Rumpler Tropfenwagen

Made to Order. Forbidden to continue with his aeronautical work after the 1918 armistice, Dr Edmund Rumpler decided to apply the lessons he had learned from aircraft engineering to the development of a revolutionary type of motorcar. He was, after all, a car engineer by training. Having returned to car manufacture in 1921, he caused a sensation at that year's Berlin Motor Show with a vehicle unlike any seen before. He worked with Benz for a while, but poor sales led him to go on his own. Edmund Rumpler announced a new Tropfenwagen in 1924. Designated the 4A 106, this had a conventional four-cylinder-in-line engine of 2614cc developing 50 bhp at 2400. Overall design was otherwise little changed apart from a longer wheelbase to accommodate the new power unit (which gave the incidental benefit of increasing passenger capacity from 4/5 to 6/7 seats). Top speed was around 75 mph, but it was said that the increase in wheelbase had upset the roadholding. Sales continued to be minimal, and in 1925 Rumpler modified the design to give somewhat more generally acceptable lines, with 'proper' mudguards and running boards.