Fuldamobil
Fuldamobil is the name of a series of small cars produced by Elektromaschinenbau Fulda GmbH of Fulda, Germany, and Nordwestdeutscher Fahrzeugbau of Wilhelmshaven between 1950 and 1969. Various designated versions of the car were produced, although the vehicles produced under each designation were not always identical and the designations were sometimes misapplied. Though overall numbers produced were relatively small, the cars attracted sufficient attention to see licensed construction on four continents including Europe. In its ultimate configuration it is said to have inspired the term "bubble car". It is acknowledged as the first car in the world to feature a negative scrub radius, now recognised as a major advance in driving safety.
Background
The car's original design was conceived by Norbert Stevenson, a freelance journalist who had worked for the Rhein-Zeitung newspaper. As with many others involved in the field of automotive design, Stevenson had little in the way of formal qualifications in this area, although he had completed one term of mechanical engineering at the Technische Hochschule Berlin. His design concept was for a very simple three-wheeled car with room for two people inside, it would have two wheels at the front for stability, and be driven by a small engine at the rear.Initial work on the project was carried out with funding from Peter Stein, the publisher of the Rhein-Zeitung, using a 350cc Horex Columbus engine and other proprietary components, but economic conditions at the time proved unworkable. The project was aborted and all the parts resold. Stevenson then approached several companies with his concept and in the summer of 1949, found backing from Karl Schmitt, a wealthy engineering graduate.
Schmitt was a Bosch wholesaler in the town of Fulda, Germany, who also ran another small company; Elektromaschinenbau Fulda GmbH, which had proved successful providing maintenance and repair of the emergency power generators in widespread use in Germany after the war.
Prototypes
By October 1949, a new chassis had been started. A notable aspect of the front axle design was the incorporation of a negative scrub radius. Now recognised as a major advance in driving safety, this provides an inherent stabilising effect on slippery road surfaces or when brakes are applied unevenly to wheels on either side of the car. Although now a feature on the majority of front wheel drive cars and about a third of all rear wheel drive cars, the Fuldamobil is credited with being the first car in the world to feature this innovation.The steel, central tube frame chassis was fitted with swing axle suspension on the front wheels and had the rear wheel mounted in a swinging arm. Braking was only provided on the front wheels, and was operated by cable. For cost reasons, shock absorbers were omitted, which did mean that with the body fitted, the prototype would wallow about like a ship at sea. The prototype was fitted with a 198cc air-cooled Zündapp motorcycle engine. A conflicting report on the prototype in Das Auto states that it had an air-cooled single-cylinder two-stroke 250cc ILO engine.
The black and white painted coupé bodywork was slab-sided, streamlined, but heavy. It had a fabric roof, which could be rolled back for ventilation, a split windscreen and two side doors fitted with opening windows. Access for the driver and passenger via these rear-hinged doors was restricted, with the front wheel arch filling half the door width. The bodywork was constructed in eight days by the Leibold company in Fulda, and was based around caravan construction techniques, with metal sheet panels nailed to a wooden frame. Behind the doors on either side, were large, letterbox-shaped air ducts to provide cooling air to the engine. The end of the exhaust pipe emerged from a small circular hole near the tail.
Nicknamed "Flea", the prototype car made its official – if somewhat inauspicious – debut in the Rosenmontag carnival procession in Fulda, in March 1950. With the air-cooled engine, heavy body and slow, walking pace of the procession, it was perhaps inevitable that the car would succumb to heat failure en route, nevertheless, it was greeted enthusiastically by the press. The car was scrapped after 3000 km of testing.
The search for a more suitable engine got off to a bad start, with a disparaging response from Triumph-Werke in Nuremberg. Stevenson found a more willing supplier at the small Baker & Pölling works in Niedernhall. The company made one and two-man chainsaws, and were willing to adapt their existing compact 200cc engine to suit the car. The engine was already fan-cooled, and Baker & Pölling increased the capacity to nearly 250cc. The Fulda factory attached a Hurth 3-speed gearbox with reverse, driven by a primary chain and added an electric starter to the engine.
A second prototype using a 200cc Baker & Pölling engine and fitted with a roadster type body, was built around Christmas 1950. It was sold almost immediately.
Production
Series production began in February 1951. The car underwent significant development, modification and changes in appearance throughout its production life, but generally was only referred to in advertising and contemporary publications as either the Fulda–Mobil or the Fuldamobil, without a specific designated model number or suffix. The principal exception was during the period 1953–1955 when the slab-sided version of the car — referred to as the Type N, and the more rounded version Type S — were manufactured and included simultaneously in company brochures.Internal production records and some individual vehicle registration documents have been adopted subsequently and are now used by most modern reference works to allocate more specific model designations, but should not be seen as definitive.
Type N
Between February and June 1951, at least 48 cars were manufactured. The wooden framework for the bodies was now supplied by Alexander Schleicher GmbH & Co, but for a time, the material used for the external panelling varied from car to car. The majority used plywood sheets covered with a synthetic leather fabric. Fabric car bodies were common in the 1920s, and in post-war Germany the scarcity of sheet steel, coupled with low manufacturing cost and light weight, briefly countered more negative factors such as an old-fashioned appearance and relatively poor durability. At least one coupé retained the overall shape of the prototype, but with a single pane of glass for the windscreen and without its protruding headlights. However, it was felt that some potential customers were being put off by the styling, specifically the car's unconventional sloping front. They wanted a car with a bonnet, even if the engine was still at the rear. Drivers also experienced difficulty trying to reach the windscreen if it fogged up while driving, as there was no fan or heater to assist in keeping it clear. The issues with the bodywork design were resolved by adding a rounded nose to the car, whilst at the same time moving the windscreen closer to the driver and making it more upright. In the factory, this revised profile was called the "Bosom-car". This design first appeared in photographs in April 1951 and the new style car appeared at the IAA show in Frankfurt that same month.At the Brussels Motor Show in January 1952, a prototype car appeared under the name "Succes". This car was to be produced in Belgium and would have been powered by a 200cc twin-cylinder engine made in Germany. In appearance, it was a very close copy of the Fuldamobil Type N roadster, but the car did not reach production, and apart from its styling, nothing to date suggests any connection to the Fuldamobil.
Between June 1951 and September 1952, at least 346 Fuldamobils were manufactured. Recent secondary sources state that throughout this time, there were problems with the quality of the Baker & Pölling engines. Pistons would come noisily into contact with the cylinder head, or worse, drivers would find the barrel and head being shot from the crankcase into the back of their seat. The final straw came when one hundred engines sent back to Baker & Pölling for rework were returned. Rather than soundly rectify any structural failings, the remedial work consisted of the fitting of additional gaskets beneath the cylinders, a which offered a far from a permanent or professional solution, whilst at the same time producing a detrimental effect on the overall performance of the car. A final order of one hundred engines was placed and delivered, but payment was withheld pending satisfactory rework to the earlier batch. Baker & Pölling are said to have gone bankrupt in the meantime. A more contemporary source indicates Baker & Pölling gearing up production to extend its range of Split-single engines at this time, used in the 125cc Express Radex motorcycle and manufactured at their Niedernhall factory. Baker & Pölling also took exception to an article in Auto Motor und Sport which mentioned that 360cc Fichtel & Sachs engines were now being fitted to the Fuldamobil, and pointed out several sporting achievements by the car whilst fitted with Baker & Pölling engines. Whatever the issues, by May 1952, it was reported that 360cc Fichtel & Sachs engines were now being fitted. Further, the plywood and fabric bodywork had been superseded by sheets of hammered aluminium, giving the car a very distinctive look, which led to the nickname "Silver Flea".
Bodywork from this point appears to be more consistent, all doors have straight edges, windscreen wipers are fitted to the bottom of the windscreen, there is a single small letterbox-shaped duct behind each door and sedans have rear side windows. Production is still described as more of an amateur hobby than a real automobile factory. Alongside the hammered, unpainted aluminium finish, the car was also produced with painted smooth aluminium skin at additional cost.
A version adapted for the disabled appeared at an Invalid carriage exhibition in Munich in July 1952. Around the same time, Werner Ritterbusch, a disabled war veteran, drove his Fuldamobil on a round trip of nearly from Oberzwehren in Kassel to Lapland and back.
Another notable achievement for the car came in August the following year. Former Czech racing driver Georg Kremel, a Fuldamobil company representative, made a non-stop journey across some of the steepest roads in Europe, taking in the Grossglockner, Plöcken and finally the Katschberghöhe Alpine passes, the last of which included a 2 km, 32% ascent.
One issue with the 360cc Fichtel & Sachs engine that was problematic, was its capacity. Driving licence regulations in Germany at that time meant that holders of a class IV licence could only drive vehicles with engines up to 250cc in size. The situation was resolved in January 1953 when Fichtel & Sachs brought a bigger alternative to their successful SM51 - 150cc engine onto the market, by increasing its capacity with a bigger barrel and piston to bring it up to 175cc. At the Frankfurt Motor Show in March the same year, it was announced that this engine would be available as an alternative to the 360cc model. The car also had one other significant modification, it was now fitted with a front bumper.
Production of cars with the Type N body probably ended in August 1954, although most sources state August 1955.