Melkus

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Melkus Sportwagen GmbH
legal form Company with limited liability
founding 1955 (as Heinz Melkus KG )
Seat Dresden , Germany
management
Branch Automobile manufacturer
Website www.melkus-motorsport.de

Melkus RS 1000
Melkus RS 2000
Melkus Formula Junior from 1959
"Melkus cigar", Formula 3 from 1964
Melkus MB90, cooperation with BMW, 1990

Melkus is a German small series automobile manufacturer from Dresden . The brand is held by the Melkus family and is now in the third generation.

history

The company's founder, Heinz Melkus , ran Heinz Melkus KG from 1955 to 1990 , a driving school with an attached sports car . Heinz Melkus designed and manufactured his own racing and sports cars in the workshop and used them at international motorsport events.

In 1969, the Melkus RS 1000 was presented as a street legal model, the only sports car in the GDR. The RS 1000 was a roadworthy mid - engine sports car based on the Wartburg 353 . 101 of this model were made until production was discontinued in 1980.

Both sons of the company founder, Ulli and Peter Melkus , worked in the family business until 1990. Ulli Melkus took over the workshop management in the 1970s. He was also significantly involved in the development of the SRG MT 77 and, as a technician and racing driver, had a decisive influence on motorsport in Eastern Europe. Ulli Melkus died in a traffic accident on June 18, 1990.

In 1990 the company repositioned itself in the course of reunification . Autohaus Melkus GmbH was founded as the first BMW authorized dealer in the new federal states, and driving school operations and sports car construction were discontinued.

Autohaus Melkus GmbH was run by Peter and Birgit Melkus in Dresden until 2006 and then sold to the Schloz-Wöllenstein Group. The Melkus car dealership is no longer operationally managed by the Melkus family, but still bears the Melkus name. In 2013, a second location of the Melkus car dealership was opened in Chemnitz.

Ronny Melkus , the son of Ulli Melkus, became a professional racing driver a. a. in Formula 3 as a team mate of Ralf Schumacher and in the Opel works team.

New start in sports car construction

With the establishment of Melkus Sportwagen KG by Sepp Melkus (son of Peter Melkus), sports car construction was revived in 2006 with a new edition of the Melkus RS 1000 “Heinz Melkus Edition”. In 2009 the company was converted into Melkus Sportwagen GmbH in order to implement a modern new development, the Melkus RS 2000 .

In August 2012, the management filed for bankruptcy because not enough vehicles could be sold.

Today, Peter Melkus continues to manufacture vehicles of the type Melkus RS 1000 GTR in small numbers as reconstructed new bodies. Sepp Melkus works as a consultant in his father's company as well as in other sports car projects with a focus on lightweight body development - among other things, he contributed his knowledge to the Radeberger VSpeed ​​V77 .

In May 2014, a meeting of Melkus racing and sports cars took place at the Sachsenring as part of the ADAC Sachsenring Classic . Over 40 Melkus vehicles from all eras took part in the presentation runs.

Models

1954 Melkus JAP : modeled on Cooper, first in-house design by Heinz Melkus
1959-1963 Melkus Formula Junior: Quantity: 24, first series known as "Ketten-Wartburg"
1964-1969 Melkus Formula 3 - "Melkus Cigar"; Number: 92
1969-1979 Melkus RS 1000 : number: 101, presentation at the Brussels Motor Show 1970
1973 Melkus PT 73 Spyder : Prototype, first in-house construction by Ulli Melkus
1977-1982 SRG MT 77 : Number: 25, racing cars for Formula Easter
1989 Melkus ML89: prototype
1990 Melkus MB90: Quantity: 2
2006-2008 Melkus RS 1000 / RS 1600: reissue of the Melkus RS 1000 - number: 15 / Melkus RS 1600 - number: 5
2006-2009 Development of the Melkus RS 2000 : prototype, presentation at the IAA International Motor Show Frankfurt 2009
2010–2012 Melkus RS 2000: A total of 18
since 2012 Production of the Melkus RS 1000 GTR

literature

  • Driving report Melkus RS1000 (new edition). Auto Road Traffic December 13, 2006, pp. 28–29.

Web links

Commons : Melkus  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Beauty and crackling: The Melkus RS 1000 returns ( Memento from March 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), Märkische Oderzeitung from March 23, 2007, accessed on August 20, 2012.
  2. ↑ Successor to the GDR runabout: Sportwagen-Manufaktur Melkus is broke , spiegel.de from August 20, 2012, accessed on August 20, 2012.
  3. ↑ DDR-Renner final history , n-tv.de from January 11, 2013, accessed on July 30, 2014.