MBM Automobile

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
emblem

MBM (also: MBM ) was a Swiss automobile manufacturer that produced small numbers of racing cars and single copies of street sports cars in the early 1960s. The company, headed by Peter Monteverdi , is the forerunner of the sports car manufacturer Automobile Monteverdi , which from 1967 onwards built luxury-class coupés, sedans and off-road vehicles at the same location for about a decade and a half.

The background

Peter Monteverdi owned a company in Binningen in the Swiss canton of Basel-Landschaft , which in the 1960s developed from a repair shop for trucks into a flourishing trading company with representatives for various European sports car brands. Monteverdi was at times concessionaire for Ferrari , Lancia , Bentley , Jensen and BMW .

Peter Monteverdi was already interested in motorsport as a teenager. In the 1950s he took part in various smaller class events as a racing driver; According to his own statements, he contested about 80 races in total. At the same time he began to develop his own racing cars and have them manufactured in his company, which he marketed under the name MBM. Monteverdi also drove some of the designs himself at motorsport events. In the engine area, he had different partners who were also taken into account when the company was named.

After a five-year hiatus, Monteverdi resumed vehicle production in 1967, although he changed the market segment: luxury-class cars with large-volume American engines that were designed as Gran Tourismo vehicles were now produced. Initially, Monteverdi considered to market them under the name MBM; corresponding sales brochures were printed at the end of 1967. Shortly before the start of series production, the brand name was changed to Monteverdi . Automobile production ended in the early 1980s.

Naming

The company mostly operated under the name MBM Automobile. The acronym MBM has had different meanings throughout the brand's existence. Initially, MBM stood for M onteverdi- B asel- M antzel, the last link referring to Albrecht-Wolf Mantzel , a German engineer who was known for tuning DKW engines and who at times supplied engines to MBM that he had worked on. After Monteverdi parted with Mantzel, he temporarily purchased engines from the German racing driver Gerhard Mitter , who in turn tuned DKW engines. In this short phase, the second M in the brand name stood for Mitter. When Monteverdi finally turned to other engine manufacturers, MBM became the acronym for M onteverdi- B asel- M otors.

MBM vehicles

The focus of the company was on the production of racing cars. According to Monteverdi, MBM produced a total of 18 vehicles of different specifications from 1960 to 1962.

Formula Junior

The first racing cars to bear the name MBM were vehicles for Formula Junior . In 1960 and 1961, following a prototype called "Bamosa", four different models appeared that were technically related to one another and were designated types A, B, C and D. Contemporary race reports and entry lists usually do not take up this differentiation; they only speak of MBM or MBM-DKW for the emergency vehicles.

Bamosa

Externally identical to the Bamosa: Sauter Formula Junior

The prototype was called Bamosa. She was a euphemism for Ba rarely Mo nteverdi- Sa uter and contained an indication of the temporary contribution from the Swiss racecar constructors Sauter . After initial plans, Kurt Sauter's company was to supply the bodies for the racing car designed by Peter Monteverdi.

The car had a tubular space frame built by Monteverdi and used various high-volume components: The front suspension, for example, was taken over by Volkswagen , the steering came from a Renault 4CV . In the literature it is described as very simple (English: "very poor"). Sauter formed a body out of aluminum, the style of which was based on contemporary Lotus models. A three-cylinder engine from DKW, tuned by Mantzel, with an output of 65 hp, served as the drive. Peter Monteverdi and Hans Herrmann tested the Bamosa in December 1959 at the Hockenheimring . The chassis turned out to be unstable; the car was very easy to twist. Since Sauter also did not consider Monteverdi's technical solutions to be competitive, the Bamosa was abandoned after the Hockenheim test.

Sauter revised the chassis and later launched it under its own name with an unchanged body corresponding to the Bamosa.

Type A / Machan

Monteverdi repeated the concept of the Bamosa with the MBM Type A built in 1960. The basic layout of the Type A corresponded to that of the Bamosa: Both vehicles were designed as mid-engine vehicles; the tank and the water cooler were in the front of the car in order to achieve a balanced weight ratio. Compared to the Bamosa, however, Monteverdi had significantly strengthened the tubular space frame. The pipes used now had a wall thickness of 2 mm, and Monteverdi had built in numerous additional struts. The front suspension was still from VW, but the steering was now obtained from ZF . In the rear, Monteverdi built a swing axle with coil springs with parallel tension struts. The deceleration was done by four Lockheed drum brakes ; the car had two independent circulation systems for the brake fluid. As in the Bamosa, a two-stroke three-cylinder from DKW, which Mantzel had revised, served as the drive. Depending on the source, the engine developed 85, 95 or 110 hp. The power was transmitted via a four-speed gearbox that used a standard VW housing, but had specially designed gear sets manufactured by a company in Rheinfelden . Peter Monteverdi designed the body himself. In the first type A, it was made of aluminum; all later copies had a plastic structure that Willy Kaufmann manufactured in Kreuzlingen . In the sales brochure from 1960, MBM described it as "the first plastic body in racing car construction". The maximum speed was given as 225 km / h; it was reached at 6,700 revolutions per minute in fourth gear.

MBM offered the Type A for 17,000 Swiss Francs or 4,000 US- $. A total of ten copies of type A. One of the vehicles was delivered to the Swiss racing team Écurie HOBA , which was partly owned by Peter Monteverdi. In 1960, Monteverdi competed in several Formula Junior races for HOBA. During training for a race in Aix-les-Bains, he irreparably damaged his Type A due to a driving error.

Six vehicles were delivered to the USA, where they were sometimes referred to as "Machan" according to individual sources. There are reports that some of them were used in American races. Drivers there were Walter Lubinski , Curt Gonstead and James Johnston . Another type A was also sold to Finland.

Type B

MBM Type B Formula Junior racing car from 1960 with a flat engine cover

The type B, constructed in the spring of 1960, was an improved version of the type A. The tubular space frame and the body remained unchanged; However, there was now the option of installing a flat cover as an alternative to the well-known high bonnet opening into headrests. The rear axle suspension was new: it consisted of upper, transversely installed semi-elliptical springs; underneath were wishbones with a tension strut for each side of the vehicle. Monteverdi obtained the drive shaft from Citroën . In contrast to the type A, MBM used a three-cylinder two-stroke engine from DKW in type B, which had been tuned by Gerhard Mitter. Its power was given as 90 hp.

The type B remained a one-off. The car was delivered to Écurie HOBA and driven by Peter Monteverdi in a dozen formula junior and hill climb races in the second half of the year. At the Schauinsland race and the Gaisberg race in 1960, Monteverdi was ranked third in Type B, and he finished a race in Verdun in September 1960 as the winner. Peter Monteverdi called the Type B, which he considered a problem-free car, his "favorite vehicle".

Type c

In the autumn of 1960, Monteverdi developed the MBM Type C. Its basic concept followed the B-model, but had a completely redesigned tubular space frame, the tubes of which had a wall thickness of 1 mm. The suspension was also redesigned. At the front, MBM used triangular wishbones of unequal length, while simple wishbones were attached at the top and triangular wishbones and tension struts at the bottom. At the front and rear there were coil springs with telescopic shock absorbers. Two copies of the Type C were equipped with a DKW two-stroke engine tuned by Mitter. The engine output was specified with 85 hp.

The Type C was created in three copies. Écurie HOBA took over one of the vehicles with a DKW engine. It was occasionally driven by Peter Monteverdi in 1961. In 1961, MBM lent the second DKW model to Richard von Frankenberg for a number of races . The third copy of the Type C received a four-cylinder four-stroke engine that had been taken from a Ford Anglia and tuned by Monteverdi. Monteverdi increased the stroke by 5 mm and the compression to 9.5: 1. Equipped with four Dell'Orto carburettors, the engine achieved a maximum output of 90 hp.

Type D

In December 1960, MBM developed the fourth model, the Type D. The tubular frame corresponded to that of the Type C. In the interests of a balanced weight distribution, the fuel tank, which had been in the front of the car on the earlier models, was now installed under the driver's seat. This arrangement was not without its problems. Observers saw this as a safety risk, so that the guy was denied permission to start in some races. The front suspension was the same as that of Type C. The rear suspension, however, was revised again. It now corresponded conceptually to the front suspension. MBM used tuned Ford Anglia engines as drive; power was transmitted via a five-speed gearbox. The rack and pinion steering was taken over by Renault Dauphine . Disc brakes from Dunlop at the front, drum brakes from Porsche at the rear .

In the spring of 1961, MBM produced four type D models. One of these in turn went to Écurie HOBA, which is associated with Peter Monteverdi. The car made its debut in May 1961 in a hill climb in Kandersteg .

formula 1

Formula 1 vehicle from MBM (1961)

During 1960, Peter Monteverdi designed a Formula 1 racing car. At its core, it was a somewhat enlarged Formula Junior car, in which a four-cylinder boxer engine from the Porsche 718 (RSK) had been installed. Since Porsche refused to deliver an engine, Monteverdi bought a complete car from Porsche, removed the engine and installed it in his own vehicle.

In 1961, Peter Monteverdi himself took part in a number of Swiss hillclimb races with his Formula 1 car. In 1961 Monteverdi registered for the Solitude Grand Prix , a car race near Stuttgart that was advertised for Formula 1 vehicles for the first time that year. Monteverdi qualified last. In the race he only got two laps, then he had to retire with engine problems.

In a round race at the Hockenheimring in October 1961, which took place in the run-up to the German Grand Prix , Monteverdi had a serious accident. The car was badly damaged. Monteverdi then decided to give up racing immediately. According to some reports, the wreckage of his Formula 1 car was set in concrete in the basement of his workshop in Basel. The MBM Formula 1 car currently on display in the Monteverdi Museum is a reconstruction.

In 1990 , after he had already given up the production of street sports cars, Peter Monteverdi appeared again in Formula 1. At the beginning of the season he had taken over the British racing team Onyx and ran it for almost six months under the name Onyx-Monteverdi (later Monteverdi ) continued.

Sports car

MBM Tourismo from 1961

Before founding Automobile Monteverdi in 1967, Peter Monteverdi produced very few street sports cars. The first sports car he designed was a coupe based on the Ferrari 750 Monza , which had a fixed roof and gullwing doors . The car was just as unique as the MBM Sport from 1960. The MBM Sport was a Barchetta with a tubular space frame and an OSCA engine , whose whereabouts are unclear.

MBM SP-100 prototype

In 1960, Peter Monteverdi built the MBM Sport, weighing just 425 kg, with 100 HP and 74 kW. The vehicle was an open sports car trimmed for low weight. It had an Osca engine with two overhead camshafts and two manual transmissions, a four-speed transmission in the front and a five-speed transmission in the rear. The front gearbox was used to change gears while driving, while the rear one could select the five final ratios. The engine rested behind the front axle, four Dunlop disc brakes provided deceleration, all wheels were individually suspended, the rear disc brakes were arranged on the inside of the differential. The "Wobbly" wheels were made of electron, a light magnesium alloy. The tubular frame was a welded construction. The Barchetta bodywork drove the Basel coachbuilder Peter Häner made of thin aluminum sheet for ideas of Peter Monteverdi. Monteverdi was already thinking about series production, at least he printed sales brochures and exhibited the car at the London racing car show in December 1961. The car was supposed to cost 29,000 Swiss francs, 50 percent more than a Porsche 356 Super 90 or slightly more expensive than a Jaguar E-Type, but the car remained a one-off.

Monteverdi had bigger ambitions with the 1962 presented MBM Turismo, a small closed coupé with a tubular frame and a plastic body. A Ford Anglia engine, which is said to have produced 85 hp (62 kW), served as the drive . The top speed is said to have been 185 km / h. While Peter Monteverdi described the Tourismo as an in-house construction, automotive historians are now of the opinion that it was a replica of the Coupé Europa manufactured by Heron Plastics . A planned series production did not materialize.

literature

  • Mike Lawrence : "Grand Prix Cars 1945-1965", Motor Racing Publications 1998, ISBN 1899870393 (English)
  • Mark Siegenthaler and Marco Schulze : "With a hard hand and a big heart, the life and work of Peter Monteverdi", in: Swiss Car Classics No. 20, 04/2008

Web links

Commons : MBM  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Roger Gloor, CL Wagner: Monteverdi. The career of a Swiss car brand , self-published by Monteverdi Automobile, p. 106.
  2. ^ A b Roger Gloor, CL Wagner: Monteverdi. The career of a Swiss car brand , self-published by Monteverdi Automobile, p. 100.
  3. ^ Roger Gloor, CL Wagner: Monteverdi. The career of a Swiss car brand , self-published by Monteverdi Automobile, p. 125.
  4. ^ A b c Roger Gloor, CL Wagner: Monteverdi. The career of a Swiss car brand , self-published by Monteverdi Automobile, p. 98.
  5. ↑ Mike Lawrence: Grand Prix Cars 1945-64, p. 199.
  6. ↑ a b David Hodges: Rennwagen von A_Z after 1945 , p. 179.
  7. ↑ a b c d Information in the sales prospectus from 1960.
  8. ^ A b c Roger Gloor, CL Wagner: Monteverdi. The career of a Swiss car brand , self-published by Monteverdi Automobile, p. 108.
  9. ↑ Statistics of the MBM brand on the website www.racingsportscars.com (accessed on February 23, 2014)
  10. ^ Roger Gloor, CL Wagner: Monteverdi. The career of a Swiss car brand , self-published by Monteverdi Automobile, p. 107.
  11. ^ Roger Gloor, CL Wagner: Monteverdi. The career of a Swiss car brand , self-published by Monteverdi Automobile, p. 113.
  12. ^ Roger Gloor, CL Wagner: Monteverdi. Career of a Swiss car brand , self-published by Monteverdi Automobile, p. 110 f.
  13. ^ Roger Gloor, CL Wagner: Monteverdi. The career of a Swiss car brand , self-published by Monteverdi Automobile, p. 115f.
  14. ↑ Brief description of the MBM Tourismo on the website www.anglia-models.co.uk (accessed on February 24, 2014).