German truck factory

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DAAG ACO
Postbus
Historic DAAG post bus from 1925
Construction year 1924
Commissioning July 1925 in Dortmund
Decommissioning 1953 in Dortmund
Exhibited in the Museum for Communication 1976 in Frankfurt
Drivable restoration 2008
Commissioning costs technology approx. 100,000 euros
Original license plate RP-3841
Chassis number 3841
length 7.4 meters
width 2.35 meters
cylinder 4th
power 44 kW (60 hp)
Displacement 7190 cc
Top speed 45 km / h
fuel Regular gasoline, unleaded
consumption > 25 l / 100 km
Passenger seats 24
Empty weight 5070 kg
payload 3450 kg
maximum weight allowed 8650 kg
Front axle load 2870 kg
rear axle load 5780 kg
Total number of items in the Reichspost 628

The German automotive load Fabrik AG , abbreviated DAAG , was established in 1910 and until 1930 the existing German commercial vehicle manufacturer .

founding

The DAAG was entered in the commercial register of the Royal District Court of Ratingen on November 2, 1910 . The founders, three engineers, a building contractor and a lawyer, saw a trend towards horseless transport vehicles, which at that time still looked very similar to carriages with solid rubber tires, carbide lanterns and their folding top.

history

Motor of the DAAG post bus from 1925
Dashboard of the DAAG post bus from 1925

As early as 1913, the company was represented on the market with nine different trucks and five buses , one of the special technical attractions being an engine brake for which DAAG had a Reich patent . The camshaft was adjusted while braking so that the engine worked as a compressor .

From 1914 the DAAG put the entire production in the service of the armaments industry for the First World War and delivered its three and a half, four and five ton trucks to the army. The plant expanded accordingly: at that time 900 workers and employees operated 300 machines on a total area of ​​65,000 square meters. The share capital had risen to 5 million marks by 1915.

After the First World War, the DAAG built more halls. In an advertising brochure from 1919 it was said: " A description of Deutsche Last-Automobil AG in Ratingen is synonymous with the history of the truck itself. "

After the war, the DAAG relied on the Schnelllaster (NAC 2/25), which was particularly popular with breweries , fire brigades , municipal vehicle fleets and circus companies (e.g. the Sarrasani circus converted its entire fleet to DAAG vehicles at that time), just like the Reich Ministry of Post , which ordered the 628 DAAG express truck.

In the 1920s, DAAG offered its customers a wide variety of bodies in brochures. Some of them were manufactured by the Lange & Gutzeit bodywork in Berlin . So there was B. open company cars with different seating arrangements (for the police) or city and panorama buses.

1924 DAAG brought a new four-cylinder - Omnibus to the market, which achieved above-average sales. This enabled the purchase of the Rheka-Werke (Rheinische Karosseriewerk Gesellschaft mbH) in Lintorf . The entire body shop of DAAG was relocated here.

DAAG had some general agencies, such as B. Bochumer Maschinenindustrie GmbH, vehicle factory Adolf Märker.

restructuring

In 1926 the branch had to be closed again. DAAG production was cut from 100 to 40 vehicles per month. Despite political and economic turmoil, the DAAG continued to develop new technical concepts, such as the L6, a six-cylinder engine for five to six-ton trucks , at the end of the 1920s . However, the engine was too heavy for the frame and there were numerous breaks, cracks and then complaints.

Plant closure

Historic post bus from DAAG of the Museum for Communication in Frankfurt am Main from 1925

In the mid-1920s, the majority of the shares had been transferred to the Stumm Group, which wanted to save the plant by drastically reducing the workforce. In the industrial club in Düsseldorf , there were secret talks with the Krupp group from Essen , which took over DAAG for one million Reichsmarks and finally shut it down in 1930. Spare parts sales were taken over by Krupp for another ten years.

DAAG vehicles were still in use until the late 1950s, especially with municipalities and the Deutsche Bundespost , which in 1950 still owned 38 DAAG buses.

Received vehicles

A roadworthy and completely restored DAAG Postbus type ACO from 1925 belongs to the Museum for Communication in Frankfurt am Main . The omnibus was the only vehicle of its type to survive. All other DAAG buses were scrapped after their planned use ended.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ullrich Märker, Hattingen 2013.
  2. ^ Website "Historischer Postbus" of the Museum for Communication Frankfurt am Main

Literature and media

  • Michael Troesser: But don't forget - the history of the DAAG truck company in Ratingen . In: Historischer Kraftverkehr , Issue 3–6 / 1990
  • Medienzentrum Rheinland Düsseldorf (loan): The DAAG - A piece of forgotten economic history in NRW . 28-minute documentation on VHS, cassette D 4279045

Web links

Commons : Deutsche Lastautomobilfabrik  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files