Rear engine

The unforgettable tail centrifuges With exception of Porsche and Smart today the tail engine has with mass production cars retired. That makes this automobile species for collecting tanks the more interesting. A review of 124 years tail engine history. At the beginning was the tail engine. The pioneers Carl Benz and God-dear Daimler designed 1886 in each case an automobile, whose Einzylinder Motörchen over and/or before the rear axle pulsated. Fast the front engine becomes generally accepted For this Daimlers engine carriage, those particularly shows the reason the technical designer at the company Wilhelm Wimpff & Son in Stuttgart had ordered - naturally still without engine. The model " Americaine" with his narrow wood wheels with spokes and the two seats aligned forward had to do without horses and pole, received however for it the new lifting cylinder combustion engine.

 Daimler placed as near as possible at the firmly installed rear drive axle before the second seat. The front axle offered for this no area and had for steering to be swivelling. Likewise in the tail tackerte a cylinder Carl of the Benz, whose dreirädriger engine car formally already said good-bye to the carriage. Nevertheless the building principle of the four-wheeled tail engine cars up to the turn of the century, when almost any manufacturer on front engine changed over, held itself first with the sporty two-seater models. The engines became more largely and technically more complex, so that they stressed more place. In addition a psychological component probably came that one rather pulls oneself from its horse power as once in the carriages than push letting wanted. After 1900 therefore the front engine in all Fahrzeugklassen became generally accepted nearly without exception. The Hanomag coming eating bread and Mercedes 130 set on the tail engine Among the few exceptions the two-seater small car Hanomag ranked 2/10 HP of 1925, whose 0.5 litres large a cylinder engine in the tail provided for moderate propulsion. Because of its sharp-edged form it kept the surnames " Kommißbrot".

Equipped with only one pig thrower and a door (for stability reasons) he justified the cheap image for cars with tail engine. Only Mercedes dared 1934 with that 130 (W 23) the attempt of an full-grown car with an engine installed aft, which could not become generally accepted however. It was too expensively, extremely hecklastig and offered in the roundish nose too few trunk. Against it the tail engine concepts of the automobile technical designers Hans Ledwinka and Ferdinand Porsche, which were also friendly with one another, were clearly more successful. Both favored the air cooling, which Ledwinka for a large, avant-garde seeming streamline sedan and Porsche for a compact, robust everyday life car wanted to use. With the help of his son Hans presented to Ledwinka 1934 the Tatra type of 77 with three litres large, air-cooled V8-Motor of the surprised public. It formed the basis for one until 1998 produced row of luxury sedans from Czech Republic, politicians and party officials were main in which on the way. The largest fan of the tail engine: Ferdinand Porsche Porsche backte against it rather smaller, but afterwards the more successful rolls. Porsche developed its compact car with air-cooled flat-four in the tail, which undertook 1933 first as NSU first trial trips, starting from 1934 in the national order to Volkswagen. Its break-through as successful civil vehicle took place however only 1946. Affectionately " later; Käfer" long-lasting phenomena mentioned the favourite car of the Germans remained in Mexico until 2003 in production and was after the Second World War. Also in the USA and in Mexico and Brazil and counts this very day the beetle particularly ranked among the everyday streetscape. The advantages, which the beetle offered opposite its competitors, are to be inferred from a alpine comparison trip from minutes from the year 1938. The car from the VW-303-Serie had to begin a DKW (both with front wheel drive) against an eagle junior, an OPEL cadet and a Steyr.

All test participants possessed a front engine. One determined at that time: " The road-hugging property of Volkswagen, under single wheel cushioning, torsion bars, deep position of the center of gravity and the associated curve rigidity permits a faster driving through of Kurven." In addition the Volkswagen steering element pleased " by easy and perfectly vibrationless Gang". Tail engines provide for traction and easier steering control By far more importantly however the larger interior was and improves travelling comfort VOLKSWAGEN: " The arrangement of the seats, the accommodation of luggage, driving and car noises find a substantially better Lösung." with Volkswagen; Thus all advantages of the tail engine concept realized in the VOLKSWAGEN are mentioned: The engine built deeply in the chassis brings a good traction and makes little noise. The steering element goes without load through the engine easily and precisely.

 The space gain appears most important by clearly forward a moved cockpit and the absence place of a robbing cardan shaft with front engine with rear propulsion. These advantages made the tail engine the standard technology of many small cars of the postwar era until approximately 1970. Beside Volkswagen set in Germany BMW, NSU and the Hans glass of GmbH with the Goggomobil on the area saving engine arrangement. Italy with Fiat 500, 600 and 850, the Eastern Bloc with Skoda 1000 MT as well as France with Renault and Simca drove to the war likewise with tail engine. The British held against it the loyalty for the standard drive or favored the front wheel drive as in the Austin mini. Also on the continent this propulsion principle became generally accepted gradually, which was represented already since 1948 by the Citroën 2 CV there: Renault came 1961 with the R4, Fiat 1969 with that 128 and Volkswagen 1974 with the gulf with front wheel drive as a beetle successor. The privileged position of the tail engine arrangement with the sports cars Three manufacturers used the small weight, the high traction and the low building method for their advantage and wrote to racing history - Abarth, Porsche and Renault alpine one. With all first good mass production technology with only four cylinders was used: three times Abarth of Fiats and Simca, alpine one of Renault and with Porsche von Volkswagen.

But only Porsche survived their engine performances of 40 as independent mark, which produces since 1948 fast cars with tail engine in series, to 530 HP (GT 1) rose. At the same time also the name of that man survived, who made Germany again mobile after the war in peaceful kind. While the tail engine was in former times far common, this layout in the course of the last years except for few exceptions disappeared completely. If one thinks today of cars, which carry their power supply unit behind the rear axle, Volkswagen beetle and the Porsche 911 probably occur to most. But before 30 to 50 years nearly each car manufacturer had at least one model with a tail engine in the offer. And the first automobiles, which rolled at all over the roads, were likewise from the rear " angeschoben" instead of from the front " gezogen".

The reason was simple: In order to keep the way from engine to the drive axle as short as possible, the engines were placed simply in their direct proximity. Front wheel drive did not give it yet. The fun parliamentary group among the drivers becomes enthusiastic this very day for this layout - overriding is possible with a small gas impact - and the cart-load schmeißt their tail around the curve. That is also the reason for the break of the tail engine: With front motor vehicles the handling is clearly safer in the frontier.