Rheinische Automobilbau-Aktiengesellschaft

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Rheinische Automobilbau-AG - German Society for the License E. Bugatti (Rabag)
legal form Corporation
founding January 1923
resolution June 1925
Reason for dissolution Merger with the Aktiengesellschaft für Automobilbau (AGA)
Seat Düsseldorf and Mannheim
management BA Gelderblom
Branch Motor vehicle manufacturer

Share over 1000 Marks in Rheinische Automobilbau-AG on June 9, 1923
Advertisement for Rabag-Lic. E. Bugatti (1923)

The Rheinische Automobilbau-AG - German company for the license E. Bugatti (Rabag) was a German company for the production of motor vehicles with headquarters in Düsseldorf and Mannheim . It was created in January 1923 through a merger , had the legal form of a stock corporation and already expired in mid-1925.

Company history

Abag, Düsseldorf

In November 1921, Automobilbau-AG - Deutsche Gesellschaft für der License E. Bugatti ( Abag ) was founded in Mannheim , apparently it was the former automobile construction department of Unionwerke AG Maschinenfabrik (part of Enzinger-Unionwerke AG since 1924 ).

Rabag, Mannheim

A little earlier, namely in November 1920, the spin-off of the automotive department of the factory for machine tools and dental instruments Gebr. Funke AG in Düsseldorf gave rise to Rheinische Automobilbau-AG (Rabag) with share capital of ℛℳ 2.5 million . No details are known about the production of this company. In 1921 the Stellmacherbetrieb Benedikt Rock & Co. in Düsseldorf was incorporated. Rock was based on Nordstrasse in Düsseldorf and employed around 20 people.

On January 6, 1923, the asset was Rabag the Abag transferred, which thus had a share capital of 13 million ℛℳ. decreed. Apparently, however, the Rabag continued to exist as a company law, now dependent corporation. The headquarters of the new company was in Düsseldorf, the management was with BA Gelderblom .

The vehicle production

From 1922 the production of sports cars under license from the Alsatian manufacturer Bugatti has been documented for Abag , namely types 22 and 23 as well as a racing car that was produced in-house and derived from the Bugatti type 13 . The brand name Rabag was retained.

The plan was to manufacture the vehicles in both parts of the company, with engines and chassis being built in Düsseldorf and Rabag being responsible for the body construction (via Rock), the saddlery and final assembly. Rabag was also a brand agency for Bugatti automobiles. After the French military occupied the Rhineland , however, Bugatti had to deliver the first rolling chassis . The transport took place from Molsheim via detours to Mannheim; these vehicles are therefore to be regarded as Bugatti car bodies by Rabag and Rock .

The bodies manufactured by Rock are our own designs, which could differ considerably from the superstructures of the original Bugatti and sometimes looked a bit awkward. In addition to roadsters and touring cars , chauffeur limousines were also created . Rabag-Bugatti usually got a slightly bulky radiator cowling. All had the four-cylinder in-line engines licensed by Bugatti with OHC valve control and vertical shaft .

Takeover by Stinnes and Ende

In January 1923 the merger of the two companies was decided, the new joint company Rheinische Automobilbau-AG - Deutsche Gesellschaft für der License E. Bugatti (Rabag) represented the merger. A catalog cover from around 1923 shows that the company had its headquarters at Emmastraße 25 in Düsseldorf.

In June 1925 the merger with the Aktiengesellschaft für Automobilbau (AGA) in Berlin-Lichtenberg took place, with the AGA being the absorbing company, while the Rabag itself was dissolved.

In addition to the two mergers, around 100 vehicles were built under the "Rabag - Lic. E. Bugatti" logo until 1926.

Car models

Type Construction period cylinder Displacement power Vmax
6/20 hp 1922-1925 4 rows, 16 valves 1455 cc 25 hp (18.4 kW) 95 km / h
6/30 hp 1925-1926 4 rows, 16 valves 1495 cc 30 HP (22 kW) 95 km / h

Racing

The many sporting successes of the Bugatti Breschia types speak for themselves ; they made the Bugatti brand internationally known in a short time. The assessment of Rabag-Bugatti in motorsport is less favorable. Wolfgang Schmarbeck rates the success as rather moderate, which he attributes to the self-imposed reluctance of the company, which is very serious about engine performance. Accordingly, the similarly constructed but more powerful Simson Supra Type So were mostly superior to them. With a light body and some engine tuning, such a vehicle was at least theoretically inferior to the original, because the engines and chassis were derived from the Bugatti racing cars. According to Georgano, the vehicles were also "very successful internationally" and Conway describes them as "fast and reliable". He mentions their use in many rallies and races; accordingly, a Rabag-Bugatti took part in the Eifel race on the Nürburgring in 1930 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ Conway here quotes Wolfgang Schmarbeck from an unknown source.
  2. ↑ Conway here again quotes Wolfgang Schmarbeck from an unknown source.
  3. ↑ 6/20 PS can be found on the cover sheet of the brochure, but is hardly used in Bugatti literature. The more common designation is 6/25 HP.

literature

  • Rheinische Automobilbau-Aktiengesellschaft, German company for the license E. Bugatti (Rabag). In: Handbook of German stock corporations . 30th edition 1925, volume 2, p. 2961 f.
  • Gebr. Funke Aktien-Gesellschaft in Düsseldorf. In: Handbook of German Stock Companies. 30th edition 1925, volume 1, p. 795 f.
  • Enzinger-Unionwerke AG. In: Handbook of German stock corporations. 30th edition 1925, volume 1, p. 965 ff.
  • Werner Oswald : German Cars 1920–1945. 10th edition, Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-87943-519-7 .
  • Hugh G. Conway : Bugatti: Le Pur-sang of the automobile. Haynes Publishing Group, Sparkford, Near Yeovil, Somerset BA22 7JJ, 1987 (first edition: 1963, GT Foulis & Co Ltd), ISBN 0-85429-538-0 .
  • Wolfgang Schmarbeck, Gabriele Wolbold: Bugatti passenger and racing cars since 1909. Motorbuchverlag Stuttgart, Typenkompass series, 2009, ISBN 978-3-613-03021-3 .
  • GN Georgano (Ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present. Dutton Press, New York, 1973, ISBN 0-525-08351-0 .

Web links

Commons : Rheinische Automobilbau-Aktiengesellschaft  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Handbook of German stock corporations (see literature)
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Schmarbeck, Wolbold: Bugatti passenger and racing cars since 1909. Typenkompass, 2009, p. 30.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f German cars 1920–1945. (see literature)
  4. ^ A b c Conway: Bugatti: Le Pur-sang des Automobiles (1987), pp. 66-67.
  5. ↑ Phautomobile, December 8, 2016: Rabag, Lic. E. Bugatti, the thoroughbred.
  6. ^ Georgano: Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present. 1973, p. 568 (Rabag-Bugatti).