Aspen leaves (automobiles)

Between 1928 and 1953 individual innovative and sometimes very bizarre automobiles were built under the name Espenlaub .

The designer and builder was the aviator and aircraft manufacturer Gottlob Espenlaub (1900–1972) , who was initially based in Kassel , then in Düsseldorf - Lohausen at the airport there, and most recently from 1939 in Wuppertal - Langerfeld . Mostly known as a flight pioneer in the field of gliders (including flying wing planes ) and in the field of rocket propulsion , from 1928 onwards he worked as an automobile pioneer in aerodynamics and lightweight construction .

The early, unusual experimental vehicles remained one-offs, as was a streamlined prototype with gull-wing doors based on a Volkswagen. A series production of attractively designed, sporty and elegant coupés that was aimed at in Bruchsal in the early 1950s did not materialize for economic reasons; of them, only individual pre-series vehicles were built for testing purposes.

Information boards on the former Gottlob Espenlaub aircraft factory in Wuppertal-Langerfeld, Spitzenstrasse, with a brief mention of the automotive industry

Overview

Gottlob Espenlaub in 1921 with one of his first constructions, a slope glider; From 1928 he transferred his experience from gliding in terms of aerodynamics and lightweight construction to the automobiles he designed and built

Gottlob Espenlaub as a pilot in one of his self-built aircraft; After surviving a crash with a self-designed rocket-propelled aircraft with luck, he gave up his aviation career and concentrated on his aircraft repair business and the construction of innovative automobiles

The collaboration with the rocket pioneer Max Valier brought Gottlob Espenlaub into contact with automobiles, especially streamlined record-breaking vehicles; rocket-powered one-offs like this Opel RAK2 caused a great deal of public attention at the end of the 1920s

Espenlaub built a total of at least nine different vehicles or models. As far as is known, none of the automobiles has survived. The sources are comparatively poor: many documents on his pre-war automobiles were lost in the turmoil of World War II ; After the end of the war, Espenlaub did not comment on his activities during the Second World War, in particular aircraft construction and repair, and some documents were deliberately destroyed. Only a few photos and a few articles in specialist magazines from 1952 and 1953 exist about his post-war vehicles.

A collection of 20 black-and-white photographs showing Espenlaub and his automobiles between 1928 and 1953 provides information about his automotive work . The collection was auctioned off under number 675 at the Automobilia Auction Ladenburg in autumn 2007. Reproductions of individual photos have already been found on individual websites.

Espenlaub's automobiles were largely shaped by the experience he had gained as an autodidact from July 1920 when he built his own gliders and gliders, particularly with regard to aerodynamics and lightweight construction. He had developed a lot together with other flight pioneers such as the constructor Alexander Lippisch , the Swiss designer Alexander Leo Soldenhoff , the fighter pilot and constructor Gerhard Fieseler or the glider pioneer Edgar Dittmar . In 1927 he introduced the technique of aircraft tow to start gliders. In 1928 he designed the E-5 glider as a rocket glider.

The aviation pioneer Espenlaub had a connection to automobiles through two circumstances:

On the one hand, he used a passenger car (initially a Wanderer , later a Mercedes-Benz Type SS ) to transport his gliders to glider events by trailer, possibly also to start his gliders by towing a car ; Good vehicle aerodynamics reduced the wake turbulence behind the towing vehicle and thus the dangers for the towed or taking off glider, low vehicle weight and good vehicle aerodynamics enabled the towing vehicle to achieve higher speeds and faster acceleration.
On the other hand, Espenlaub worked with Max Valier on rocket-propelled aircraft in 1928/29 ; Immediately beforehand, he had already worked with Fritz von Opel , Kurt C. Volkhart and Friedrich Sander on sensational automobiles with streamlined bodies and rocket drives such as the Opel RAK1 and RAK2 .

At the end of the 1920s, Espenlaub gave up his aviation career after several crashes, which he only survived with luck. From then on, the main field of activity was his aircraft repair business with initially 80, in the Third Reich up to 2,253 employees (including many forced laborers). The repair company made him a millionaire early on and gave him the financial backing to build his own experimental vehicles.

Espenlaub's automobiles can be grouped into three groups:

Streamlined, sometimes very bizarre vehicles with lightweight superstructures either made of aluminum or in a composite construction with partly fabric-covered wooden frames (for experimental purposes or for automobile racing from the time before the Second World War)
his characteristic, bizarre “flounder” models with unusually wide and low pontoon bodies made of light metal (experimental models at the end of the Second World War or in the first post-war years) and
sporty and elegant coupés with a pontoon body in a shell construction, front engine ( ILO - two-stroke engines of 400 cm³ or 1000 cm³ displacement ) and front-wheel drive (intended for series production in 1952 and 1953)

The aspen leaf vehicles in detail

Wanderer type 10 / II converted from aspen leaves (1928)

Wanderer type 10 (here as 10 / IV ) - the conservatively designed starting model for aspen leaves conversion

The first Espenlaub automobile was built in 1928 on the basis of a Wanderer Type 10 / II from 1927/28 with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder in - line engine and 40 hp (29 kW ). Espenlaub provided the vehicle with a new, lightweight passenger cell made of light metal sheet with a streamlined rear. The high upright radiator, the detached bonnet and the classic fenders and running boards were still from the original model. A characteristic feature was the newly designed, low roof, sloping slightly to the front and rear, with a small, vertical windshield and the smooth side panels that tapered towards the rear in a streamlined manner. For weight and stability reasons, the vehicle only had a single door, on the passenger side.

Aspen leaves / Wanderer streamlined vehicle (1928)

The second Espenlaub car was also built in 1928, again based on a Wanderer . The vehicle shows an extreme, bulbous streamline shape , then as now as it is extremely bizarre , which is most reminiscent of squat airships or submarines . It is not known whether it is a further development based on the first aspen leaf automobile or a second hiker served as the starting point. The body was created in a mixed construction (light metal shell construction combined with elements from glider construction). The unusual width of the body, which completely clad both the front and rear wheels, was striking. The small, vertical, this time sickle-shaped and three-part windshield was typical again. For reasons of weight and stability, access to the bulbous passenger cell was only possible in this model via a single door on the passenger side. Another pioneering attempt was the attempt to integrate the two headlights into the body line instead of placing them separately, as was common at the time.

"Streamline" model (1934/35)

The third Espenlaub automobile was built in 1934/35 and was given the simple name “Streamline”. Outwardly, it was very similar to the second vehicle from 1928 with a pronounced, if not so extremely bulbous, streamlined shape. No information has been passed on to the chassis and drive technology. The bizarre body with a single side door and full paneling of the wheels rested on a structure made of wooden ribs that were only covered with aluminum sheets in the area of the front and the engine cover. Otherwise it had a fabric covering, which - as was common in gliding at the time - was stiffened with tension varnish. The small, vertical, sickle-shaped windshield on this model actually consisted of five parts.

Adler Trumpf streamlined racing coupé (approx. 1936/37)

Adler Trumpf Sport as a standard roadster - the starting model for the racing coupés with a streamlined light metal body

Around 1936/37 Espenlaub was involved in the development and construction of streamlined racing sports cars for the Adlerwerke based in Frankfurt am Main . The black and white photographs from his archive allow this conclusion to be drawn, even if written documents are no longer available due to the turmoil of the Second World War and the fact that the Adler factories did not resume automobile production after the Second World War. From 1936, under the direction of Reinhard von Koenig-Fachsenfeld, probably only six racing sports cars based on the Adler Trumpf Sport with streamlined light metal bodies and 1.5 and 1.7 liter, and most recently also 2.0 four-cylinder in-line engines for prestigious long-distance races such as the 24-hour race of Spa-Francorchamps or the 24-hour race of Le Mans . The aerodynamically favorable basic shape of the body, which is wing-shaped in the lateral cross-section, tapering long to the rear, as well as the teardrop-shaped roof attachment from above, as well as the rear wheels, which are completely covered for aerodynamic reasons, were striking.

The individual vehicles differed in details such as the radiator grille, the headlight arrangement and the roof layout, and were in part modified over the years up to 1940. The Adler racing coupé, which is associated with aspen leaves, features a large radiator grille integrated into the flowing body lines, relatively low headlights fitted as flush as possible into the body, and a comparatively narrow, low and short roof attachment that slopes gently towards the rear. Other designs had smaller radiator grills or only cooling air slots, which often led to thermal problems, higher set, more outwardly mounted, more strongly modeled headlights and sometimes wider and longer roof attachments up to the particularly successful so-called racing sedan .

BMW pursued a similar project with aerodynamically optimized vehicles from 1938 onwards, based on the BMW 328 , partly with its own efforts under the guidance of aerodynamicist Wunibald Kamm , partly in cooperation with Carrozzeria Touring in Milan .

"Flounder" model, four-wheeled (1944/1948)

The dive bomber Junkers Ju 87 - many mechanical components came from him, in particular chassis parts of the nine-seat "flounder" model with steering via the rear twin wheels

In 1944 or, according to other sources, in 1948, Espenlaub built one of the most unusual vehicles in automobile history. The vehicle was extraordinary from almost every point of view: The car had a strict pontoon shape in the " one-box design ", that is, without a separately detached bonnet or separate trunk, comparable to a minibus , van , omnibus or scooter mobile ; the wheels were - as with his streamlined vehicles from 1928 and 1934/35 - completely hidden under the body. With a width of about 2.50 meters, the vehicle was only about 1.20 meters high, and was therefore unusually wide and extremely flat according to today's and even more so according to the ideas of the time (hence the name “ flounder ”). The vehicle was designed as a nine-seater; all the panes were arched right into the roof. At the front, an axle with a normal track width , but non-steerable wheels, was used, while at the rear, closely spaced steerable twin wheels were used . No information has been handed down on the engine. Unusual was also the source of significant technical components: Much as especially chassis parts, came from dive bombers of the type Junkers Ju 87 ( "Stuka") from the Second World War.

The background was that Espenlaub had many spare parts for this type in stock in his aircraft repair shop in Wuppertal: During the war, his operation had been relocated to several bomb-proof railway tunnels in the area by the " Organization Todt " ( underground relocation ); Towards the end of the war there was hardly any use for these spare parts, as many aircraft had been destroyed in action or fell into the hands of the advancing Allies, or there was a lack of personnel, fuel and logistics to bring damaged aircraft to Espenlaub's temporary plant.

Distant parallels to the four-wheeled “flounder” model with its nine seats can only be found in the American Stout Scarab (1935–1939) , which was only built around nine times, and the Dymaxion automobile by the American Richard Buckminster Fuller from 1933, also to a limited extent at the ALFA 40-60 HP Aerodinamica , as Count Marco Ricotti had it made as a one-off piece at the Castagna body shop in 1913/14 .

"Flounder" model, three-wheeled (1947)

The three-wheeled "flounder" model Espenlaubs from 1947 was similarly idiosyncratic . This model also had a strict pontoon shape in the "one-box design" with extremely small body overhangs at the front and rear, but here - in contrast to the four-wheeled model - with conventional ones Wheel cutouts on the two front wheels. Only the single rear wheel was completely covered by the body. Here, too, the unusually low overall height was striking, as was the front window, which consists of four parts (two large, flat, angled panes in the middle, small curved panes on the outside). The vehicle was designed as a four-seater with a rear-hinged door on the right and left (" suicide doors ") and was significantly smaller than the four-wheeled nine-seater. The steering took place via a conventional front axle, the drive via the central, single rear wheel. Nothing is known about the engine and the origin of the chassis components.

Model "400" (1952)

In 1952, the small car model Espenlaub 400 with a pontoon body and 400 cm³ ILO two-stroke engine was presented. It was a coupé with significantly more compact dimensions than the Espenlaub 1000, also presented in 1952 . The 400 model was the Espenlaub automobile, the lines of which best met the taste of the general public at the time, but suffered from a weak engine and would have become too expensive in the final series production compared to the ubiquitous, more spacious and more powerful VW Beetle .

The 400 had a pontoon body designed by Espenlaub itself in aluminum shell construction with a hatchback, doors hinged at the front and a large trunk that could be opened from the outside. The lines were reminiscent of the larger Goliath GP 700 E Sport , the Porsche 356 , the Gutbrod Superior and the small Trippel SK 10 test car from 1952. The chassis and chassis were also Espenlaub's own design.

The Espenlaub 400 was powered by an ILO built-in engine with 400 cm³ and two cylinders in a row. The two-stroke engine installed in front of the front axle achieved a maximum output of 14 hp at 4,000 revolutions per minute. The three-speed manual transmission sat above or behind the front axle and drove the front wheels. The top speed was 95 km / h. The same motor / gear unit was also used on the Champion 400 until 1952 , but there as a rear drive block with rear-wheel drive .

It remained in the pre-series stage of individual test vehicles. The regular series production planned in Bruchsal did not materialize.

Model "1000" (1952)

The Goliath GP 700 E Sport (1951/52) - the technically quite similar competitor to the Espenlaub 1000 Coupé (0.7 l three-cylinder two-stroke engine with direct petrol injection and 29 hp, body by Rometsch , only about 26 built)

The DKW 3 = 6 Monza (1956–1958), which was also quite similar technically, but only appeared four years later (0.9 / 1.0 l three-cylinder two-stroke engine and 38–44 hp, plastic body initially by Dannenhauer & Stauss , only about 53 to 240 times built depending on the source)

Porsche 356 ("pre-A model" with one-piece articulated disk) - the competitor who was able to assert itself thanks to its sporting successes and the solid technology derived from the VW Beetle (1952 with 1.1 / 1.3 l four-cylinder Four-stroke boxer engine and 40/44 hp)

Also in 1952, the Gottlob Espenlaub aircraft factory presented the Espenlaub 1000 model intended for series production , a four-seat, two-door coupé with a sporty character. In retrospect, this model was the most promising aspen leaf car ever. At that time the company was primarily concerned with aircraft construction, but was still severely restricted by the general ban on glider and motorized flights by the Allies. Similar to the other former aircraft manufacturers Messerschmitt (with the cabin scooter ), Dornier (with the Delta as the forerunner of the Zündapp Janus ) and Heinkel (with the Heinkel cabin ), Espenlaub was looking for himself and his employees - based on his previous activities in automobile construction from 1928 - for possibilities for a professional production of passenger cars. After several years of preparation, several pre-production cars of the model 1000 were built in 1952 , which were extensively tested and proved to be reliable and economical.

body

The self-designed body was aerodynamically extremely favorable and shaped by Espenlaub's experience in aircraft construction. There were no similarities with the bizarre experimental vehicles, which in no way would have hit the masses' taste. Contemporary reports praised the design as exceptionally elegant. The entire body was made of aluminum with a shell construction. For today's and even more so for then the vehicle was unusually low with a height of only 1270 millimeters (another three centimeters flatter than the Porsche 356, 23 centimeters flatter than a VW Beetle). With a length of about 4000 millimeters, the Espenlaub 1000 was almost as long as the VW Beetle and around 13 centimeters longer than the Porsche (with the early, tight-fitting bumpers). With a width of around 1,600 millimeters, it was six centimeters narrower than the Porsche and at the same time six centimeters wider than the VW . Despite the low overall height, it was designed as a real four-seater touring car and had more generous interior dimensions than the Porsche, which the press mostly used for comparison .

It already had a curved one-piece windshield when Porsche still used the so-called "kink windshield" (one-piece windshield made of two planar parts that were cast together at an angle in the middle) with the disadvantageous optical distortions for cost reasons. Despite the long bonnet and the low construction, the good all-round visibility and clarity were praised. The side doors were already hinged at the front; in the stern was a large trunk that opened outwards. The rear wheels were almost completely covered, the front wheels about two thirds. The steering angle should nevertheless not have been restricted, as the track was much narrower than the full pontoon body.

The complete paneling of the underbody and the tapering rear fenders with a comparatively large body overhang at the rear were trendsetting. Between them was a kind of vertical air baffle at the height of the chassis (in today's sense a “ spoiler ” or “ diffuser ”, at that time mostly called “elevator fin”). This ensured that the air flow below and behind the vehicle was as trouble-free as possible, increased the top speed, improved driving behavior and reduced consumption.

engine and gears

The model 1000 was powered by a three-cylinder two-stroke in- line engine from ILO-Motorenwerke with a displacement of 1000 cm³ and a maximum output of around 40 to 45 hp (29 to 33 kW), which is what the vehicle estimated with a total weight of less than 850 kilograms At that time tester is said to have given a top speed of around 140 kilometers per hour. The engine was installed lengthways in front of the front axle and drove the front wheels. The transmission was locked to the engine above and behind the front axle, so that there was a relatively balanced weight distribution on both axles. The use of a light two-stroke engine and its lengthways installation prevented the vehicle from becoming too heavy. The arrangement of the cooling units with a combination of air and water cooling was idiosyncratic, but derived from aircraft construction . Behind the front air inlet (referred to as a “nozzle” cooler for the sake of appearance) was a fan , which was also driven by the alternator , pushed the incoming air past the engine block and circulated it in the engine compartment; In addition, behind the engine over the full width of the engine compartment was a water cooler with a capacity of ten liters, which the first testers sometimes considered to be oversized. The four-speed transmission had a steering wheel gearshift , which according to testers was good and sporty.

The three-cylinder ILO engine was only produced in very small numbers: large-scale manufacturers of two-stroke vehicles such as DKW and the Borgward Group with the Goliath brand had their own engine production facilities; Small series manufacturers concentrated on one- and two-cylinder small and micro cars as well as scooter mobiles. In addition, as a supplier of built-in motors for mopeds and small motorcycles , ILO was so well utilized in the boom years of the German two-wheeled industry that there was hardly any free capacity for larger motors. The ILO three-cylinder was mostly only used in the small version with 672 cm³ displacement in the automobile industry, for example with little success in the Tempo Matador 1000 delivery van with 26 HP, otherwise as a stationary engine with up to 1116 cm³ and 39 HP for portable pumps in the fire brigade or the stationary helicopter trainer Bölkow Bo 102 .

Chassis and chassis

The platform frame of the Espenlaub 1000 was just as much an in-house development as the chassis. Due to the low center of gravity and the front-wheel drive, the coupé had an above-average road holding; The first tests praised the tuning of the suspension and the low side tilt.

Competitors

When it was first introduced in 1952, the Espenlaub 1000 had few but interesting competitors: the most similar was the Goliath GP 700 E Sport (also a coupé with a three-cylinder two-stroke engine, front-wheel drive, but with a 0.7-liter engine of the Borgward group, at that time still very vulnerable direct injection and only 29 hp); Ultimately, this vehicle with a Rometsch body was only built around 26 times at a price of DM 9,700 (primarily to promote and test gasoline injection). The second major supplier of two-stroke vehicles , DKW , offered the master class with a special coupé body from Hebmüller , a 0.7-liter two-cylinder two-stroke, front-engine, front-wheel drive and 23 hp at a price of DM 9,100 as the closest comparable vehicle . A more consistent sports car did not follow until 1956 with the DKW 3 = 6 Monza with a three-cylinder two-stroke engine and 0.9 or 1.0 liter engine and 38 to 44 hp at a price of DM 10,500.

The most serious - and ultimately more powerful - competitor was the Porsche 356 from the so-called "pre-A era" with a four-cylinder four-stroke boxer engine in the rear with rear-wheel drive and 1.1 and 1.3 liter engines with 40 and 44 respectively HP at a price of DM 10,200. Other competitors from the early 1950s were the VW Beetle with special bodies from Drews , Hebmüller , Dannenhauer & Stauss , Rometsch , Enzmann and others, as well as the rare Dyna-Veritas with 0, built only 176 times , 8-liter two-cylinder boxer engine and 32 hp for the price of 8,300 DM.

Further development of the model

Espenlaub planned - after extensively and successfully testing his pre-series vehicles - series production of the Model 1000 . He chose Bruchsal as the production site because he wanted to reserve his halls in Wuppertal for future aircraft construction and aircraft repair. This is where the BMW / Ihle sports cars were built in the 1930s . A small series production with 30 vehicles per month at a price of 8,000 to 10,000 DM was planned. Ultimately, however, it remained a small series in 1952, as Espenlaub could not secure the financing of regular series production and banks, business and politics primarily relied on assembly line production in large series. In addition, with the Porsche 356, a sporty, successful and reliable sports car had established itself. The attempt to go into series production in the following year with a revised body design also failed.

Model "1000" (1953)

The Espenlaub 1000 , model 1953 was a further development of the previous year's model. From this it took over the technology and the design as a four-seater coupé. The body, which showed a strong American influence (panoramic windshield, large body overhangs at the front and rear, chrome trim, color-contrasting roof, largely covered wheels at the front and rear, similar to the contemporary models from Nash Motors ) was clearly changed .

As a result, the vehicle looked less sporty compared to the previous year's model and thus set itself apart from the main competitor, the Porsche 356 . The higher waistline compared to the previous year with a lower roof at the same time was striking. Espenlaub thus returned to its design with unusually low windows, as it was already shown in his early experimental vehicles. However, he had to realize that the sales opportunities for such a model in post-war Germany would have been too low and that series production with a targeted production of around 360 vehicles per year would not have been profitable. Furthermore, the suitability and maturity of the 1.0-liter three-cylinder two-stroke engine originally conceived as a stationary engine from the (small) series production of the ILO engine works was now in question; its further production was also doubtful due to a lack of demand. In addition, Espenlaub lacked an organization for sales and maintenance of the vehicles. He therefore stopped his efforts to set up series production in 1953.

Espenlaub - at that time 53 years old and still wealthy due to his pre-war activities - from then on devoted himself to his company Gottlob Espenlaub Flugzeugbau GmbH in Wuppertal-Langerfeld and his family (since 1947 he was married to a manufacturer's daughter, five children were born); He and his family lived in the Bauhaus style built end of the 1920s, since 1989 under monument protection standing Villa Espenlaub (the original Villa Dr. Fischer) in Wuppertal- Barmen .

Meaning of aspen leaves and his automobiles

As an automobile pioneer and designer, Gottlob Espenlaub has largely been forgotten since the 1960s. Along with Edmund Rumpler (from around 1921) and Paul Jaray (from around 1921) he was one of the pioneers who specifically dealt with the aerodynamics of passenger cars, while until then only a few record and racing cars had been designed according to such criteria. Similar work followed by the now better-known Prof. Ferdinand Porsche (1930s), Wunibald Kamm (1930s) and Professor Karl Schlör (from 1937), Hans Ledwinka (for Tatra from 1934) and in France by Gabriel Voisin (from 1934 ).

Espenlaub was also a pioneer of lightweight construction in automobile construction, comparable to Reinhard von Koenig-Fachsenfeld or Ernst Neumann-Neander , here in particular through the use of light metal bodies or techniques from glider construction. The wooden rib structure of his “Stromlinie” model from 1934/35 anticipated the principles of later lattice frames and modern spaceframe technology at a time when stable, heavy chassis with separately attached, non-self-supporting bodies were common.

He was one of the first German designers to integrate the headlights into the body line (streamlined model from 1928; series production in Germany from 1935 on the Opel Olympia ), who used fully encased wheels for aerodynamic reasons (streamlined model 1928), which had the advantages of a low overall height and a ("Flounder" models in the mid-1940s), which used a covered underbody with a lower spoiler lip at the rear (coupé models from 1952) and the one with the streamlined shape from 1928, the "One -Box-Design ”of its“ Flounder ”models and the pontoon shape of its coupés showed new ways of design.

As an independent automobile manufacturer, the self-taught Espenlaub could not assert himself: Many ideas were ahead of his time; he lacked the technical background to theoretically present the advantages of his ideas. In addition, he never specialized in automotive engineering, but stuck to his economically successful aircraft factory. His unclear role in the Third Reich (presumed involvement in espionage flights and secret missile programs) as well as his idiosyncratic character may have made it difficult for him to gain recognition and the necessary financial resources for series production in post-war Germany. Ultimately, his plans for his own series production failed, similar to the plans of Egon Brütsch , Hans Trippel , Karl-Heinz Staunau and similar at the time.

literature

Hans-Peter Baron von Thyssen-Bornemissza: The great encyclopedia of small cars, Volume 1, 1945–1955 . Zyklam-Verlag Markus Ammann, Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-88767-101-5 .
Roger Gloor: All cars from the 1950s, 1945–1960 . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-613-02808-1 , p. 141 .
Jürgen Gerrmann, in: Nürtinger Zeitung , "A car pioneer from Balzholz", issue December 30, 2014, reproduced here , accessed on November 18, 2015
Friedrich Wilhelm Radenbach: Gottlob Espenlaub: A pilot's life. With text drawings by Rolf Wilde and many original photos . Thienemann Verlag, Stuttgart 1942.
NN in: "Auto, Motor und Sport" (magazine), presentation of the Espenlaub prototype from 1952 with a picture of the designer and the vehicle (one page), issue AMS-1952-16-S527-1
NN in: "Auto und Motorrad-Welt" (magazine), presentation of the Espenlaub 1000 pre-production car (model 1952), issue 5, March 1953
NN in: "Oldtimer-Markt" (magazine), Gottlob Espenlaub: An eccentric designer , issue 02/1998, page 30
NN in: "Oldtimer-Markt" (magazine), special issue Skurrile Mobile , special issue 26, 2000, page 98
Thomas Braun, Durchgeboxt - The large encyclopedia of small series and self-made vehicles based on VW Beetles and buses; also many Porsche examples, 2018, p. 48.

Web links

Commons : Gottlob Espenlaub - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Private website about Gottlob Espenlaub; Information about the Espenlaub automobiles can be found on the sub- pages Espenlaub 02, 03 and 12 ( memento of February 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 2, 2010
GTÜ Society for Technical Monitoring mbH (accessed on December 22, 2013)
Gottlob Espenlaub on the website of Pilotenbunker.de (glider flight, rocket propulsion, automobile construction and large kites) , accessed on February 2, 2010.
Gottlob Espenlaubs Automobile on the Welcometowallyworld website , accessed on February 2, 2010

Gottlob Espenlaub on the website of Drachenarchiv.de (gliders, rocket propulsion, automobile construction and especially large kites) , accessed on February 2, 2010.

Gottlob Espenlaub on the website of Strangevehicles.Greyfalcon.us (glider flight, rocket propulsion, automotive engineering and kites) (English), accessed on February 2, 2010

Forum contribution on Espenlaub 1000 , accessed on November 18, 2015 with two images of the vehicle here and here as well as reproduction of a contemporary press release here

References and comments

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Overview of the work of Gottlob Espenlaub with numerous subpages; Information about the Espenlaub automobiles on the sub- pages “Espenlaub 02”, “03” and “12” ( memento of February 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on February 2, 2010

↑ Thomas Braun: Durchgeboxt - The large encyclopedia of small series and self-made on VW Beetle and bus basis; also many Porsche examples . Schneider Media, 2018, ISBN 978-3-667-11444-0 , pp. 48 .

↑ ^a ^b GTÜ Society for Technical Monitoring mbH (accessed on December 22, 2013)

↑ Espenlaub on the Oldtimerlexikon.de website

↑ Collection of twenty black and white photographs showing Espenlaub and his automobiles between 1928 and 1953, on the website for the Automobilia Auction Ladenburg in autumn 2007 under number 675 ( memento of January 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 2, 2010.

^ Biography about Max Valier including his connection to Gottlob Espenlaub ( memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on February 2, 2010

↑ Brief description with a picture of the converted Wanderer Type 10 / II under "Espenlaub 02", there picture 07 (click there to enlarge) ( Memento from February 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on February 2, 2010

^ Image of the Espenlaub / Wanderer streamlined vehicle from 1928 , accessed on February 2, 2010.

↑ Brief description with picture of the Espenlaub / Wanderer streamlined vehicle from 1928 under "Espenlaub 02", there as 05 with picture (click there to enlarge) ( Memento of February 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 2, 2010

^ Image of the Espenlaub "Stromlinie" from 1934/35 , accessed on February 2, 2010.

↑ Brief description with picture of the Espenlaub "Streamline" from 1934/35 under "Espenlaub 02", there as 08 with picture (click there to enlarge) ( Memento from February 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on February 2, 2010

^ Image of the Adler Trumpf streamlined racing coupé , accessed on February 2, 2010.

^ Report of the magazine Motor-Klassik on the Adler Streamliner Coupés , accessed on February 2, 2010.

↑ Race appearances and results of the Adler racing cars on the website of racingsportscars (English), accessed on February 2, 2010