Topic: SOLVED: si_044 - Selbstbau Neander - 1940

[sichel]

What is this going to be?
What was the vehicle called? From whom do the plans originate? When were they published? If you tell us, you get a point.

[sichel]

Up.

[thorax]

Deutsche?

[sichel]

Yes

[Rusty Chrome]

Is this related to "Haben Sie Ideen?"

[sichel]

Sorry, don't understand.

[Rusty Chrome]

I'm sure the answer is no then. "Haben Sie Ideen" was the title of a series of articles that appeared in Motor und Sport magazine in 1931 with a variety of speculative designs for small cars.

[sichel]

You are right, the answer is "No". I don't know this series, my specimens of "Motor und Sport" are younger.

[D-type]

Designed by an expatriate Scotsman bsed on the legendry haggis with its two long and one short legs for running around mountains - or two short and one long, depending on the species?   

Seriously, was the design produced in an academic institution?

[sichel]

We know this from our coastal dwellers, they need this to walk on the dyke. 

No academic institute was involved, rather the opposite.

[gilescooperuk]

So one type of haggis had to go clockwise round the mountain and the other anticlockwise - you learn something new here everyday

[FrontMan]

What was it going to be?......Dangerous and Uncomfortable,..not necessarily in that order.

Did dear old Ernst N-N draw this after spending all day at Oktoberfest??

[sichel]

...or after an evening with Moselle wine. Yes, N² was the designer of this small car project. Locked for FrontMan to tell us more details.

[FrontMan]

Sadly, my grasp of the German language is tenuous at best! However, I have Thomas Trapp's book "Neander", and have gleaned the following: This glorified proposal for a cyclecar by Ernst Neumann-Neander was drawn-up in 1940. It was to be powered by the single front wheel with the possible options of 250cc up to 1000cc, and was intended to be clad with fairings similar to those on his pre-war racers. He had used any engines he could get his hands on, MAG, JAP, even Harley-Davidson, and was considering Anzani as well. I cannot fathom-out what braking system was invoved, but the good news is that there was a brake pedal. Motorcyle-type cable brake looks likely.

Ernst was also toying with variations of this strange wheel positioning, each one as absurd as the last. It looks as if he was making some progress with a prototype, and had even contacted the government to try and get a subsidy for manufacture!! He did get a response, which was basically: Back to the drawing-board. Further loosely-related devices were constructed, in particular, a sort of flat-bed garden runabout. That machine inspired a proposed a prone driving-position one-man Panzer armed with six gun-barrels. (There are STILL some folk out there who think the Germans don't have a sense of humour!).

...and throughout the 'forties he was still at it. Three wheels, four wheels, including a ten-seater bus, for God's sake!! And a motorcycle (why not?).

My head's hurting..........

Unless I've missed something, the puzzle does not appear to have attracted a fancy name, simply Neander.

Can I stop now, Please?

[D-type]

So one type of haggis had to go clockwise round the mountain and the other anticlockwise - you learn something new here everyday

I was told they can run both ways - rather like a crab.

[sichel]

FrontMan, You hit the nail on the head. Many, many thanks for your detailed and ironic report. I have always suspected that French people have at least as much humour as Germans. A very big point for you. 
The building instructions appeared in 1940 in several followings in the magazine "das Motorrad", under the heading "Selbstbau Neander" ("do-it-yourself Neander").
There was a very critical comment from a reader, N² disagreed in detail and factually. During wartime, it was obvious that no evidence took place. But in the post-war period, a hobbyist made the replica. The first test drives with the chassis ended disastrously. N² would probably have an amateurish implementation of his plans criticised... Maybe someone will try it again and proves that you can go around scottish hills with it.
Be that as it may, I admire his versatile talents: cabaret artist, caricaturist, painter, designer, motor sportsman and vehicle builder. You can tell many of his designs were created in "Bauhaus times": "Form follows Function". It's rather the other way round with many current vehicles...
Of course, he also thought about the design of his draft:

[Allan L]

Is this the place to ask if Neumann-Neander came from the famous valley near Düsseldorf that has his name?

[sichel]

No, he was born in Kassel as Ernst Neumann. Later he gave himself the stage name "Neander", which comes from the Greek and means "New Man".

[FrontMan]

Thanks for the point, and the further information about this remarkable fellow.

Humour, to me is as least as important as cars! I retired from England to France some eight years ago (before the Taliban declared Brexit), and have been happy to confirm your theory about French humour.

It seems that even the gentleman whose stern task it was to deny N-N access to state funds, had a wry sense of humour. The final comment in the rejection letter was, "Heil Hitler!"

[sichel]

Good that you just got your act together.
No your black British humor changed do French humor. I wonder what colour it is.

[FrontMan]

Interesting question! Most humour is universal, transparent, and only reflects local nationality traits, social attitudes, fears and hopes. Like nuclear weapons, humour often manages to disturb some individuals, but generally without too much damage to infrastructure.

There are two groups of people most universally feared by totlitarian régimes;...Journalists in the first instance, and then Comedians.

[sichel]

FrontMan, with your presentation of the vulnerable groups, you hit the nail on the head again! But I don't want to go into that here and now. Otherwise, in view of the current international situation, I am a very, very bad mood.