From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Motor vehicle
Porsche Type 12
|
---|
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Porsche_Typ12_Model2_Nuremberg.jpg/280px-Porsche_Typ12_Model2_Nuremberg.jpg) Porsche Type 12 replica on static display at Museum Industriekultur Nurnberg
|
|
Manufacturer
| Ferdinand Porsche
|
---|
Production
| 1931?1932
|
---|
Assembly
| Stuttgart
|
---|
Designer
| Ferdinand Porsche
|
---|
|
Class
| compact car
|
---|
Body style
| |
---|
Layout
| rear-engine, rear-wheel drive
|
---|
Platform
| Porsche Type 12
|
---|
Related
| VW Beetle
|
---|
|
Engine
| Zundapp five-cylinder radial
|
---|
Transmission
| three-speed manual
|
---|
Propulsion
| tyres
|
---|
|
Wheelbase
| 2,500 mm (98.4 in)
|
---|
Length
| 3,330 mm (131.1 in)
|
---|
Width
| 1,420 mm (55.9 in)
|
---|
Height
| 1,500 mm (59.1 in)
|
---|
Kerb weight
| 900 kg (1,984 lb)
|
---|
|
Successor
| Porsche Type 32
|
---|
The
Porsche Type 12
was a German project to develop an "Everyman's
automobile
" (
Auto fur Jedermann
) for
Zundapp
. Fritz Neumeyer, then owner of Zundapp, ordered
Ferdinand Porsche
to design and build the prototype in 1931. Eventually, two saloons, and one drophead coupe were built.
[1]
All of those cars were lost during
World War II
,
[2]
the last one in a
bombing raid in Stuttgart
in 1945. The Type 12 is considered an important early step in the development of the original Volkswagen. A replica of the Type 12 is on static display at the
Museum Industrielkultur
in
Nurnberg
.
[2]
Comparison with contemporary concepts
[
edit
]
In 1936 Citroen also started work on a cheap, streamlined car with all independent suspension, a platform chassis and no prop-shaft ? the
2CV
.
The Type 12 was an early example of the aerodynamic and rounded designs that came somewhat in vogue in the 1930s, developed concurrently with
Mercedes-Benz's 120H
, and ahead of Tatra's second
V570 prototype
, and
DKW
's F2-based, one-off rear-engined streamline prototype ? both in 1933.
[3]
In production cars the style was typified by the
1934 Chrysler
and
DeSoto Airflow
,
Toyota's AA
copy of these (1936), and the eventual "People's car", the 1938
KdF-Wagen
aka the Volkswagen Type 1 or
Beetle
.
Contemporaneous prototypes with a more extreme focus on aerodynamics were the 1933
Dymaxion car
and Karl Schlor's
Schlorwagen
, developed from 1936 to 1939.
[4]
Description
[
edit
]
The vehicle has a single, U-profile, central beam frame as opposed to the VW Beetle's central tube platform chassis.
[1]
The car's body (made by Reutter) has ? for its time period ? a reasonably aerodynamic shape with covered rear wheel arches.
[5]
Both the front, and the rear axles are leaf sprung and feature a single, transverse leaf spring each. Porsche used a worm-gear steering box and four hydraulic drum brakes on the Type 12. The car already has the VW Beetle-typical drivetrain design with a combined rear gearbox differential unit with the engine directly flanged to its rear end, which means that, the rear axle is a
swing axle
, located in between the gearbox, and the engine. This was technically feasible because the engine was rather short in length.
[1]
Unlike the VW Beetle, the Porsche Type 12 has a wet single disc clutch.
[5]
The engine is a five-cylinder
radial
Zundapp-made Otto (
spark ignition
) engine, rather than the
flat four
Porsche preferred.
[2]
The five-cylinder Zundapp engine is water-cooled, and has a regular water pump. The camshaft is of the cam drum variety (i. e. a very short camshaft) and actuates two
overhead valves
per cylinder. With its 70 by 62 mm bore and stroke, the engine displaces 1,193 cm
3
(72.8 in
3
). It has a compression of ε=5.3, a single Zenith 26 mm carburettor, and produces 26 PS (19 kW) at 3200/min. The car's top speed is 80 km/h (50 mph).
[5]
Gallery
[
edit
]
-
Right side of the Type 12 Replica
-
Five cylinder radial engine in the Type 12 replica
-
Scale model of the Porsche Type 12
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Oswald, Werner
[in German]
(1979),
Deutsche Autos 1920-1945 ? Alle deutschen Personenwagen der damaligen Zeit
(in German) (3rd ed.), Stuttgart: Motorbuch-Verlag, p. 380,
ISBN
978-3-87943-519-7
- ^
a
b
c
Christopher, John.
The Race for Hitler's X-Planes
. The Mill, Gloucestershire: History Press, 2013, p.200.
- ^
DKW Auto-Union Project: DKW's 1933 Rear Engine Streamliner
- ^
Christopher, John.
The Race for Hitler's X-Planes
(The Mill, Gloucestershire: History Press, 2013), p.200.
- ^
a
b
c
Oswald, Werner
[in German]
(1979),
Deutsche Autos 1920-1945 ? Alle deutschen Personenwagen der damaligen Zeit
(in German) (3rd ed.), Stuttgart: Motorbuch-Verlag, p. 382,
ISBN
978-3-87943-519-7