LuWe

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LuWe
legal form
founding 1920
resolution 1929
Reason for dissolution bankrupt by Anton Weber
Seat Freiburg im Breisgau , Germany
management Ludwig Weber
Branch Motor vehicle manufacturer

Poster specially designed for the Museum Volante, it is NOT an advertising poster from LUWE
A LuWe motorcycle in the Volante Oldtimermuseum in Kirchzarten

LuWe was a manufacturer of motorcycles and automobiles in Freiburg im Breisgau , named after the founder Ludwig Weber .

Emergence

At the beginning of the 20th century there were many small and large manufacturers of motorcycles. Almost every well-known automobile manufacturer of the time also dealt with motorcycles. Examples are BMW , DKW , NSU , Wanderer , Zündapp , Peugeot and Puch . Due to the rapid development of the automobile, the development of the motorcycle fell behind; many gave up the motorcycle project.

One of the small manufacturers was LuWe. Lu dwig We over , he began after the First World War cars and motorcycles in Freiburg to build. Since Ludwig Weber had the title of engineer, it was obvious to use the first letters of his first and last name as the vehicle designation - thus the vehicle brand LuWe was born. Ludwig Weber was an engineer , pilot and designer. Anton Weber, his brother by five years his junior, was a trained tailor and was only employed as a deputy managing director years after the company was founded.

The beginning

In 1920 Ludwig Weber founded the company with its headquarters at Schusterstrasse 29, in the "House of the White Monen". His first test workshop was in 1920 in the hall of the Felsenkeller inn at Schlossbergstrasse 7 in Freiburg, and from 1921 on at Schloßbergstrasse 16. Ludwig had the goal of building large automobiles. For this, he bought new 12-liter aircraft engines at Mercedes-Benz - Flugmotorenwerk who did not come more for use in the war. The engines were too big for a car , so they were modified to 6 liters by inserting cylinder liners . 6-liter engines were a good size for medium-weight passenger cars at the time. The body was built by Dierks & Wroblewski from Offenburg and Schlenker & Zeller from Freiburg.

The first type of vehicle that Ludwig Weber built was a small car. He equipped the first two prototypes with various small engines. The following models, which he built in series, he equipped with a 600 cm³ boxer engine from the Immendingen machine factory. This size class was in great demand at the time. After building several small cars and large prototypes that were ready for series production, Ludwig Weber, who had meanwhile moved to larger production facilities, also built motorcycles under the name LuWe. He finally had to give up automobile production in 1924, otherwise he would have come to ruin. His brother Anton, who was five years younger than him, hired Ludwig to support him due to the amount of work that had to be done as a designer and racing driver. In particular, Ludwig was able to return to his beloved activity of flying in 1926. He could be won as chief pilot of the Black Forest aviation company. In this secondary job he had income to keep his business going. In 1925, he transferred responsibility to Anton as deputy managing director. Anton himself was a trained tailor and had no technical understanding, let alone the necessary skill to work on the vehicles.

motorcycles

Type plate of the LuWe motorcycle in Kirchzarten

The first was a 200 cc machine with a single cylinder engine from the Augsburg manufacturer Paqué. The special thing about it was the built-in gearbox.

This was followed by motorcycles with 350 and 500 cc engines, with the then world-famous Motosacoche engines from Geneva. The heaviest machine they built was a 750 with a two-cylinder V-engine. Other engine manufacturers used were MAG , JAP and Blackburne .

The LuWe automobiles and motorcycles were displayed for advertising purposes at various regional exhibitions, parades and especially at racing events, and the LuWe motorcycles were also used at racing events.

Some LUWE motorcycles are still in more or less good condition, privately owned by several people. Among other things, the racing machine that Ludwig Weber himself drove in races is in private hands. In the classic car museum Volante in Kirchzarten a motorcycle of 1931 was issued, which was assembled in Kirchzarten near Steinhardt & Wunderle.

Race with LuWe motorcycles

Ludwig Weber did not appear alone as the founder of the LUWE company. He was also a co-founder of the first Freiburg motorcycle club, the Motorrad-Club-Freiburg i.Br.

LuWe-Motorräder as well as Ludwig himself took part in various races with motorcycles primarily in southern Germany :

There are many other races in which the LuWe motorcycles took part with honor and often ended with first prizes.

The races on the Freiburg parade ground, affectionately called “Exi” by the Freiburgers, were very popular: the “Exi” was close to the Freiburg airfield . The first racing event of the then ten days old motorcycle club in Freiburg on October 28, 1923 immediately brought the participating LuWe motorcycles a great success. In 1924, at two other motorsport events for the "Exi", the brothers won three first prizes and a second and third prize in various disciplines with LuWe motorcycles.

Race results

The following tables give extracts from the results of the "Exi" motorcycle race.

Race results August 17, 1924
placement driver Motorcycle type Time (minutes)
Class 2: up to 250 cm³ (8 laps, 16 km)
1. Weber A. LuWe 17:07
2. Haberer Zündapp 19:01
3. Birkenmeier LuWe 19:06
Class 4: up to 350 cm³ (12 laps, 24 km)
1. Agitation P and P 22:42
2. Feverish Hecker 22:50
3. Weber L LuWe 23:40
Race results October 12, 1924
placement driver Motorcycle type Time (minutes)
Class 3: up to 250 cm³ (6 laps)
1. Boetting Horex 11:11
2. Schatzle DKW 13:08
3. Weber A. LuWe Is missing
Class 6: up to 750 cm³ (8 laps)
1. Rear triumph 14:03
2. Weber A. LuWe Is missing
Class 7: over 750 cm³ (8 laps)
1. Weber L P. and P. 13:18
2. Ißlinger Horex 13:25

The final

At the beginning of 1928, Ludwig withdrew from the business because Junkers had given him a job as an engineer. A friend Josef Kirner took over the further production of LUWE motorcycles together with Anton Weber. The first motorcycles with a saddle tank were built under Ludwig's last leadership. Subsequently, the construction of the LUWE motorcycles under license, from 1930 to 1933, was continued by Steinhardt & Wunderle in Kirchzarten.

In 1928 and 1929, after strong pressure and cooperation from Anton Weber, the ADAC organized an ice race on the frozen lake on the Titisee in cooperation with the Freiburg motorcycle club . In 1928 only solo and sidecar machines were involved. The drivers Toni Fleischmann on a Triumph - Motosacoche and Otto Ley on a standard Motosacoche won the race. The event was expanded in 1929, and planes even took part in that year. One of the most famous pilots of this era, Ernst Udet , was also there with spectacular flight inserts.

The factory gates of the LuWe motorcycle production were closed forever in 1928, because the small LuWe production could not compete with the big manufacturers. Automobile production was given up a few years earlier.

Anton Weber trained as a motor vehicle engineer during World War II and after World War II had a gas station in Bärental , which is now part of the Feldberg community .

Web links

Commons : LuWe  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The Maybach from Schlossberg. Luxury cars made in Freiburg , Frank Thomas Uhrig, Badische Zeitung December 30, 2014, accessed August 23, 2016
  2. ↑ a b motorradphoto.de: Luwe motorrad oldtimer photo freiburg im breisgau Luwe 498 ccm ohv 1925 lu-251 lu-251 , accessed on February 25, 2011
  3. ^ Address book of the capital Freiburg im Breisgau: for the year 1921 page 350 Weber Ludwig, Ingenieur, Schusterstr. 29. 3, BHI, P31172 (Werkst. U. Garagen Schloßbergstr. 7), accessed February 7, 2014
  4. ^ How the Schlossbergstrasse became a main artery , Joachim Scheck, Badische Zeitung, July 13, 2009, accessed February 7, 2014

Coordinates: 47 ° 59 ′ 35.7 ″  N , 7 ° 51 ′ 16.5 ″  E