From March 17 - 20, 2016, RETRO CLASSICS, the largest classic car trade fair in Europe, will open its doors in Stuttgart for the 16th time. Fans, collectors and dealers from all over the world will come together on around 125,000 square meters of exhibition space. Once again, visitors will be offered an exciting supporting program with many highlights. And one of the very special presentations will be that of the historic vehicles of the "Veritas" brand.
If you google the historic vehicles of the 'Veritas' brand, you currently get around 132,000 results. Seemingly a wealth of information. However, if you delve deeper into the content, you don't get much information. All the more reason to visit the special exhibition at Retro Classics in March 2016.
Veritas working group for sports and racing car construction
The story of the origins of "Veritas" reads today like many from that time. A story of chance, skill, daring and success. Ernst Loof, who had worked as a racing manager at BMW before the war, joined forces with the former commercial manager of the BMW plant in Allach, Lorenz Dietrich, the racing driver and BMW employee Georg "Schorsch" Meier and the former six-day racing cyclist Werner Miethe. The Veritas working group for sports and racing car construction founded by them began operations in March 1947. The company name apparently came about spontaneously during negotiations with the French occupying forces at the time.
The first prototypes of an open two-seater sports car suitable for both road and racing were built using the chassis and engine of used BMW 328s. The vehicles had a streamlined pontoon body made of aluminum, which was unusual for the time. The first smaller competition entries were held with this and another built-up car. The first orders were also received.
Debut at the Hockenheimring in 1948
The new brand made its first major and publicly announced appearance at the race on the Hockenheimring in 1948, ending with victories in the class for sports cars up to 2 liters and by Meier in the category for formula-free racing cars.
Further successes followed in the course of the season. Veritas" quickly became the dominant brand at all German racing events in the early post-war period. But many racing drivers also competed with Veritas vehicles beyond the country's borders.
The most expensive German production car of its time
In order to appeal to affluent customers who were not interested in racing, a coupé suitable for everyday use was derived from the RS model with slightly reduced performance. The new model was the most expensive German production car at the time. However, only around eight were produced.
As all models were extremely expensive for the time, the company ran into increasing difficulties from the beginning of 1950. Due to bottlenecks in both finances and resources, there were considerable delays in the delivery of the vehicles ordered, many of which had already been paid for.
Because development work was also no longer carried out with the necessary care, all seven Meteor racing cars entered in the 1950 German Grand Prix failed early due to technical defects. A devastating defeat that resulted in considerable damage to the company's image.
It also became clear over time that the German designs were no match for the foreign racing car models - especially those from the manufacturers Ferrari and Gordini. As a result, the most important German racing car manufacturer finally had to file for bankruptcy in the fall of 1950 and the partners involved parted company.
Three special gems at Retro Classics
Three gems from the "Veritas" brand will be on display at Retro Classics: The Veritas C90 Coupé, from the Ravensburg bodywork company Spohn built in 1949, the Veritas Meteor Formula 2, the racing car of publisher Paul Pietsch from 1950 and the Veritas Meteor II, a monoposto racing car from 1950. The rise, glory and decline of the brand can be experienced in these three rare automobiles.
Further information can be found on the Retro Classics website.
