Porsche Type 12
The Porsche Type 12 was a German project to develop an "Everyman's automobile" (Auto für Jedermann) for Zündapp. The Type 12 was designed by Ferdinand Porsche in 1931, and prototypes were built in 1932.
![](../I/Porsche_Typ12_Model2_Nuremberg.jpg.webp)
It was an early example of the aerodynamic / 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.[1] 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 Schlör's Schlörwagen, developed from 1936 to 1939.[2]
![](../I/Conservatoire_Citroen_073_Citroen_2CV_(10155603765).jpg.webp)
It featured a five-cylinder radial engine at Zündapp's insistence, rather than the flat four Porsche preferred.[3] It also used a swing axle rear suspension (invented by Edmund Rumpler). In 1932, three prototypes were running.[4] After the Zündapp five cylinder radial, a two-cylinder two-stroke, and Porsche's own flat four boxer were tested. None of the engines performed particularly well and the project was cancelled.[1] All of those cars were lost during World War II,[5] the last in a bombing raid in Stuttgart in 1945.
The Type 12 is typically considered an important early step in the development of the original Volkswagen.
A replica of the Type 12 is on display at the Museum Industrielkultur in Nürnberg.[6]
![](../I/Porsche_Typ12_Model_Nuremberg.jpg.webp)
Notes
- 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.
- Christopher, p.200.
- "The samba". 2003-08-15. Retrieved 2011-12-03.
- Christopher, p.200.
- Christopher, p.200.
Sources
- Christopher, John. The Race for Hitler's X-Planes. The Mill, Gloucestershire: History Press, 2013.