Eagle Gropius

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From 1929 onwards he designed the open and closed bodies for the Adler Gropius: The architect and founder of the Bauhaus, Walter Gropius (photographed around 1919)

Adler Gropius is an unofficial collective name for certain passenger cars that the motor vehicle manufacturer Adlerwerke , based in Frankfurt am Main, produced a few copies between 1930 and 1933 based on the Adler Standard 6 and Standard 8 ; Characteristic are the open and closed bodies , which were designed by the architect Walter Gropius from 1929, the founder and first director of the State Bauhaus , which was founded in 1919 and has been based in Dessau since 1925 . It remained the only known attempt by Gropius to design automobiles .

Background and history

Heinrich Kleyer, Adlerwerke and the Standard 6 and 8 models

Georg Johann Köhler : Illustration from the factory brochure Der Adler Standard 6 around 1930. The illustration shows the conventional series body (6-window sedan), the starting model for the Gropius designs.

In the 1920s and 30s, the company was Adlerwerke vorm. Heinrich Kleyer AG , based in Frankfurt am Main, has always been the third to fourth largest automobile manufacturer in Germany. Heinrich Kleyer (1853–1932) founded a machine and bicycle business as early as 1880 , from which the first German bicycle factory emerged in 1885/86. The industrial production of bicycles, and from 1898 also typewriters , quickly made Kleyer wealthy. The first self-developed automobiles were built from 1900, followed by motorcycles in the following year .

From 1927 onwards, there was a significant expansion in production, when the newly designed, technically closely related and therefore economically manufactured car models Standard 6 with six-cylinder engine, Standard 8 with eight cylinders and Favorit with four-cylinder engine were gradually manufactured in large series. Despite the onset of the global economic crisis, around 14,000 of the latter were built and around 21,000 of the six-cylinder model by 1933, which made it the most popular mid-range car of its time. Despite the economically difficult times, the representative eight-cylinder top model came to 1820 copies.

Although the cars had many remarkable achievements in technical terms, their external appearance with the conventional series bodies had been rather inconspicuous until then. In order to overcome the economic crisis, the Adlerwerke looked for ways to sharpen the brand profile. A first step was the effective marketing of Clärenore Stinnes ' circumnavigation of the world in a standard Adler Standard 6 from 1927 to 1929, another was the search for a more expressive body design, and a third step was technical innovations such as the front-wheel drive models under the new designer Hans Gustav Röhr from 1931.

Walter Gropius and his relationships with large-scale industry and with Frankfurt am Main

Walter Gropius had studied architecture, but dropped out without a diploma in 1908. In the following years he not only devoted himself to the design of buildings, but also turned to industrial design , initially in Peter Behrens' office in Berlin, where he designed products for AEG, among other things, and from 1910 with his own office for product design and architecture. He gained notoriety in particular as the founder and first director of the Bauhaus, which was founded as an art school in Weimar in 1919.

Even before his involvement with Adlerwerke, Gropius had implemented sensational designs for large industrial companies. In 1911, for example, he created the Fagus factory in the small town of Alfeld an der Leine in southern Lower Saxony ; As one of the first examples of modern architecture , it has been a listed building since 1946 and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2011 . Gropius had already worked in Frankfurt am Main; His most important work there from 1929 to 1930 was the “Am Lindenbaum” estate as part of the New Frankfurt urban planning program .

Walter Gropius' work for the Adlerwerke

At first there was a personal friendship between Walter Gropius and the Kleyer family. After Gropius had completed his most recent major projects, in particular the Siemensstadt housing estate in Berlin and the “Am Lindenbaum” estate in Frankfurt, at the end of the 1920s, due to the economic crisis, he lacked lucrative follow-up orders to utilize his office to capacity and pay his employees. So he accepted the offer to work from 1929 to 1933 as chairman of the advisory board for body design at Adler-Automobilwerke.

In this role he designed completely new bodies for the large Adler cars. In detail, six body types for sedans and convertibles are named, which are differentiated in-house into “internal steering limousine 4- to 5-seater” and “Pullman limousine 6- to 7-seat” or, in the German form that was common at the time, called “cabriolet” .

Gropius also created the new company logo, a formally greatly reduced eagle with wide wings; his Adler logo made its debut on the Adler-Gropius exhibition vehicles and was adopted for all series models from 1932.

The body designs and the exhibitions of the vehicles

The cars with the new bodies were first on the Paris Motor Show showed the beginning of October in 1930, at that time one of the most important automobile - fairs in the world. Another presentation took place in the spring of 1931 at the 22nd  International Motor Show in Berlin . Furthermore, the Adlerwerke presented the Standard 8 with the superstructures designed by Gropius again from February 11 to 23, 1933 at the 23rd International Automobile and Motorcycle Exhibition in Berlin.

The aim was "a functional form without ornamentation that should remain timeless as long as possible."

The models designed by Gropius achieved "worldwide sensation" and "publicity that continues to have an effect to this day", but - also due to the economic crisis of 1929 to 1932 - found "hardly any serious buyers". Instead, those interested continued to favor the bodies that were common at the time. Even in 1933 - the first year of a strong upswing in the automotive industry - there was no interest in buying, as customers, especially at Adler, now favored lower bodies with the first signs of streamlined shape .

The body construction company Ambi-Budd in the Berlin district of Johannisthal should have carried out series production of the bodies designed by Gropius ; In the end, however, it did not take place because of the cautious customer response.

The individual models and their numbers

In detail, Gropius designed six models for Adler. They are made up of three body variants ("interior control limousine", "Pullman limousine" and "cabriolet") for the chassis of the Adler Standard 6 and Standard 8. The exhibitions and photos are the best documented:

  • A four-door sedan with four to five seats based on the standard 6 A (12/50 hp, type 12 N) ; The concept as a mere “four-window sedan”, ie with only two side windows on each side, was striking, while the standard versions with bodies from Ambi-Budd were designed as “six-window sedans”. Gropius had thereby implemented larger doors for a more comfortable entry with lower production costs as well as a clearer demarcation from the larger top model Standard 8 (15/80 hp, type 15 N) , but many interested parties perceived the latter as a devaluation of the smaller Standard 6 sedan.
  • A two-door convertible with four to five seats based on the standard 6 A (12/50 PS, type 12 N) , designed as a "two-window convertible";
  • a four-door ( Pullman ) sedan with six to seven seats based on the Standard 8 (15/80 hp, type 15 N) , designed as a “six-window sedan” with three side windows on each side;
  • a two-door convertible with four to five seats based on the Standard 8 (15/80 hp, type 15 N) , designed as a "two-window convertible". In addition to a version with doors hinged at the front, there was also a special version in which the doors were hinged to the A and B-pillars thanks to the hinges and could be opened with two door handles alternately at the front as a " suicide door " and conventionally at the rear; the approach to both rows of seats was made as comfortable as possible.

How many Adler cars were built with bodies based on designs by Gropius is controversial. The automobile historian Werner Oswald (1920–1997) assumes a total of only six such passenger cars, including

  • three limousines, all of whose bodies were made by the Jos. Neuss with the seat in the district Hallensee were constructed, including one on the chassis of a standard 6 A (12/50 PS, type 12 N) and two on the basis of a standard 8 (15/80 PS, type 15 N) , further
  • three convertibles, the bodies of which all came from Wilhelm Karmann GmbH in Osnabrück and all rested on the chassis of the Standard 8 (15/80 hp, type 15 N) .

In a 2015 publication, the journalist Thomas Wagner , who was in contact with the Adler Club, mentions two sedans and around 23 convertibles. According to another source, which appeared in 2019 and whose author had contact with the Adler-Motor-Veteranen-Club, 27 vehicles with bodies based on designs by Walter Gropius were built. The verification is made more difficult by the fact that the Adler factory was badly damaged during the Second World War and then gave up car manufacturing; the Berlin bodyworks Ambi-Budd was dismantled and closed by Soviet troops after the end of the war, the Jos. Neuss - responsible for the construction of individual exhibition vehicles - was taken over by Erdmann & Rossi as early as 1933 .

Technical specifications

An Adler Standard 6 from 1928 as a 6-window sedan with a conventional factory body from Ambi-Budd, the starting model for the Gropius designs

Those Adler Gropius that on the chassis of standard 6 A (12/50 PS, type 12 N) were constructed, had a six-cylinder - line engine with good 2.9 liter capacity and a power of 50  PS (37  kilowatts ). The chassis had a wheelbase of 2840 milli meter and a track width of front and rear 1350 millimeters. The model was 4270 millimeters long, 1650 wide and 1825 millimeters high. The chassis weighed 950  kilograms , the sedan and cabriolet a total of 1300 kilograms.

The majority of the Adler Gropius were based on the Standard 8 (15/80 HP, type 15 N) and had an eight-cylinder in-line engine; With the same cylinder dimensions, the result was a displacement of almost 3.9 liters and an output of 80 hp (59 kW). The technically identical, but significantly larger chassis had a wheelbase of 3325 millimeters and a front and rear track of 1440 millimeters. The model was 4750 millimeters long, 1770 wide and 1880 millimeters high. The chassis weighed 1,300 kilograms, at least the sedan weighed 1,800 kilograms. The top speed was 105 kilometers per hour.

One of the last produced Adler Gropius, a Pullman limousine with a standard 8 chassis, is even given a total length of 5.20 meters. it also has distinctive fenders that are reminiscent of contemporary women's fashion such as “helmet hats”. Because of its special dimensions and the light paintwork, which was rather unusual for a representative vehicle of that time, this specimen also bears the nickname "White Elephant".

Individual vehicles

In the Prussian province of Hessen-Nassau , a four-door Adler Standard 8 limousine , manufactured in 1931, with a body designed by Gropius and built by Neuss was registered ; it carried the vehicle registration number "IT 0426". The car was painted uniformly dark and had a high radiator grille with a multitude of vertical chrome struts and doors that opened in opposite directions: the front doors were hinged at the front, the rear doors at the back. The vehicle looks particularly stately and elegant.

A two-door Adler Standard 8 Cabriolet built in 1931 with a body designed by Gropius and built by Karmann was also registered there; it bore the vehicle registration number "IT 0423". Fenders , running boards and the folding top in black contrasted with the much lighter rest of the body. The convertible had a tall, finely perforated radiator grille and particularly large, front-hinged doors; This made it possible to dispense with additional rear side windows. This model also looks very elegant.

The Gropius couple used such a convertible until at least 1933; it was temporarily registered in Berlin with the registration number “IA 85337”.

Striking design features

In his body designs, Gropius drew on many design elements that he favored in his buildings: straight lines with clear horizontal and vertical structures, even radii, even surfaces, cubic shapes and, for the time, large window areas. The chrome trim is reduced to a few, large and eye-catching parts. While other contemporary automotive designers were already starting to create smoother transitions between individual parts, Gropius opted for a clear separation of different functional areas. The side running boards are visually clearly separated from the fenders, as are the boxes for the on-board tools and the battery. Gropius also attached great importance to functionality: particularly wide doors (with solid, external door hinges) facilitate access to the vehicle interior, the passenger compartments are particularly long and wide. Individual vehicles show unusual, novel reclining seats for the time. The body is effectively protected by one-piece bumpers , which were strong for the time, with a central rubber strip, which are drawn around the rear to the fenders.

Further characteristic details of all or individual eagles Gropius are:

  • a distinctive chrome-plated, vertical, comparatively tall and narrow radiator grille, depending on the model with numerous fine, vertical struts or a fine hole pattern with 16 holes in width and 24 in height;
  • Dispensing with the chrome-plated flat surface on the upper part of the radiator grille, on which the triangular brand emblem on the tip was located or which was attached below; instead with the new eagle emblem designed by Gropius;
  • For individual vehicles, particularly large, chrome-plated vehicle headlights from the Jena- based company Carl Zeiss and
  • eye-catching, large chrome-plated wheel covers, also on the externally mounted spare wheels.

International attention

The presentation of the Adler-Gropius models attracted international attention; they were presented in numerous newspapers and magazines and made the Adlerwerke known worldwide. Werner Oswald assesses Gropius' automobile designs as "historically interesting, but not trend-setting". In more recent publications, the vehicles are sometimes referred to as "the Bauhaus on wheels".

The Gropius Adler today

As far as is known (as of 2019), none of the eagles Gropius has survived to this day; their whereabouts are unclear. As with many high-end and luxury-class automobiles, it can be assumed that the Wehrmacht requisitioned them in World War II as a command vehicle or, in this case, specifically as a spare parts donor for the approximately 6,400 Adler Kübelwagen .

A radiator grille was retained in the original; it is part of the exhibition "Moderne am Main 1919–1933" at the Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt am Main. Occasionally, collectors find special attachments such as door handles. Since 2019, the eagle Gropius, known by the nickname “White Elephant”, has been faithfully reconstructed; The organizer of the project is the chairman of the Adler-Motor-Veteranen-Club with support from the Institute for Vehicle Technology at the Technical University of Cologne . The basis is a preserved original chassis from one of the rare Adler Standard 8s.

Conceptually similar body designs by other contemporary architects

Conceptually similar: a French Voisin C.14 Conduite Intérieure (1929) with a body influenced by Le Corbusier

The Swiss - French architect Le Corbusier designed bodies with a similar concept for the French automobile manufacturer Aéroplanes G. Voisin under the direction of Gabriel Voisin ; they too remained economically unsuccessful.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Thomas Wagner: Final spurt 01: Gropius and his eagle. In: stylepark.com. December 1, 2015, accessed June 6, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Werner Oswald: Deutsche Autos - Volume 2 - 1920–1945 . 2nd Edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-613-02170-6 , pp. 15, 17, 19, 24 f. and 512.
  3. ^ Markus Caspers : Designing Motion - Automobildesigner from 1890 to 1990 . Birkhäuser Verlag , Basel 2016, ISBN 978-3-0356-0981-3 , pp.  22 and 113 .
  4. ↑ a b c Hartmut Probst, Christian Schädlich: Walter Gropius . Ernst, Berlin 1986, ISBN 978-3-433-02232-0 , pp. 122-130 .
  5. ↑ a b c d Stefan Schlagenhaufer: The Bauhaus on Wheels - Created 90 years ago by Walter Gropius, now it is being reconstructed. In: Bild.de . April 17, 2019, accessed July 2, 2019 .