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HISTORY |
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DID
ANY CARS BY JOSEF GANZ SURVIVE? As an independent and consultant engineer Josef
Ganz has designed and influenced a number of important
cars and prototypes. A few of these still exist today.
This list contains all known cars that he has designed
with information on known surviving models:
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ARDIE-GANZ
(1930)
- Designed by
Josef Ganz;
- Characteristics: central backbone chassis,
independent suspension all-round with swinging
rear half-axles, mid-mounted engine, Beetle-like
open body;
- Built by Josef Ganz at Ardie-Werke in 1930;
- Number built: 1 prototype;
- Status: prototype destroyed by the Nazis.
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ADLER
MAIKÄFER (1931)
- Designed by
Josef Ganz;
- Characteristics: central backbone chassis,
independent suspension all-round with swinging
rear half-axles, mid-mounted engine, open body
with fake radiator grille;
- Built by Josef Ganz as technical consultant at Adler
in Frankfurt in 1931;
- Number built: 1 prototype;
- Status: original prototype still exists,
restored and owned
by German collector.
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MERCEDES-BENZ
170 (1931 - 1936)
- Designed by Hans
Nibel and Max Wagner at Daimler-Benz with the
support of its technical consultant Josef Ganz;
- Characteristics: independent suspension
all-round with swinging rear half-axles;
- Number built: 2 prototypes + 13,775 production
cars;
- Status: prototypes are presumed scrapped, but
several production cars believed to exist. One
restored car is on display at the Mercedes-Benz
Museum in Stuttgart.
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MERCEDES-BENZ
120H (1931 - 1932)
- Designed by Hans
Nibel and Max Wagner at Daimler-Benz with the
support of its technical consultant Josef Ganz;
- Characteristics: central backbone chassis,
independent rear suspension with swinging rear
half-axles, rear-mounted horizontally opposed
4-cylinder engine, Beetle-like body;
Number built: ± 10 (all prototypes with various
body styles)
- Status: all prototypes are presumed
scrapped.
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BMW
3/20 AM1 (1932 - 1933)
- Designed at BMW
with the support of its technical consultant Josef
Ganz ;
- Characteristics: independent suspension
all-round with swinging rear half-axles;
- Number built: unknown;
- Status: several cars believed to exist, at least
one car is owned by a member of the BMW
Veteranen-Club Deutschland e.V. in Germany.
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STANDARD
SUPERIOR MODEL 1 (1932 - 1933)
- Designed at the
Standard Fahrzeugfabrik according to the patents
and with support of Josef Ganz;
- Characteristics: central backbone chassis,
independent suspension all-round with swinging
rear half-axles, mid-mounted engine, Beetle-like
body;
- Number built: ± 500;
- Status: one almost complete chassis has survived
and is undergoing restoration, but no complete cars are known to
exist.
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STANDARD
SUPERIOR MODEL 2 (1933 - 1935)
- Designed at the
Standard Fahrzeugfabrik according to the patents
and with support of Josef Ganz;
- Characteristics: central backbone chassis,
independent suspension all-round with swinging
rear half-axles, mid-mounted engine, Beetle-like
body, advertised in 1933/34 as the 'fastest and
cheapest German Volkswagen' for a typical German
family with 2 children;
- Number built: ± 1000 to 1500;
- Status: one complete restored car is known to
exist. This car can be seen on display at the Oldtimermuseum
Cunewalde in Cunewalde (D).
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MERCEDES-BENZ
130H (1933 - 1936)
- Designed
by Hans Nibel and Max Wagner at Daimler-Benz with
the support of its technical consultant Josef Ganz;
- Characteristics: central backbone chassis,
independent suspension all-round with swinging
rear half-axles, rear-mounted engine, Beetle-like
body;
- Number built: 4,298;
- Status: several cars still exist in museums and
private collections, including cars on display at
the Mercedes-Benz
Museum in Stuttgart (D), the Tampa
Bay Automobile Museum in Florida (USA), the Collection
Schlumpf in Mulhouse (F), and the Franschhoek
Motor Museum in Franschhoek (ZA).
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BUNGARTZ
BUTZ (1934)
- Designed at
Bungartz & Co according to the patents and
with support of Josef Ganz;
- Characteristics: central backbone chassis,
independent suspension all-round with swinging
rear half-axles, mid-mounted engine;
- Number built: unknown.
- Status: no cars are known to exist.
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RAPID
'SWISS VOLKSWAGEN' (1937 - 1947)
- Designed by
Josef Ganz according to a similar chassis
arrangement as the Standard Superior but with
different styling;
- Characteristics: central backbone chassis,
independent suspension all-round with swinging
rear half-axles, mid-mounted engine, all-metal
open Beetle-like body;
- Number built: ±
3 prototypes (including 1 aluminium-bodied
prototype dubbed Silberfisch) + 36 production cars (built
by Rapid in Switzerland in period
1945 - 1947);
- Status: two cars are known to exist, one is
restored and on display at the Verkehrshaus
in Luzern (CH) and the second one is unrestored
and owned by a Dutch collector.
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JULIEN
M.M.5 AND M.M.7 (1947 - 1950)
- Designed at
Automobiles Julien according to the patents and
with support of Josef Ganz;
- Number built: unknown;
- Status: one complete restored car is known to
exist and can be seen on display at the Bruce
Weiner Microcar Museum in the USA.
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If
you have any additional information about the cars
described on this page and/or know of any more surviving
cars by Josef Ganz we would greatly appreciate it if you
could contact us. |
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Het ware verhaal van de
Kever: hoe Hitler het ontwerp van een joods genie confisqueerde
Paperback 17 x 21 cm
336 pages black&white
± 400 illustrations
ISBN 9789085710912
€ 24,95
1st print: Sept 2009
2nd print: Jan 2010
(order
now)
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