd like to see what the fake radiator looked like.

We have had some Hanomag Eigenbau cars here before, one coupe keeping the general looks (https://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/features-stories-and-photos/eigenbau-of-the-month/msg468566/#msg468566), a postwar streamlined interpretation (https://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/features-stories-and-photos/eigenbau-of-the-month/msg466537/#msg466537) and another one adapting the more common looks as well, but with a humouristic approach (https://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/features-stories-and-photos/eigenbau-of-the-month/msg558941/#msg558941).

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: May 2022

Turning from prewar cars to the golden age of Eigenbau cars, the 1950s. This time we leave Germany and go to the neighbouring Netherlands. Here we have what probably started its life as a bubble car, because according to the registration information this month's Eigenbau was built from a 1957 Heinkel Kabine 150. As a three-wheeled specimen it must have been a Kabine 153 to be precise. It was first registered in 1961 with this license number, so that might have been when the conversion took place, maybe after the original body was damaged. The Isetta-inspired body style was outdated by then, so a three-box design with a fashionable reverse raked rear window was chosen, like the Ford Anglia 105E or Citroen Ami 6 had it. Due to this choice one of the advantages of the Heinkel Kabine over the BMW Isetta, the rear seats, had to go. The fabric roof of our sporty microcar is a rather simple weather protection and I don't think there were any wind-up windows hidden in the doors. Not the ideal vehicle for a Dutch windy and rainy day, but better than a bicycle for sure. Anyhow, the car must have survived for quite a while, because it looks as if it was photographed when somebody rediscovered it decades after it was built.
Attached you find a picture of a stock Heinkel Kabine 153 for comparison.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: June 2022

This month's Eigenbau is almost a complete mystery to me. All I know is that the photo was offered in France, so that one may assume it was taken there. I don't know whether this vehicle has an engine at all . Maybe it is just human-powered. The hand lever could be part of the propulsion mechanics, so it may be an early handcycle. Or is it just a brake lever next to an ordinary steering wheel? Hard to tell. Is it a rich boy's toy or rather an invalid carriage? The large wheels positioned quite close to the body must have led to a huge turning circle. Furthermore they make the access quite uncomfortable which speaks against it being an invalid carriage. The body design reminds me of Mochet Velocars of the 1930s and 1940s, but the low windscreen really makes it a sports car. 

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: July 2022

This time the car wasn't really the point of interest for the photographer. Instead it was the little child that kept his attention. The car just served as a background. Regarding our priorities the quality of the two pictures is less than optimal, one shows the whole car quite fuzzy, the other one rather clear, but the front of it escaped the camera lens. Anyhow we see a home-built body on an unknown chassis. The vents on the rear fenders implicate a rear engine, as well as the missing front grill. The base might have been a VW Kübelwagen chassis, although the wheels aren't VW ones. I guess the car was built in the mid-1950s, the sweeping fender line already blending into the side panels giving an idea of the future pontoon style. The divided windshield and the high roof above the windows make our featured Eigenbau look older than it probably was, but are surely owed to limited  possibilities and parts access. The structure of the unreadable number plate points towards East Germany. This assumption is confirmed by a closer look onto the child's tricycle. That is the Doblina, a Sputnik-inspired toy vehicle built by the VEB Döbelner Beschläge- und Metallwerke from Döbeln in Saxony.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: August 2022

Due to my vacation a little bit later than usual this month I want to present to you a nice home-built microcar. A three-wheeler from Württemberg-Baden in southwestern Germany. The photographer's stamp at the back of the photograph names Photo-Wessendorf in Heidelberg. The car probably has a rear engine, a small motorcycle unit I'd guess. The headlights seem to come off a VW, the windscreen might be from a prewar car, attached to thick A-pillars. The styling is one with clean lines of almost professional looks. Its builder could have been proud of his work.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: September 2022

What a peaceful setting! This month's picture was taken at Krumpersdorf, a small municipality at the northern shore of the Wörthersee in southern Austria. The Eigenbau was obviously built on a VW chassis, probably a leftover Kübelwagen. Despite its voluptuous pontoon body it seems to be just a two-seater. It lacks the sportiness of let's say a Denzel, but tries to impress with its protruding front wings and a hint of tailfins. There is no visible convertible top and the windscreen frame seems to be too fragile for fixing it there. The lack of bumpers adds a sports car touch. There is a chrome lettering at the front wing telling the car's name. Unfortunately I can't read it completely. I'd say it could say Gela, Geha, Geho or something similar. The car was probably built in the first half of the 1950's, its front reminding me a bit of the 1953 Le Mans Panhard.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: October 2022

This month we are leaving the 1950s and take a 20-year-step forward to find ourselves in the space age seventies. The featured car is as angular as you can get except for the wheels, wheelarches and lights. Well, the rear engine cover has some round holes too, I must admit. All I know about this car is its French origin and that it is based on a rear-engined 1966 Renault. Its design is a mixture of a futuristic sports car with its sharply pointed nose and a buggy at the rear end. There are some traces of other wedge cars like the Lancia Stratos HF or (in order to stay in France) the Meyrignac. The car was for sale in 2014, so maybe it still exists.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: November 2022

Back to East Germany again. Whoever built this car was successful in creating the appearance of a Wartburg 311 as some 60 years later these pictures were offered for sale with the description of showing a Wartburg. But when you look closer it is probably just the rear lights which stem from that car. I don't know the base of this Eigenbau. I couldn't even find out where the windows were taken from. The car was registered in East Berlin.
For comparison I've added a Wartburg 311 rear view and a picture of the Borgward Hansa which shared the general style of this month's car.

[Wendax]

Builder's names of the Eigenbau of the month August 2016 added.

[pnegyesi]

Builder's names of the Eigenbau of the month August 2016 added.

Great Congrats to everybody involved

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: December 2022

I will end this year with an impressive VW Beetle conversion. It is not just the added Mercedes-Benz grill often seen in the 1970s (on Citroen 2CVs as well), but an entire front end restyling in the fashion of the mid-fifties. The trunk must have been gigantic compared to the stock VW one. The running boards were taken off and strangely the trafficators were moved from the B-pillar to the panels in front of the doors. The car was registered somewhere in Germany before 1956, but I can't read where. A similar grill design (well, with a bit more elegance  ) was used by Figoni & Falaschi on their Simca Aronde Florida and on the Rosengart Sagaie.

[Otto Puzzell]

Sharp! 

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: January 2023

One of the more common Eigenbau variations is the combination of two cars that usually don't belong together. Quite known are the Austrian postwar Steyr 50 bodies on VW Kübelwagen chassis. Today let me present to you a rather unusual pair: a 1939 Ford Taunus with a Hansa 1100 front. I can't tell which other cars might have donated parts for this "hybrid". The rear wheel might originate from an Adler Trumpf Junior, the front wheel we'll never know. 
I can't even identify for sure where the licence plate comes from. At first sight I thought it might be a GDR plate, but it doesn't match the AB 12-34 pattern. Romania could be possible, especially as that country is known for its postwar bitsas (see Eigenbau of the month March 2019: https://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/features-stories-and-photos/eigenbau-of-the-month/msg482152/#msg482152).
Stay tuned for some more Eigenbau cars based on the Ford Taunus. 

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: February 2023

Now I want to continue with last month's theme: modified Ford Taunus G93A. This time I'll show you a VW Kübelwagen / Ford Taunus hybrid, and not only one of them but two. The first one is more down to earth, a no thrills no frills adaption of the Ford Taunus body to the VW Kübelwagen chassis. Air scoops added for the rear engine cooling, the rear fenders widened for the larger track, the headlights altered to circular ones set atop the front end and the trafficators just attached and not incorporated. A practical way to change the military vehicle into a usable car, done in Austria after WW2. The second car is Austrian as well and follows the same principle, but the conversion was done with more refinement and an added touch of luxury. The headlights were also changed but incorporated into the fender and turning lights were also added to the front. The side view reveals running boards and rear spats. There are chrome stripes attached to the front fenders and the spats. The rear end has multiple louvers for engine cooling and even a non-stock "Ford Taunus" chrome lettering. The appearance of the car is more that of a shrunk Ford V8 than that of a compromise solution to get some kind of transport. And looking at the pictures it seems the car was used for far away traveling. You surely needed a reliable car for that aim, and I wouldn't be surprised if the conversion was done by a professional garage.

PS. The rear view was taken from Alexander Storz's book "Ford Taunus Story". He wonders if the car was some kind of Czech prototype, but I don't think so.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: March 2023

After last month's Volkswagen disguised as Ford Taunus I'll show you another rebodied VW with - surprise! - Volkswagen body parts. All I know about this car is that the picture was taken sometime in the 1950's in Königs Wusterhausen, a town in the south eastern vicinity of Berlin. The most interesting thing about it is the use of an original VW front hood incorporated in a pontoon style body. It reminds me somehow at the rear end of Anycar I. 

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: April 2023

One more VW Kübelwagen rebodied in Eastern Germany: this time done by Robert Fromm of Krensitz, 20 km north of Leipzig in Saxony. The Fromm family owned a garage specialized in VWs which had found their way into the GDR and continued to do so until after the German reunification. The socialist officials didn't make it easier for them by forbidding the Fromm garage to work on cars built in socialist countries in 1961. The pictured Eigenbau was built in 1954 with body parts of an Adler 2,5 Liter "Autobahn", so there was an extra side window and a more streamlined look compared to the standard VW Beetle. You can see the body origin by looking at the bottom picture showing an Adler Autobahn from the long defunct Wolfegg museum, photo taken in 1985.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: May 2023

It's a rare opportunity for me to present you an Eigenbau that still exists and has survived almost untouched for the last 70 years. Except for the decay caused by the time gone by, of course. This convertible with pontoon body and doors opening to the bottom has been built in 1951 in the winegrowing city of Zell at the banks of the Mosel river. The engine was taken from a VW 166 Schwimmwagen, telling by the engine number. Very special is the engine's position at the front of the car, driving the leaf-sprung front axle, probably using DKW mechanic parts. The car carried the licence plate FR 52-3062, but was taken from the road in December 1954 already and hasn't been registered since.
The car is for sale right now: https://www.kleinanzeigen.oldtimer-markt.de/anzeige/Fahrzeuge/Autos/Sonstige-Automobile---Eigenbau_57172
Let's hope that some enthusiast will keep this car as a whole and even restore it. It would be too bad if it was just cannibalised for the VW 166 engine.

[Wendax]

Another picture added of the Yugoslavian Eigenbau (September 2019 entry).

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: June 2023

After a series of VW Eigenbau cars of the 1950s I show you a more modern one, built in Italy on a VW 1200 chassis. I guess that it was built some time in the 1970s, showing some styling influences by sports cars of that decade, like De Tomaso Pantera or Maserati Merak. Unfortunately I don't have any other information about that car except the plate showing a dealer from Asciano Pisano, a suburb of Pisa.

[Wendax]

The builder's name of the beautiful Hanomag roadster featured in July 2021 has come to light, as well as a picture of him and his car before conversion, see here: https://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/features-stories-and-photos/eigenbau-of-the-month/msg558941/#msg558941

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: July 2023

After last month's trip to more contemporary cars back again to those breathtaking homebuilt sports cars of the 1950s: A sleek pontoon-bodied two-seater convertible on a large chassis giving much room for an engine compartment occupying the front half of the car. The design has a touch of Veritas like many of the sporty postwar Eigenbau cars. Just compare it with the Eigenbau of the month from March 2022 (https://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/features-stories-and-photos/eigenbau-of-the-month/msg574335/#msg574335). I am not sure though whether there is a BMW chassis underneath it this time, because the usual hump covering the high-rising carburetors is missing. The picture was taken in Leipzig, Saxonia. It surely was an exciting car not only for the pictured adolescents.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: August 2023

Today I'll show you a car that wouldn't have been the most suitable for this year's rainy summer: an open sports car based on a VW Beetle chassis. It rather looks like a British or American kit car, but I couldn't find anything maching it. So I guess it is an Eigenbau from Germany where it was registered in Duisburg, a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area known for its iron, steel and chemical industries. The half open fenders are quite unusual for German homebuilt cars from the 1950s and I can't find any traces of a windshield either. At least it doesn't make up the perfect car for the young family in the photo. Unfortunately I don't have any other details about that car. I would love to see a front view of it.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: September 2023

This time I know where and when this month's Eigenbau was photographed. It was in September 1951 in the Danish town of Silkeborg at Drewsenvej 34. But that is about all I know about this convertible that was most probably built on a prewar chassis. The design shows the transition from the classic flowing design of the 1930's to the pontoon style of the 1950's. Its angular fenders, perhaps owed to the limited possibilities of its builder have a bit of an expressionist touch. Quite interesting is the construction of the door trying to hide the high-level frame (maybe even from an army vehicle) in order to obtain a lower silhouette.

[Wendax]

Eigenbau of the month: October 2023

This month's Eigenbau was just solved as a puzzle a few days ago: https://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/2017-46/fw-470
As I have found a lot of recent pictures of the still existing car I thought it would be fine to have it featured here.
I'll start with a translation of the article shown in the puzzle thread:
"A car called Robrahn

The ingenious tinkerings of a new citizen

For one and a half months the Opel Robrahn has been running in Krefeld - the only one in the automotive world. Its owner is its builder as well: Erwin Robrahn, aged 65, expatriated from the GDR in September of this year, a trained construction and art locksmith with almost brilliant abilities.

The TÜV (German technical inspection association) was puzzled. A 1.5 tons heavy vehicle, like it never has been in a catalogue and never will be, a car without a type label. The engineers had that changed first. And so there is now a standardized label in the huge engine compartment: 'Opel Robrahn'.
In the beginning there was a 1953 Opel Kapitän. All that is left from it now is the front axle: the spare parts shortage in the "workers' and farmers' country" makes you inventive. For 25 years Erwin Robrahn has been tinkering in his spare time - his own workshop was only 500 meters "on the other side" near Lübeck. Seven makes from tgree countries had to serve for creating this home-built "battleship". Engine and gearbox are new and come from a Moskvitch. A short time before his removal Erwin Robrahn invested 6,100 GDR Mark in his car. The 1.5 liter engine with overhead camshaft (!) turns out 75 hp and accelerates the car up to 125 km/h. "A requirement for that is of course Western Super gazoline", the owner says. The radiator grille is a shining chrome symbiosis of Opel, BMW and Trabant parts., the bumpers come from a Russian Volga. Headlights and taillights come from the East German Wartburg. The only stock parts of the bodywork are the doors from the Soviet Pobieda. The rest is his own quality workmanship made of 1.2 mm thick sheet steel.
Erwin Robrahn followed his son to the Lower Rhine region with a trailer full of spare parts and tools. He found a new home at Ritterstraße 118 where is is now thinking about selling his life's work: "At some point this all has to come to an end." Because the open-minded man from the coast has seen that you can buy almost anything in the West - except for fitting chrome wheelcaps which would suit his car's wheels just fine."
The article must have been from 1980/1981, because the Moskvitch engine was installed in 1980.

The car was for sale right now. Its current owner acquired it in 1982 and drove it until 1998, often with a trailer at its back carrying a prewar car, even all the way down to the Pyrenees. Unfortunately the windscreen was destroyed by vandals.
It seems that the car was sold for 2,850 €.