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Plastic dreams on four wheels - a perspective from the early sixties

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Created on May 15, 1962

Reading time 3min

Written by:

Unbekannter Autor

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Archiv Enzmann

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Nissan Archives

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Archiv

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Archiv Enzmann

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Nissan Archives

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Archiv

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Praktisches Kunststoffauto im Selbstbau in den frühen Sechzigerjahren - den Schönheitspreis muss man ja nicht gewinnen

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Jet Star VW (1962) - der Jet-Star entstand in Bremen und sollte mit VW-Motor dank Okrasa-Frisur 160 km/h schnell sein

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Deutsch Bonnet (1961) - mit Technik des Panhard Tigre

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Victoria Spatz (1956) - der Kunststoff-Pionier hatte gegen die wachsende Konkurrenz keine Chance

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Trabant P 70 (1961) - auch die Firma in Zwickau vertraut auf Kunststoff, hier Duroplast genannt

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Datsun 1000 Sports S211 (1960) - Kunststoff-Sportwagen aus Japan - die Karosserie wiegt nur 108 kg

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Auto Union Monza (1957) - in nur 60 Stück gebauter Sportwagen mit sehr robuster Kunststoffkarosserie

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Spatz (1956) - Kunststoffauto ohne Türen

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Datsun Sports 1000 S211 (1959) - mit Kunststoff-Karosserie

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Trabant P60 (1960) - mit "Duroplast" beplanktes Stahlgerippe machte den kleinen Wagen zur Kunststoff-Limousine

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Devin D Typ - Zuzug aus den USA - Devin mit Polyesterkarosserie am Genfer Autosalon 1961

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Chevrolet Corvette (1953) - der Prototyp EX-122, gezeigt am Motorama 1953 im Waldorf-Astoria am 17. Januar 1953 in New York, unterschied sich nur minimal von späteren Serienversionen

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Chevrolet Corvette (1956) - eine frühe Corvette, bereits mit den steil stehenden Schweinwerfern

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Enzmann 506 (1957) - in weissem Gewand glänzt der Enzmann auf dem Stand der IAA 1957

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Enzmann 506 (1957) - die Nummer 1 kurz nach der Fertigstellung, heute noch immer in Familienbesitz

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DKW Monza (1957) - in Kleinserie hergestelltes Coupé mit Kunsstoffkarosserie

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DKW Monza (1957) - das hübsche Kunststoff-Coupé von der Seite gesehen

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Tornado Talisman (1961) - Kunststoff-Sportwagen mit Grossserienherz aus England

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Daimler SP 250 (1962) - hier ohne die aufpreispflichtigen Stossfänger

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Daimler SP 250 (1963) - mit aufgesetztem Hardtop

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Summary

At the beginning of the sixties, the fiberglass car wave also began in Germany and Switzerland, with thousands building their own bodies or putting a purchased one on a used chassis. However, despite the advantages of the new material, it did not become widespread. An article in 'hobby' tried to find out why this was the case. This report re-edits the original wording from 1962 and supplements the historically valuable article of that time with further archive material.

This article contains the following chapters

Accident without bad consequences
Shockproof and easy to repair
Expensive to manufacture
Also used for small vehicles
Cheap car bodies in England
No Faraday cage
Self-supporting bodies also possible
Good experiences with the DKW Monza
Plastic in cars without a future?

Estimated reading time: 3min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Thousands of 'hobbyists' are building fiberglass cars, but the big factories remain skeptical. Is the plastic car unsuitable for series production? "What kind of strange car do you have," the traffic officer recording the collision asked me, "is that a camouflaged armored car?" "Quite the opposite," I smiled kindly, "knock on it, doesn't it sound like a cardboard lid?" A well-known, sturdy, large representative car had crashed into my car on the Nordzubringer in Düsseldorf at 70 km/h at the traffic lights and was lying motionless on the road with its bumper torn off and its right mudguard eerily undulating. My car, on the other hand, only had some paint scratched off at the rear and the left rear rim dented. Hence the assumption that I was driving an 'armored car'.

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