Fritz Fleischer (Company)
| Fritz Fleischer KG Gera
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| legal form | Limited partnership |
| Reason for dissolution | Processing and sale by the Treuhandanstalt |
| Seat | Gera , Germany |
| management | Fritz Fleischer |
| Branch | Bus manufacturer |
The Fritz Fleischer KG Gera ( Gera body and vehicle factory Fritz Fleischer ) was the only private manufacturer of buses in the GDR , in significant numbers coaches produced. The owner of the company was Fritz Fleischer (born December 21, 1903 in Gera ; † September 1, 1989 ) until it was nationalized in 1972 .
background
From the 1960s onwards, the newly built vehicles were declared as repair conversions of old buses, as, according to the stipulations within the Council for Mutual Economic Aid, buses could only be obtained from Hungary . The IKARUS Karosserie- und Fahrzeugwerke ( Budapest ) delivered approx. 700 coaches per year less than were needed in the GDR and approx. 1000 vehicles per year less than ordered.
It was not possible for private haulage companies and businesses to purchase new buses from imports. Fritz Fleischer KG often offered the only way to get a bus.
By the end of the 1960s, Fritz Fleischer's new developments were state-of-the-art; Comfort such as sleeping seats, toilets and televisions were already available back then.
The development work and production often took place under adverse conditions, e.g. B. lack of material supply. Fritz Fleischer himself was imprisoned for a few months. His chief designer Martin Seipolt fled to the FRG in 1960 and from then on worked at Kässbohrer .
Fleischer buses were also used in local public transport in Berlin (six Fleischer S3) and in the Gera district .
Despite the high demand for buses, bus production was almost paralyzed between 1963 and 1965 when the company had to produce 200 X-ray trains on SIL chassis for the USSR .
Fritz Fleischer KG also manufactured caravans , service vehicles for racing teams in the GDR and consumer goods, e.g. B. sophisticated garden furniture .
history
In 1927, the Geraer body and vehicle factory Fritz Fleischer was founded as a company for body repairs and the construction of bodies and trailers. The plant was hit in a bomb attack in the last days of the war in 1945, killing eight employees and seriously injuring Fritz Fleischer himself. After a gas explosion in the neighborhood in early July 1945, the company was completely destroyed.
Since Fritz Fleischer was not a member of the NSDAP and was not directly involved in arms production, he was able to rebuild his company. Since the end of September 1945, repairs were mainly carried out on passenger cars and trailers. The main client was the Red Army .
The company then specialized in building new bodies on existing chassis from Wehrmacht stocks and customer chassis. This is how coupé or convertible bodies for cars and some seven-seater minibuses were created on modified chassis. At the end of the 1950s, the company brought camping cars to the market in small numbers. At the same time, Fritz Fleischer and his designer Martin Seipolt began in the production hall, which was rebuilt in 1947, with the first bus superstructures on customer-supplied chassis.
After the founding of the GDR, the political climate for private entrepreneurs visibly deteriorated. In the course of Stalinist practices, Fritz Fleischer's arrest warrant was surprisingly issued in May 1953 for flimsy reasons and his property was confiscated. After two months in pre-trial detention, he was acquitted and his property returned. In contrast to other private entrepreneurs who left the GDR due to such developments, this was out of the question for Fleischer. He joined the NDPD and tried to find a niche in the GDR economy, which he initially succeeded in building modern omnibuses. For this purpose, Fleischer also took state investments from 1958 in order to legally achieve the capital accumulation required for bus construction.
The development of buses with a self-supporting body began in 1958 with the S1 and S2 types. Series production of these types began a year later. Towards the end of 1959, assemblies and assemblies of the H6B bus from VEB motor vehicle works “Ernst Grube” Werdau were taken over after bus production had been stopped there. In order to circumvent the RGW regulations, all buses built were declared as repair conversions (e.g. S2 RU ). Due to this regulation, the customer had to provide an old bus chassis for the new construction, and truck chassis were sometimes used.
The type S3 bus was built for the (East) Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG or BVB) from 1962 onwards. This series of buses was primarily intended to connect the peripheral areas of Berlin. Butcher buses had already been delivered for Berlin city tours. In 1970, the S4 began manufacturing the successor to the S1, which was produced until 1962. The S5, manufactured since 1972, was the last new development based on the S2 using Ikarus chassis components produced in the GDR. It was produced unchanged until 1990. At the end of the 1980s, some older Ikarus 260 buses were rebuilt in the “Fleischer design” with partially changed door arrangements, but retained the folding doors. Internally they were given the type designation S6.
In 1972 the company was nationalized and now operated under VEB Karosseriebau Gera mainly as a supplier for automotive parts. Omnibuses were only produced on a small scale. On October 15, 1973, Fritz Fleischer was dismissed as plant director.
After the reunification in the GDR , the company was wound up and sold by the Treuhandanstalt . The production of buses was stopped and the company closed.
A total of between 500 and 1000 vehicles were produced.
One of these buses was seen in the movie Suddenly a Millionaire (2008).
Such a bus is also shown at the end of the television series Treffpunkt Flughafen (DEFA) in the 8th part.
technology
A special feature of the Fleischer omnibuses was their self-supporting body . The engine was located in the stern. As in the IFA H6B, the water-cooled six-cylinder diesel engine of the Horch EM 6-20 type with 120 hp was initially used as the engine . Later, the successor models EM 6-22 and 6 VD 14.5 / 12-1SRW from VEB Motorwerk Schönebeck with 150 HP power were used. The chassis parts were also initially taken over from the H6B. After its production was discontinued , the axles from the S4000 T were used. In later years, parts of used Ikarus buses were installed.
literature
- Christian Suhr: Type compass GDR omnibuses. 1945–1990 . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 3-613-02709-7 .
- Christian Suhr: Fritz Fleischer and his buses . Kraftakt, Reichenbach / Vogtl., Halle / S 2006, ISBN 3-938426-03-9 .
- Werner Oswald: Motor vehicles of the GDR . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-613-01913-2 .
- Michael Dünnebier: Trucks and buses from socialist countries . transpress, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-344-00272-4 .
- A new bus based on H6 . In: Motor vehicle technology 9/1959, p. 374/375.
- Travel omnibus in self-supporting construction . In: Motor vehicle technology 6/1960, pp. 227/228.
Web links
- Fritz Fleischer - legend or life's work? to die-oldtimerschmiede.de
- Photos of butcher buses on Flickr
- Fleischer S2 on sebastian-kroeckel.de, Fleischer S2 on konrad-auwaerter.de
- Butcher S3
Individual evidence
- ^ Fritz Fleischer - Body and Vehicle Factory on omnibusarchiv.de
- ^ Peter Kirchberg: Plastics, sheet metal and planned economy. Nicolai-Verlag, 2000, pp. 250-263.
- ^ A new city bus from the GDR . In: Motor vehicle technology 12/1962, pp. 509/510.
- ↑ known are three vehicles for city traffic Gera (car 825, registration number NR 41-25 or G-CH 362) as well as the regional transport company Jena (car 7680/428, registration number NF 41-01 or J-HW 11) and Saalfeld- Rudolstadt (code NP 07-73)
- ↑ Ikar (b) usse & Co. In: Drehscheibe-online.de. Retrieved September 10, 2015 .
- ^ Icarus butcher conversion. Retrieved September 10, 2015 .
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