Somewhere in rural outskirts of Berlin, Germany in 1931, in the early morning hours of each week, farmers tended their fields and folks trotted between properties on foot, some with horses pulling carts. They were occasionally passed by wealthy families en route to popular vacation spots outside of Berlin who made the trip in style in their early-century automobiles, which generally resembled the Ford Model T: square-ish carriage-like bodies, styled wood or metal wire spoked wheels, and large wood trunks cantilevered off the rear on metal trays and tied down with leather straps holding their luggage. Each morning was different, but at least once each week they all experienced the same brief dawn disturbance: the arrival of the newspaper in a revolutionary machine that ushered in a new era of automotive design.
1931 Rumpler Versuchswagen Stromlinien-Lastwagen [1]
Suddenly in the spring of 1931, the roads in the city of Berlin and the picturesque outlying districts were unsettled by a massive speeding six-wheeled teardrop approximately 28 feet long, 8 feet wide and 9 feet high. It was painted a deep navy blue with raised silver lettering stamped in an arc down the side. The whine of a massive and powerful engine pierced the quiet countryside, and in the city the hum of giant tires bounding over cobblestone streets warned of its approach, with a streamlined body slicing through the air like a giant section of an airplane wing. This alien machine was perhaps one of the most unique and advanced commercial vehicles of its time. Since it has no official nickname outside of its long technical designation, I will refer to it simply, and with only partial accuracy, as the “Rumpler”.
The full technical name of the Rumpler was actually Rumpler Versuchswagen Stromlinien-Lastwagen. The RuV label was abbreviated from Rumpler (Ru), and Versuchswagen (V), which translates roughly to “experimental vehicle”; Stromlinien-Lastwagen translates to “streamlined truck”. Although it is rumored that two such vehicles were built to be identical in appearance but different in their sources of power, it is possible that only a single van was constructed and the original 6-cylinder replaced at some point with a more modern and imposing V-12. Since no images of the two machines together seem to exist, I have not found proof either way, but it is not unusual for experimental and show vehicles to experience re-constructions for a variety of reasons. The two machines – or two versions of the same machine - are separately referred to as RuV29 and RuV31.
The brief existence of the Rumpler RuV(s) can be credited to the cooperation of multiple commercial vehicle designers and constructors, at the request of the founder of Ullstein Verlag, one of Germany’s largest publishing enterprises. An antique news article (below, original source unknown) notes that the goal of the project was to get the newspapers to the stands ahead of their competitors, and the streamlined truck (or pair of trucks) was designed to make rapid deliveries while drawing attention to this achievement through advanced and dramatic aerodynamic body design. In short, the delivery of the news itself became a newsworthy item, doubling the purpose of this utility vehicle as a marketing exercise.
Antique newspaper article trumpeting the arrival of the Rumpler [2]
The most important figure in the development of the Rumpler RuVs was unquestionably Austrian engineer Dr. Edmund Rumpler, the obvious namesake of this vehicle. Dr. Rumpler, who was born 4 January 1872 in Vienna, Austria, was an automotive engineer and designer by trade, but diverted his attention to aircraft design in the early 1900s after being inspired by the Wright brothers’ trials in the United States in the first decade of the 20th century. Dr. Rumpler became the very first German aircraft manufacturer, but remained primarily interested in automobiles. He returned to automotive design by applying streamlining techniques critical to aircraft design in his first streamlined car, the Tropfenwagen (literally: drop-car, because of its water-droplet-like form), which debuted at the 1921 International Auto Show in Berlin [3]. Although the Tropfenwagen was not a commercial success, it did serve as a streamlined styling inspiration for many others that followed. Only two such vehicles remain in existence today, and a handful were used for the futuristic 1927 movie Metropolis for many of the highway scenes. The unique Tropfenwagen foreshadowed Dr. Rumpler’s later efforts on RuV streamlined newspaper delivery truck(s), which were introduced formally in 1931.
The architecture of the Rumpler RuV was based on a 5-ton commercial truck chassis featuring Dr. Rumpler’s front-wheel-drive design, which was manufactured at the Plauen plant of VOMAG (the acronym representing Vogtländische Maschinenfabrik AG, 1866-1948), a company which originally manufactured sewing and embroidery machines and associated parts until World War I transformed the company into a massive defense contractor building trucks, printing machines, tanks, and other items for Germany. When production for VOMAG slumped (along with the German economy) in the later 1920’s, Rumpler would sometimes contract with VOMAG to build vehicles featuring his own designs [4].
The Rumpler RuV streamliner was preceded by a variation of the front-wheel-drive two-axle bus chassis that was introduced at the Prague Auto Salon in 1929, and became one of the most exciting attractions at the event, which ran 23 October thru 31 October of 1929. There was even a scandal resulting in the Rumpler chassis being confiscated on the basis of a patent violation of Czech manufacturer Tatra’s swing-axle construction (Rumpler had patented his own swing-axle construction as early as 1903 while working for vehicle manufacturer Adler). Ultimately, the Rumpler vehicle was returned and the dispute resolved. The advantage of the Rumpler front-wheel-drive configuration, something Dr. Rumpler had been developing since approximately 1906, was that with the engine and transaxle mostly forward of the front driving wheels (resulting in the distinctive pronounced nose), the steel frame for the body could be continued through to the rear of the vehicle without being interrupted by a rear driving axle or driveshaft, allowing for flexible supports for a variety of body and cargo configurations and chassis lengths [4].
1929 Front-wheel-drive omnibus chassis from Prague Auto Show [4]
The two-axle Rumpler/VOMAG omnibus chassis ultimately served both the Berlin Polizei (police) as 31-seat personnel transport, and the Deutshe Reichpost (the German postal service from 1866-1945), along with a variety of other bus clients [4]. The postal van is probably the closest mass-produced execution of the concept behind the RuVs. The debut of the front-wheel-drive Rumpler design in Prague also more or less coincided with the introduction of front-wheel drive automobiles in the United States by E.L. Cord with the Cord L29 in 1929, which is recognized as the first front-wheel-drive automobile available for public sale in the United States.
VOMAG/Rumpler 31-seat Berlin Poleizi personnel transport [4]
At the time of the unique commission from publisher Rudolph Ullstein of Ullstein Verlag, Rumpler did not have his own workshop in which to execute the project, so he had the chassis constructed by VOMAG based on a triple-axle variation of the 1929 show model (the author assumes the additional rear wheels were intended to better distribute the anticipated weight of cargo at speed), and formed his own company (Rumpler-Vorntrieb-Gesellshaft m.b.H.) to assemble the complete vehicle [4]. The streamlined body was produced by the collective of German coachbuilders Luchterhand & Freytag and Gottfried Linder, with the assistance of the Ambi-Budd stamping plant [5]. Reportedly the original design penned by Paul Jaray was to be much more round (similar to Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion vehicles), however Rudolph Ullstein preferred the more severe slab-sided wing-section look, which was ultimately the version constructed [8].
Rumpler RuV on display at the 1931 IAA [6]
The Rumpler made its formal public debut at the 22nd IAA (Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung, or “International Motor Show”) in Berlin, Germany in 1931 to an audience of nearly 300,000 people [7]. The Rumpler also represented the very first commercial vehicle (or vehicle of any type, including passenger cars) to demonstrate a front-wheel-drive configuration to be presented at the International Motor Show, which was held from 19 February through 1 March of 1931. The Rumpler was not just a fancy body for display however – since it was built over a commercial bus chassis, it had a cargo capacity in the realm of 11,000-lbs. After the show the extraordinary truck was put to use in the highly competitive newspaper market in an effort to beat competitors to the news-stands running routes around Berlin and to other nearby municipalities - and they received a fair amount of attention in carrying out their mission.
Rumpler RuV boasting front placard reading "Vorderrad-Antrieb", which translates to "front-wheel-drive" [4] - Although it is not clear in any of the images, I believe the hood ornament was the Ullstein Verlag mascot/logo: an owl perched on a branch.
There are multiple and sometimes conflicting reports regarding the original powerplant(s) for the Rumpler RuV. It is consistently noted that the first Rumpler (RuV29) featured a Maybach I-6 engine, and the second Rumpler (RuV31) boasted a Maybach V-12 [5]. If these two engines were in fact production-spec Maybach automobile engines, then it can be assumed that RuV29 was served by the approximately 100-hp Maybach W5 inline-6 engine, which was replaced by the Maybach DS7 and DS8 V-12. It is unclear which engine was utilized for RuV31, but the Maybach DS7 V-12 introduced in 1929 was a massive 6,971cc (7 Liter, or 425 cubic inches) and rated at approximately 150-hp. If instead it is assumed that the most recently available engine was installed in the Rumpler, then it is possible that RuV31 was powered by the even bigger 1930 Maybach DS8 V-12 that debuted as an upgrade from the previous model year – this time at 7,977cc (8 Liter, or 486 cubic inches) and rated at 200-hp. Although it is probably less likely, it is technically possible that RuV29 was powered by a version of the engine that served Rumpler C4/C5 aircraft from the same period: the absolutely monstrous Maybach 20 Liter (1,228 cubic inches) I-6 200-hp engine that weighed 990-lbs, like the one in the collection at the Smithsonian Air & Space museum pictured below [10]. Either way, a Maybach sedan could attain speeds of just over 100-mph when served by the DS8 V-12 engine, and that is no small feat for a several ton vehicle in 1930.
Maybach 20-Liter aircraft 6-cylinder engine, Smithsonian Air & Space Museum Collection [10]
It is also reported that the powerful and speedy Rumpler required special tires, and so the distinctly extra-large front wheels designed to transfer power to the road were wrapped in specially designed Continental tires, which were purpose-built for high speeds over 60-mph [11]. I have reached out to Continental but as of this writing have not yet heard whether specifications or details on this order still exist in the company archives.
There are two reasons tracking down information on Rumpler streamliner(s) was so challenging, and both derive from circumstances surrounding Germany before and during the Second World War. The first is that Dr. Edmund Rumpler was Jewish, and therefore a target of the rising Nazi regime. Rumpler was captured and imprisoned in 1933 and his business and design records destroyed, and therefore the primary sources for technical details on the Rumpler RuV no longer exist. However, it has been reported that Dr. Rumpler was only held for a relatively short time because one of the most powerful military figures of the Nazi party, Hermann Göring, respected the aircraft contributions and other vehicles Rumpler had designed or constructed for the German war effort and economy after the First World War. Göring apparently advocated for Rumpler’s successful release (it is likely they were personal friends), however Rumpler’s career abruptly came to an end regardless [11]. The engineer passed away on 7 September 1940 in Züsow in Northern Germany at the age of 68. For however brief a time, the handful of remaining Tropfenwagen and the RuV streamlined newspaper delivery van were all that was left to remind the world of his advanced designs and contributions to the industry.
With the onset of the Second World War, the RuV streamliner was packed away in storage in Berlin, although it is not clear where. The second reason little information is available on this unique vehicle is that the Rumpler was not spared during the devastating attacks on the city; the RuV (or both, if in fact there were two distinct vehicles) was reportedly obliterated in the course of an air raid during the 1942-1943 bombing of Berlin [5]. Outside of the few photographs available online – almost all of which have been featured in this article – and with most of the vehicles and Dr. Rumpler’s records destroyed, little concrete evidence remains of Edmund Rumpler’s legacy. Regardless, there is no question that his technical and stylistic exercises benefitted the automobile industry a great deal, and it would take another 30-40 years for the industry to catch up with his forward-thinking ideas.
Michael Lempert | The Anachronist
Rochester, NY
2020.05.26
P.S.: Technical drawings above are approximations of the Rumpler RuV31 created by the author based on imagery and details available about the specifications of these machines.
This article represents ongoing research on the RuVs, and if any new information is received, edits will be made in order to reflect what I believe to be the most accurate representation of the machines and events surrounding them. Both the Berlin Technical Museum and Canadian Air and Space Museum may have additional sources but are closed due to the COVID public health crisis, and therefore access to the archives is not available. If you have any information or images on the engineer or his vehicles, please do reach out (mlempert@buffalo.edu), I would be interested in learning more!
As an Architect, I felt compelled to add that the Rumpler RUV debuted in the newly constructed German Exhibition Building, pictured below.
The Berlin Exposition Building where the IAA (and many other significant cultural events) took place. note the "RESTAURANT" signage at the top, which is visible in the image of the man standing next to the Rumpler at the 1931 IAA [12]
Although the Rumpler RuV Streamliner is not visible in this picture of mostly the Daimler-Benz display from the 1931 IAA, note at left the VOMAG two-axle omnibus adjacent to the Mercedes display, identified by the large front overhang and VOMAG angled script on the grille [7]
References and additional information:
[4]: Oskar, Alex. Vomag: The Almost Forgotten Automobile Brand (Commercial Vehicles from Plauen). [German Edition] Diesel Queen, 1994.
[13]: Federal Archives of Germany Digital Image Collection
[14]: Chilton’s Motor Age 1921: Volume 40 Part II
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