Cudell

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Cudell & Compagnie,
Motoren- u. Vehicle factory
1897–1900, Aachen

Actiengesellschaft
für Motor- u. Motor vehicle construction,
formerly Cudell & Co.
1900–1902, Aachen
Cudell Motor Compagnie mbH
1902–1905, Aachen
Cudell Motoren-Gesellschaft mbH
1905–1908, Berlin N 65

legal form Aktiengesellschaft , GmbH
founding 1897
resolution 1908
Reason for dissolution bankruptcy
Seat Aachen , Germany
management Max Cudell
Branch Motor vehicle manufacturer

Cudell Motor Compagnie was a German manufacturer of automobiles .

Company history

Cudell tricycle from 1898

The company was founded by Max Cudell in Aachen in 1897 or 1898 to produce engines and motor tricycles under licenses from De Dion-Bouton . In 1899 the metal goods manufacturer Max Cudell, owner of the company Cudell & Cie. Krefelder Strasse 2 in Aachen. Light commercial vehicles were also produced between 1900 and 1905. In 1905 the company went bankrupt, but a branch in Berlin continued to produce on a small scale until 1908.

Passenger cars

Cudell from 1899
Cudell 35–40 hp "Phoenix"; Tonneau with rear entry; Winter roof (work picture, 1905)

Initially, models were made under license from De Dion-Bouton. The first model was a tricycle with the single wheel in the front. The driver sat on a bicycle saddle and steered with a handlebar . The single-cylinder engine developed 1.75 hp and was mounted in the rear. In 1899, the Voiturette De Dion-Bouton Vis-à-vis Type D was built under license as the first four-wheeled vehicle as a 3.5 HP motor vehicle with a water-cooled single - cylinder engine with 402 cm³ displacement in the rear, which made 3.5 HP. With a wheelbase of 136 cm, the vehicle offered, the front seat despite the Vis-à-vis mentioned body shape had installed rotated in the direction of travel, room for four people. The innovations in this series included the light but robust chassis made of tubular steel, the smooth-running gearshift with handwheel on the steering column and the De-Dion rear axle .

Analogous to the French further development of the vehicle, the 4.5 HP motor car with 510 cm³ displacement and 4.5 HP output appeared in 1901 . In 1902 the more powerful version of the motor vehicle 6 HP with a displacement of 700 cm³ and 6 HP output followed, and licensed versions of the slightly larger Voiturette Populaire with a front engine and 6 HP or 8 HP followed. In 1903 two-cylinder models with 8 hp and 10 hp followed. The last licensed model was a four-cylinder engine in 1904 . De Dion-Bouton had brought such a model onto the market for the first time this year with the Type AD 2.5 liter.

After it turned out that Cudell also supplied the British market, there was a dispute with the local licensee, De Dion-Bouton, Ltd., founded in 1899 and independently managed by financier Selwyn Edge . in London. It seems that Cudell then lost his license and got into financial difficulties because of it.

In 1904, under the direction of Karl Slevogt , Cudell brought out the 16/20 PS with four-cylinder engine and 2554 cm³ displacement as the first in-house development . In 1905 followed the Phönix 35/40 hp , which was to be available as a double phaeton and limousine . Its four-cylinder engine with OHV valve control , five- bearing crankshaft and 6100 cm³ displacement made 45 hp. The vehicle received considerable attention in the trade press, but it failed to save the company.

After the bankruptcy in 1905, a few vehicles were still manufactured in the Berlin branch until 1908; there may also have been limited production of boat engines and carburetors .

In the USA in 1904 the air-cooled 16 hp four-cylinder with four-speed gearbox, cardan drive, wood / steel chassis with 1892 mm wheelbase and tonneau body for 5 people was offered. The vehicle cost an immodest US $ 4,500 and was also available with a water-cooled four - cylinder 22 hp. The agent was Clodio & Widmayer at 10 West 33rd Street in New York.

A vehicle of this brand can be viewed at Autoworld Brussels in Brussels .

commercial vehicles

The first Cudell delivery van was based on the vis-à-vis . It appeared in 1901. Two and four-cylinder engines are also mentioned for later commercial vehicles, although no data is available for the former.

Cudell's world tour

"Thomsenbill" ("Thomsen Car"), the first car in Iceland. On the right the owner Ditlev Thomsen , in the middle the chauffeur Þorkell Þ. Clementz (1904)

Engineer Max Cudell was with Dr. Lehweß from London in 1902 on a world tour in his Passe-Partout motor vehicle . Initially border problems had caused the journey to be delayed. Their arrival in Russia was delayed. Tuesday, October 14th, we continued from Saint Petersburg . On Monday, October 20th, the globetrotters arrived in Moscow . There was already snow.

Special

A 3.5 PS voiturette was made in 1901 for the Turkish Sultan Abdülhamid II .

A used 7½ hp Cudell bought with government aid was the first automobile in Iceland in 1904 .

Engine manufacture and licenses

literature

  • Halwart Schrader : German Cars 1885–1920. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart, ISBN 3-613-02211-7 .
  • Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader: The great automobile encyclopedia. BLV, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-405-12974-5 .
  • George Nick Georgano : Cars. Encyclopédie complète. 1885 à nos jours. Courtille, Paris 1975. (French)
  • GN Georgano (Ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present. Dutton Press, New York, 1973, ISBN 0-525-08351-0 .
  • GN Georgano (Ed.), G. Marshall Naul: Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles. MBI Motor Books International, Osceola WI, 1979; ISBN 0-87341-024-6 . (English)

Web links

Commons : Cudell  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Motorbase: Cudell.
  2. ↑ a b c Georgano, Naul: Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles. 1979, p. 165.
  3. ↑ Aachen address book. 1899.
  4. ↑ a b c Georgano: Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present. 1973, p. 220.
  5. ↑ oldcarbrochures.com: Automobiles of 1904; Cudell
  6. ^ City of Aachener Zeitung , Sunday, October 26, 1902; s. a. Cycling world .
  7. ^ The Antique Automobile Club of Iceland: Short history of cars in Iceland.