Glöckler-Porsche
Under the name Glöckler-Porsche , initially also "Glöckler-Eigenbau", the Frankfurt car dealer Walter Glöckler manufactured several sports cars in the early post-war period, which were largely based on technical components from Volkswagen or Porsche . The Glöckler-Porsche 1500 Super from 1953 is considered the immediate predecessor of the Porsche 550 .
Company history
The Glöckler company had been a motorcycle and automobile dealer in Frankfurt am Main since the First World War . Initially, NSU and BMW brands were sold, later Hanomag vehicles , and shortly before the start of the Second World War , Glöckler decided to sell the KdF car as well. After the war, Glöckler became one of the first general agents for Volkswagen. In 1950 he also took over the Frankfurt general agency for Porsche. Today the company consists of the Porsche agency; the other brand agencies were sold to Volkswagen AG in a transaction in 2006.
After the end of the war, Walter Glöckler was the owner of the company. In his spare time he took part in numerous motorcycle and automobile races. In 1948 he built his first car with a few employees. Six further models followed by 1954, each of which was characterized by its extremely lightweight construction. They have been used successfully in both Germany and the USA . At first there was no direct relationship between Porsche and the Glöckler vehicles; Glöckler's designs were created on his own initiative and initially primarily with a view to his own racing activities. After the Glöckler cars had achieved some success, Porsche took over the designs and developed them into their own sports cars.
Otto Glöckler Sportwagen GmbH still exists. Today it operates the Porsche Center in Frankfurt and opened another company in 2014, the Porsche Center Bad Homburg / Oberursel.
Models
Between 1948 and 1954, Walter Glöckler designed seven different racing cars together with Hermann Ramelow, an employee of his company. The cars were developed and built in Glöckler's workshops; the body parts were supplied by the Frankfurt plumber C.-H. Weidenhausen.
The names of the individual vehicle types differ in the different sources. In a more recent publication, Otto Glöckler Sportwagen GmbH numbers the individual vehicles in the order in which they were created. Some of the numbers assigned after this can also be found in other publications. The overview below follows this approach:
No. 1: Hanomag self-made
Glöckler's first construction was made in 1948. It was a light self-made construction based on a tubular frame chassis and using technical components from Hanomag . The car had free-standing wheels and an oval grille with integrated round headlights. Walter Glöckler fielded the car in the 1949 Schauinsland race and won with it.
No. 2: Glöckler-Porsche 1100
The second model from Glöckler's workshop also had a tubular frame. The front axle, transmission and engine, on the other hand, were obtained from Volkswagen. The engine had a displacement of 1086 cm³; the cylinder head came from Porsche. The power of the engine was given as 48 hp; when operated with alcohol fuel it even reached 62 hp. The car was designed as an open two-seater; the aluminum body was cut tight and had a pontoon shape. A total of two copies of the 1100 were made.
The Glöckler-Porsche 1100 won the German sports car championship in the 1100 class three times in a row: 1950 with Walter Glöckler, 1951 with Hermann Kathrein and 1952 with Heinz Brendel .
No. 3: Glöckler-Porsche 1500
Glöckler's third construction was created in early 1951. A tubular frame was used again; the chassis largely corresponded to the 1100 model. A 1.5 liter four-cylinder engine from Porsche with pistons from Mahle and a camshaft from Oettinger served as the power unit. Revised in this way, the engine developed up to 85 hp. The 1500 was again an open, very low two-seater, but a rounded hardtop including a windshield and gullwing doors could be attached in a few simple steps, which significantly increased the top speed. A special feature of the 1500 were the long, tapering rear wheel cutouts. The front headlights of the VW Beetle were installed on the front fenders .
Walter Glöckler used the 1500 for the first time in the Schauinsland race in August 1951. He won this event and was able to set a few speed records on European courses during the year. At the end of 1951, the American car importer Max Hoffman took over the Glöckler-Porsche 1500. The car was used in several sports car races in the USA in 1952 .
No. 4: Glöckler-Porsche 1500 with Porsche chassis
At the beginning of 1952 Walter Glöckler produced another version of the 1500. The body corresponded to the one built in 1951, but - unlike all previous Glöckler designs - not with a tubular frame, but with a (shortened) chassis of the Porsche 356 . The drive technology was also adopted unchanged. This vehicle has different names. Due to the matching bodywork and the identical engine, it is also referred to as the second model of the No. 3, especially in the USA.
Helm Glöckler won the German sports car championship in the 1.5-liter class with the No. 4. This model was also sold to Max Hoffman after a number of outings in Europe, who took it to the start with different drivers in various American mountain and sports car races. The Glöckler-Porsche achieved a few second places. This vehicle still exists. It was sold for $ 616,000 in America in January 2008 and was shown six months later at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance .
No. 5: Glöckler-Porsche 1100 Roadster
In 1953 Walter Glöckler produced another version of his tubular frame sports car on behalf of the German racing driver Richard Trenkel , which was equipped with a 1.1 liter four-cylinder. The car was bodied as a roadster with a narrow windshield; the structure was lower than in any other Glöckler car before. In contrast to the previous vehicles, the wheel cutouts on the front axle were slowly tapering off. Richard Trenkel won the German sports car championship in 1953 with this vehicle.
No. 6: Glöckler-Porsche 1500 Super
At the beginning of 1953, another version of the tubular frame roadster was created. It was equipped with an engine from the Porsche 1500 Super, which delivered 70 hp in normal operation and had an output of almost 100 hp in racing. The car was delivered to the Swiss racing driver Hans Stanek and, unlike the previous Glöckler models, was painted in the Swiss racing colors white and red.
In the summer of 1953, the body construction company C.-H. Weidenhausen two identical bodies on Porsche. In the Porsche factory they were provided with their own technology and a tubular frame very similar to the Glöckler designs. These vehicles were the first two examples of the Porsche 550 , which can therefore be traced back directly to the Glöckler Porsche from 1953. Some sources report that Porsche was directly influenced by Glöckler's design when developing the 550.
No. 7: Glöckler Coupé
The last Glöckler model was created in 1954. It is a compact coupé with a notchback body, a large panoramic rear window and concave front wheel cutouts. The Mille Miglia in 1954 was planned as the coupé's first race; however, the car was not completed on time. Instead, the coupé made its debut on the long-distance Liège – Rome – Liège race under Helm Glöckler / Max Nathan . At the start there were problems with the oil supply; Nevertheless, Glöckler managed to finish the race.
After this race, the coupé was in the Porsche factory for about half a year. At the end of 1954 it was sold to an American customer. A little later, he suffered severe body damage in an accident, which was only sparsely repaired. The car stood in Los Angeles for a few decades; it has been in Germany since 1994. From 2005 the coupé was extensively restored by the Ulrich Weinberg restoration company.
literature
- Hot Frankfurters: The Spyder ancestors from Hesse . In: Oldtimer Markt issue 12/1995, p. 234 ff.
- Jeroen Booij: The Carrera Outcast . Presentation of the Glöckler Goupé with a short model and restoration history in: Thoroughbred & Classic Cars, issue 3/2011, p. 68 ff.
- Dani Heyne: The father of the 550 Spyder . Short report on Glöckner-Porsche No. 4 in: Motor Klassik issue 5/2014, p. 166 ff.
Web links
- Homepage of the Porsche Center Frankfurt of Otto Glöckler GmbH
- Pictures of the Glöckler-Porsche 1500 (No. 3)
- Glöckler-Porsche at Curves
Individual evidence
- ↑ "Porsche-Times", June / July 2008 (PDF; 2.1 MB)
- ↑ Details on the American involvement of Glöckler-Porsche No. 3 at www.supercars.net
- ↑ Note on www.businessweek.com
- ↑ Dani Heyne: The father of the 550 Spyder . Short report on Glöckner-Porsche No. 4 in: Motor Klassik issue 5/2014, p. 166 ff.
- ↑ History of the Porsche 550 at www.classicdriver.de
- ↑ Thoroughbred & Classic Cars, Issue 3/2011, p. 70.
- ↑ Thoroughbred & Classic Cars, issue 3/2011, p. 68 ff.
- ↑ History of the Glöckler-Porsche (referred to there as No. 6) on Ulrich Weinberg's website ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed February 13, 2011).
