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WD Denzel Sport 1300 - the Austrian competition for the Porsche

Name: Denzel Sport 1300 1955
Brand: Denzel

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Created on June 12, 2019

Text:

Bruno von Rotz

Photos:

Daniel Reinhard

Bruno von Rotz

Tom Wood - Courtesy RM/Sotheby's

Archiv Beat von Lerber

Michael Alschner

Archiv

Daniel Reinhard

Bruno von Rotz

Tom Wood - Courtesy RM/Sotheby's

Archiv Beat von Lerber

Michael Alschner

Archiv

Denzel Sport 1300 (1955) - front and rear are similarly shaped

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Denzel Sport 1300 (1955) - no, not a Porsche, but from Austria

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Denzel Sport 1300 (1955) - short wheelbase, compact shape

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Denzel Sport 1300 (1955) - compact and streamlined

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Denzel Sport 1300 (1955) - the bodies were made from aluminum or sheet steel

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Denzel Sport 1300 (1955) - the front is reminiscent of the Austin-Healey, but also of the Porsche 356

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Denzel Sport 1300 (1955) - independent rear end with small tail lights

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Denzel Sport 1300 (1955) - tidy interior

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Denzel Sport 1300 (1955) - View into the cockpit

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Denzel Sport 1300 (1955) - complete instrumentation

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Denzel Sport 1300 (1955) - Rally timer probably retrofitted

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Denzel Sport 1300 (1955) - powerful Beetle engine

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Denzel Sport 1300 (1955) - clearly labeled

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WD Denzel Sport (1953) - Wolfgang Denzel and his sports car with attached fabric roof

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WD Denzel Sport (1953) - the compact roadster in its early version still with an articulated windshield

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WD Denzel Sport (1953) - View into the cockpit

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WD Denzel Sport (1953) - Driver's door with pull disk

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WD Denzel Sport (1953) - Technology from the VW Beetle

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WD 1500 Sport International (1957) - Denzel sports car with Porsche and VW parts - Geneva Motor Show 1957

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Denzel advertisement in the magazine Auto Motor und Sport 1959 - Sales for Germany wanted

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Denzel 1500 S (1954) - Wolfgang Denzel first built this roadster on the basis of VW Kügelwagen chassis - Prototyp Automuseum

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Denzel 1500 S (1954) - the sports version already had a self-developed chassis with VW parts - Prototype Automuseum

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WD Denzel 13 (1955) - 50 years of Porsche were celebrated at the Nürburgring in 1981, including by Lerben with the Denzel and the Rome-Liège original Porsche

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WD Denzel 13 (1955) - the car with aluminum body at the Saanen slalom in 1980

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WD Denzel 13 (1955) - the Swiss Beat von Lerben competed in countless races with this Denzel WD 1300

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Gaisbergrennen 2011 - Denzel 1500 (1955) - on the Gaisberg

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Gaisbergrennen 2011 - Denzel 1500 (1955) - on the Salzburgring

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Denzel 1500 (1954) - at the Ennstal-Classic 2012 - Stoderzinken mountain stage

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Denzel 1500 (1954) - at the start in the sports car class - Gaisbergrennen 2013 - Mountain run up the Gaisberg on Friday

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Denzel 1500 (1954) - at the start in the sports car class - Gaisbergrennen 2013 - City Grand Prix in Salzburg on Thursday

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Denzel 1300 S (1957) at the Ennstal-Classic 2013

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Denzel 1300 (1957) - at the Roßfeldrennen 2013

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Denzel 1500 (1954) - in the sports car class at the 2014 Gaisberg Race

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Denzel (1958) - Lignières Historique 2014

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Volkswagen Denzel 1300 (1958) - at the Rallye Historique on the occasion of the Schloss Bensberg Classics 2015

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Summary

The Austrian Wolfgang Denzel had gasoline in his blood. He proved this not only with a successful career as an automobile entrepreneur, but also with motorsport successes and by building his own sports car, the WD Denzel. The compact roadster not only caused a sensation at the motor show, but also won the French Alpine Rally. Only a few hand-built cars have survived to this day, one of which is in Portugal. This report tells the story of the unusual sports car and shows it in current and historical pictures.

This article contains the following chapters

Difficult post-war period
Continuous improvement
Inexpensive and powerful
Aluminum instead of sheet metal
Manageable series production
Ideal historic sports and rally car
Also in Portugal
Further information

Estimated reading time: 8min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Wolfgang Denzel, born in Graz in 1908, certainly had gasoline in his blood. He developed his own motorcycle while studying engineering in the early 1930s. As early as 1934, he founded his own company as an engineer and took over the BMW agency for Styria and Carinthia. Four years later, he set up a branch in the capital city at Gumpendorferstrasse 19 in Vienna. And shortly after the war, he began developing his own sports car. They were not good years, there was a lack of almost everything after the end of the Second World War. However, there were a few damaged VW Kübelwagens that could still be turned into something, e.g. delivery vans and commercial vehicles. Racing enthusiast Wolfgang Denzel, however, preferred to think about sports cars and in 1948 he put a tight plastic body on the Beetle chassis. Volkswagen WD Equipment was the name of the vehicle, which had to do without doors as well as a powerful engine.

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