Kleinschnittger

Kleinschnittgerwerke GmbH
legal form	Company with limited liability
founding	1949
resolution	1957
Reason for dissolution	bankruptcy
Seat	Arnsberg , Germany
management	Paul Kleinschnittger
Number of employees	150
Branch	Automobile manufacturer

The Kleinschnittger Werke GmbH in the Westphalian Arnsberg was a society for the production of automobiles, which the designer Paul Kleinschnittger and as contributors to the Hamburg businessman Walter Lembke founded 1949th

prehistory

As early as 1939, Kleinschnittger had started development work for an automobile in Ladelund in what was then the district of Südtondern in Schleswig-Holstein and manufactured a chassis that essentially consisted of old aircraft parts. Development was suspended during the Second World War , but a first prototype was ready by the end of the 1940s. The fenders came from a motorcycle and the plexiglass windshield from an old military aircraft. The prototype had a 98 cm³ DKW engine in the rear. Despite a few safety flaws such as only one headlight and missing indicators , the micro- vehicle received an operating permit from the road traffic authority in Niebüll .

The car attracted attention, and the businessman Walter Lembke arranged series production with Kleinschnittger. The prerequisite for production was a suitable factory site near important suppliers. The Sauerland with its numerous metal and iron industries and its proximity to the Ruhr area , which was also interesting as a sales market, seemed suitable. Kleinschnittger negotiated with the neighboring towns of Neheim and Arnsberg. While there were specialists from the area around the motorcycle manufacturer Ruhrtal-Motorradwerke in Neheim , the city of Arnsberg was able to come up with a 10,000 square meter industrial site. The company opted for Arnsberg's offer and soon employed 50 people. As early as the end of 1949, a “Volkswagen from the Sauerland” was announced in the press. Shortly after the start of series production of the Kleinschnittger F 125, the initial financier Lembke left the company in May 1950 and was paid off with a loan from Kleinschnittger's house bank.

Series production of the F 125

Since the Type 98 was not suitable for series production, Kleinschnittger designed an almost entirely new vehicle within a few months, the Kleinschnittger F 125 . Its body was no longer made of sheet steel, but of aluminum, and was placed on a light central tubular frame. A relatively heavy starter battery was also dispensed with; instead, the engine was started with a cable pull (similar to a lawnmower). Thanks to this choice of material and construction, it weighed only 150 kilograms. The small car received a single-cylinder two-stroke engine with 122 cm³ displacement from the ILO engine works in Pinneberg and front-wheel drive. With a maximum output of 6 hp, the car reached a top speed of 70 km / h.

The engine was installed in the front and consumption was just under 3 liters per 100 kilometers. The car had a three-speed transmission with a ratchet steering wheel shift , but no reverse gear. It was so light that it could simply be lifted around the back to turn it. There was space for two adults. The Kleinschnittger did not have doors; instead, the side walls were cut out wide. In addition, there was only one emergency roof.

• 

  The F 125

• 

  Engine and tank of the F 125

• 

  Interior (standard was a gear lever near the steering wheel instead of the middle gear)

• 

  Size comparison

• 

  The F 125 in the museum

• 

  Kleinschnittger F 125 I built in 1953 with convertible top

The first vehicles were delivered in April 1950. On average, around 50 copies were made per month. There is a photo according to which vehicles to be delivered with up to 15 units attached to a Fiat limousine were towed from the factory to the train station - possibly a one-time action to attract attention. The price was around 2300  D-Marks . Inquiries came from abroad. Until 1957, depending on the source, there were 1992 or 2980 Kleinschnittger F 125.

In 1950, 181 vehicles were newly registered in Germany. In the three following years there were 242, 331 and 510 vehicles. 373 vehicles have survived for 1954.

Kleinschnittger assembled the last type 125 from spare parts in 1961.

Development of further models

There have been attempts to develop new vehicles. This is how prototypes with a monoposto body were created. In some races they were able to place themselves in the front places.

Scooter

Kleinschnittger also produced 27 copies of a R 50 Conny motor scooter with patented "adjustable" rubber band suspension and 50 cm³ two-stroke engine from ILO that produced 2 hp. This small scooter had an empty weight of 48 kg and no pedals and was therefore no longer eligible for the benefits of the mopeds of that time in West Germany (no license or registration required); To compensate for this, the design-related maximum speed was specified as 60 km / h, which made it possible to use the motorway.

250 models

The small cars met the demands of post-war society, but as early as the 1950s, as a result of the “ economic miracle ”, the demands of the public increased. Paul Kleinschnittger therefore planned to build a larger vehicle with more comfort and higher performance. As a one-off, he had a convertible with 250 cm³ displacement and 15 hp made for representation purposes and family outings in 1954. In the same year, the development of a larger model for series production began. Production of the F 125 with front-wheel drive was discontinued in 1957.

Since 1955, Kleinschnittger presented several 250 prototypes, some with the following features: self-supporting steel body , central steering, innovative rubber suspension with vibration damper, rubber engine suspension ( silentblocs ), relatively large wheels (4.40 × 11). In 1956/57 only the two-seater F 250 Super in a shell construction, which goes back to Egon Brütsch , went into (small) series production. Like the prototypes F 250 S, F 250 Spezial and F 250 C, the car had a 250 cc parallel two-cylinder two-stroke engine from ILO, which developed 14.8 hp at a speed of 6000 rpm. One shortcoming of this engine was the insufficient heat dissipation. In contrast to the F 125, the model had a reverse gear. The hoped-for success did not materialize, only 26 vehicles were produced.

bankruptcy

The company quickly fell into crisis and in August 1957 went bankrupt. Thanks to the buyback from the bankruptcy estate, Kleinschnittger was able to supply spare parts for a long time.

See also

• Microcar Belge

literature

• Otto Künnecke, Andy Schwietzer: Kleinschnittger - economic miracle in small format. Bodensteiner Verlag, Wallmoden 1999. ISBN 3-9806631-0-8
• Brigitte Podszun: Volkswagen from the Sauerland - Forty years ago, Paul Kleinschnittger founded Arnsberger Automobil GmbH. In: Yearbook Hochsauerlandkreis, 1989. pp. 94–97. Podszun, Brilon publishing house. ISBN 3-923448-53-8

Web links

Commons : Kleinschnittger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• The Kleinschnittger in words and pictures
• Kleinschnittger fanpage
• Contribution from Carsablanca-TV about the Kleinschnittger
• Contemporary driving report

Individual references and comments

1. ↑ Roof over your head . In: Der Spiegel . No. 4 , 1989, pp. 203-204 ( online ).
2. ↑ Reinhard Lintelmann: The motor scooters and small cars of the fifties. ISBN 3-86133-136-5 , p. 82.
3. ^ Peter Rosellen: German small cars . Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1991, ISBN 3-89350-040-5 , p. 156.
4. ^ Rover friends Germany: My first car - Kleinschnittger . Retrieved January 10, 2013.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Once upon a time ... Automobilrevue No. 40, October 6, 2010.
6. ↑ “The continuous reporting in the newspapers since 1948 had ensured that there were already many inquiries from dealers. From July 1950 onwards, 500 vehicles were to be produced per month, 1000 firm orders had been placed. The targeted production number was simply exaggerated, due to the manual production methods, the monthly production fluctuated between 10 and 30 vehicles. ”Künnecke / Schwietzer, p. 29/30.
7. ↑ At the beginning of the construction period, the small car cost DM 1995, but there are also advertising photos with the indication “2500 DM ex works”. According to Künnecke / Schwietzer, pp. 95, 64. - It depends on the equipment and the exact time.
8. ↑ Martin Schwarz states “almost 2000” in the newspaper article Kleinschnittger F 125 from Arnsberg today enjoys cult status . WAZ dated November 30, 2012.
9. ↑ According to Hanns-Peter Baron von Thyssen-Bornemissza's lexicon of forgotten car types, including article Kleinschnittger F 125 (No. 1896), “1992 copies were built until August 5, 1957”; online [1] . Retrieved 2015.
10. ↑ from 1950 to 1955 a total of 1992 pieces according to Künnecke / Schwietzer, p. 95. It is unclear whether this includes the kits delivered to Ghent for de Reuck.
11. ^ Hans Christoph von Seherr-Thoss : The German automobile industry. Documentation from 1886 until today . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1974, ISBN 3-421-02284-4 , p. 492 .
12. ^ Patent DBP 1 046 413, applied for on March 22, 1955, patent specification with three drawings.
13. ↑ Press release of PS.SPEICHER of 17 July 2014. Retrieved on September 10, 2014.
14. ↑ Otto Kilpert gives an archived copy on his homepage ( Memento of the original from December 22nd, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. indicates that this central steering only exists as a "photo montage for advertising purposes". Retrieved November 2, 2015