Attracting customers to Hogeland Auto Plaza in Marshalltown, Iowa.
(first posted 2/8/2018) This was the first NSU Prinz that I saw in the USA after coming to this side of the pond in 1986. The red paint was as faded then as it is now.
posted at the Cohort by canadiancatgreen
A few years later I saw one driving in Des Moines and taking a turn to the parts store. I wondered what they were trying to find for their NSU Prinz. Blinker Fluid?
The Prinz is stealing the show! Graphics by Rudolf Griffel.
And in 2013, some 20-odd years later, I saw this ’59 NSU Prinz III at the Des Moines car show. Don’t say it’s cute! It’s cute beyond description and deserving of the CC treatment. While I am at it I will include the NSU Prinz 4 as well.
NSU was located in Neckarsulm and not connected to the Neckar Automobilwerke AG Heilbronn, former NSU Automobil AG which produced cars licensed by FIAT.
NSU managed to convert from motorcycles to cars. Maybe it was the only company that did this successfully at least for some time. (BMW, Honda and Suzuki have two legs: motorcycles and cars.) The Prinz was NSU’s own creation leaning on their motorcycle engine technology and employing weight and materials saving strategies.
It featured unibody construction and received a rear-mounted, air-cooled parallel twin cylinder engine displacing 583 cc. It is a crossflow design with a single overhead cam and rockers to actuate the valves. The cam was driven by three connecting rods that were mounted on the eccentric ends of the timing gear and camshaft, just like the single cylinder engine in the NSU Max motorcycle.
It made 20 hp (DIN) and an export version (30E) made 30 hp (DIN). This engine carried a fully synchronized 4-speed manual transmission and the differential in its sump, all sharing the same oil. The flywheel doubled as a cooling fan and housed the dry clutch, all located on the left end of the crankshaft; the Dynastart and ignition points occupied the right end. This eliminated the use of any belts under the hood.
Front suspension and steering. The left tie rod is disconnected.
It featured a rack-and-pinion steering and fully independent suspension with a double wishbone design in the front…
…and tubular swing arms in the rear. It had finned alloy drum brakes with steel liners on all corners.
There was hardly a useful picture of the interior of a 1st generation NSU Prinz to be found on the internet. Luckily 2stroketurbo published a video on YouTube highlighting the interesting details.
The interior was spartan but functional. It also featured some unusual solutions, such as windows that slide back when cranked and vent windows at the B-pillar. The rounded shapes of the design were mainstream for the 50’s but maybe too reminiscent of the Goggomobile.
Prinz III had the vents already at the A-pillar.
From 1957 – 1962 NSU produced a total of 93.945 units of the models Prinz I (base), II (luxury) and III which had the 30E engine.
The Sportprinz was also available with a Wankel engine.
From 1959 – 1967 they cranked out 20,831 NSU Sportprinz.
The Prinz 4 was Claus Luthe’s first design at NSU.
In 1961 the car was redesigned as the “micro Corvair” Prinz 4, of which a total of 625.171 units rolled of the assembly line from 1961 – 1973.
The redesign was quite the transformation. Gone was the cubbyhole, a proper glove box taking its place. The B-pillar vents migrated to the A-pillars, and now the windows disappeared in the doors when cranked. In other words, it became a respectable car.
The British magazine Autocar subjected the Prinz 4 L to a road test, published June 8, 1962. They concluded that “the Prinz is clearly a thoroughly safe and roadworthy little car which is also agreeable and interesting to drive.” And: “The NSU is completely at home on a winding country road where its compact overall dimensions are invaluable assets.” On dry roads it will only oversteer when driven extremely fast. On wet surfaces it has the tendency to step out in the back. They noted that the brakes needed considerable pedal pressure.
The Prinz 4 L had a curb weight of only 559kg (1232 lbs) ready to go with half a tank of gas. Despite the rear engine 56.8% of the weight was over the front wheels.
Autocar‘s testers really liked the engine. It made 30 hp at 5,500 rpm, yet it is capable of going to 7,000 rpm. It is “an extraordinarily tractable unit, producing strong pulling power from relatively low crankshaft speeds. In top gear the range extends from about 23 mph – a little under 2000 r.p.m. – to a mean maximum of 72 mph, equivalent to almost 5900 r.p.m. Above 23 mph it has no vibration periods and is scarcely distinguishable as a twin.”- “The lower gears are intelligently spaced to give evenly spread maxima of 20, 40 and 60 mph which approximate to 7000 r.p.m.”
Graphics by Rudolf Griffel.
It is “generally quite comfortable, although in no way exceptional”. Autocar praised its roominess that accommodates even very tall drivers.
“Der Spiegel”, the major general interest weekly magazine of Germany, published the results of a survey of about 3,000 Prinz 4 owners who owned their car for one year and averaged 11,730 km. Some 67.6% indicated economy as their number one reason to decide for the Prinz 4. “I don’t want to bend myself financially out of shape to own a car,” was one comment. The article points out that so far only the VW Beetle owners had put economy as the first criterion. To Prinz owners the car was a “necessary device of transportation – nothing more”. Der Spiegel muses if that had been true then Germany’s roads would have been swarmed by the “ugly ducklings” Citroen 2CV. Second and third reasons shed a light on why this was not the case; 50.2 % cited space – this little car seats five – and 33.4 % were smitten by its elegant styling. “You don’t feel like sitting in a motorized jalopy,” wrote a participant of the survey. Was that a sideswipe directed at the 2 CV and the likes of a BMW 600 and Zündapp Janus?
A few things in the very detailed report stood out to me and largely agree with Autocar’s findings: the vision out of the car was second to none. Cornering is by and large neutral. Only in extreme situations the Prinz 4 tended to oversteer. The ride was harsh but just right when the car was fully occupied. Acceleration was sufficient – en par with the VW Beetle. The car was nimble in town and on mountain roads and did that with an engine half the size of Beetle’s. Fuel economy was excellent: 6.6L /100 km (35.64 mpg) on average. The gearshift was sloppy but alright once you got used to it. The brakes responded softly and reliably but had room for improvement, particularly when the car was fully loaded. There were only 377 square centimeters of surface when the class average was 500 square centimeters. The heater received some criticism too, as did dealer service. Apparently NSU dealers lacked space after converting to selling cars rather than motorcycles.
“Drive a Prinz and you are a king!” This was NSU’s official slogan. Pay attention to the buzzy yet irrepressible engine. You will notice the buzz intensify with the frequency of rotation because both pistons move up and down together. This results in one ignition per revolution. Offsetting the cranks by 180 degrees would have resulted in an uneven ignition sequence.
In the following video the most impressive footage starts at 8’00:
The Prinz found its way to North America but was mainly exported to European countries. It was very successful in Italy. From 168 to 1970 123,338 cars of 170,080 produced (72.5%) went to Italy. It’s not hard to understand why. Its interior was significantly more commodious than that of the FIAT Nuovo 500. There was even room for a suitcase. Yet it was just about as nimble and economic as the FIAT 500. The Beetle, on the contrary, was an anomaly in Italy, where taxes made gasoline prices sky high.
The Prinz 4 was produced in Great Britain and Australia (as right-hand drive variants), in Argentina by Autoar, and in Uruguay. There were plans to bring it to Brazil but they fell flat. The Prinz III was also produced in Chile.
A special case was Egypt. Egypt put forth a huge effort to bring its economy into the industrialized era and considered a car manufacturer key to this goal as it spawns a supply industry for the assembly line. They contracted with NSU to import the drive train and to use the car’s design to locally produce the Ramses II. The factory was located near the Great Pyramids and basically hand-built the car in fairly small numbers because they could not afford to purchase the expensive steel presses. The Ramses was a project of national pride for Egypt, a national car but not so much a people’s car as it was too expensive for common Egyptian families. Here is a 32 min Egyptian documentary with English subtitles on the Ramses:
The little Prinz models appeared in the movies too. Here are some IMCDb screenshots of the NSU Prinz in movies:
A Prinz II is parked curbside in this scene of the “Italian Job”.
The NSU Prinz II or III makes an appearance in “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.”
and a Prinz 4 in “James Bond: The Spy Who Loved Me.”
It’s also crowning this junkyard shot in “La mala ordina.” And…
regrettably served as a sacrificial prop in “Paura in Citta”.
However, the Prinz never garnered a starring role. This may be quite fitting, as the car appears to have served as a stepping stone for NSU as it it did for its dealers and customers who had both moved up from motorcycles. In any case, the Prinz with its marvelous parallel twin proved NSU’s engineering mettle and feel for the transportation market. And there would be more to come.
A sequel featuring the NSU Prinz four-cylinder models is in the works.
Great read Wolfgang. Not familiar with this shape, definite overtones of the Studebaker Starlight Coupe in that greenhouse rear. And Rambler American in that Ramses face.
In the planning stages they were trying to create a car using the engine of the NSU Max. It looked more like cabin roller with too many wheels. The rounded windows were carried over into the final design.
I remember seeing a few of the Corvair shaped cars but not the earlier models, interesting cars.
Interesting article but this is the absolute first time I have read that this car (or any NSU for that matter) was assembled or built in Australia.
They would have hardly sold any of them back in the day, so it would have been hard to justify local assembly. The only NSUs I’ve ever seen here are the R080.
The location was Heidelberg, Victoria.
According to Gavin Farmer’s book on the Australian car industry in the 1960s, ‘small numbers’ were assembled in 1960 and 1961.
Fun fact – according to Tom Wolfe in “The Right Stuff”, the other Mercury astronauts had a good time making fun of John Glenn’s Prinz. They mostly drove the hottest/sportiest cars they could get their hands on – being fighter jocks and test pilots for the most part – so even with all the nifty engineering the Prinz contained it just didn’t measure up to V8 Vettes and British sports cars.
Maybe it indicates that John Glenn was the nerdy engineer and the others where in for the thrill and glory?
I guess I am not the only one who thinks of John Glenn when I see a Prinz. IIRC, the book depicts Glenn as a hardworking somewhat uptight family man, which is why he drives the Prinz. It’s economical and is all you need to transport a person around. He is definitely depicted as a bit of an outsider compared to the other astronauts. The other astronauts are depicted as fighter jocks who live off adrenaline rushes, on ground or in the air, which is why they drive powerful sports cars, party hard and drive/fly fast.
Great write-up Wolfgang!
In the book, Glenn got his revenge by writing on a blackboard, “The sportscar: hedge against male menopause”. When the original Mercury 7 astronauts were getting sweetheart lease deals on any Chevrolet they wanted and most of them took Corvettes, Glenn was the only one who went with a much more prosaic Impala station wagon. But he loosened up later on as there’s a photo of him in what looks like a mid-sixties Mercury convertible.
There’s also a story floating around the ‘net from someone in Canada that claims that’s where Glenn had bought his new Prinz. I always thought it was more likely he had brought it back from Germany after being stationed there since a lot of military types were able to do that on the cheap.
And, yeah, the Prinz does seem like a car that might appeal to a nerdy, frugal, family-oriented flight engineer, which is what many of the astronauts actually were. Another great example is Neil Armstrong. That guy had ice water in his veins and there are stories of his unflappability in some harrowing situations. There’s an old adage that says, “There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots”. It’s very true and it’s worth noting that Glenn outlived his much harder living contemporaries by a wide margin.
OTOH, Chuck Yeager is still kicking…
Most of the astronauts were babe magnets and took full advantage of it. There’s a scene in the movie The Right Stuff where he tells the other astronauts rather vehemently, “We need to keep our pants zipped and our wicks dry.”
It’s difficult to measure the accuracy of movies of historical events. After all, the motive of novelists and movie-makers isn’t to be as truthful as possible, but to sell books and tickets. Tom Wolfe would most definitely seem to fall into that camp.
Still, it’s certainly believable that Glenn (and his pal, Scott Carpenter) were the most focused of the original Mercury 7 and the least prone to distraction, whether it be Corvettes, women, or having an NSU Prinz as their choice for practical, personal transportation.
One of the more distressing stretching of the truth in The Right Stuff was the portrayal of Gus Grissom as ‘Mr. Honorable Squirming Hatch-Blower’. IIRC, the subsequent investigation vindicated him and the blown-hatch of his capsule which caused it to sink into the ocean was, indeed, a mechanical malfunction he had nothing to do with.
The whole inference of the book and movie was rather sleazy since Gus wasn’t around to defend himself. IIRC, all of the other Mercury 7 were still alive at the time.
Great writeup, thank you. The NSU is not often seen in the US, and I have not seen one in my 55 years, even at a car show. As someone who has come to really love small cars, this is one that I would really love to have a chance to drive. I don’t think I have much of a chance, which is a shame.
It makes me think about the dichotomy of very large or very small as the desired versions of anything. While we tend to like things at either end of the size spectrum, we give less value to the very small over the very large. Some of this may be true due to the amount of materials used to produce something, but the truth is that the cost to produce something usually does not change regardless of size, as the design and labor are similar regardless of size. Perhaps that is why the US companies failed at small cars while Europe and Asia excelled. With less materials available, they designed based on using less, while the Americans used their more abundant and available materials to build big. The Europeans maximized available space, while Americans made space maximized. Having grown up with big American cars, I find that the small Europeans now hold my attention more. Neither is better, both are great, but the unknown holds more interest to me now than the known.
Interesting stuff. I was about to mention a Studebaker connection but looked it up and that was not NSU but DKW that was sold through Studebaker Packard dealers in the early 60s (along with Mercedes).
I suspect that the more conventional NSU Prinz might have been a better fit with those American dealers than the less conventional DKWs. This could have been a credible VW competitor in those years had they had decent dealer exposure in the US.
Better still would have been Toyota. Studebaker came that close (in the words of Maxwell Smart) to landing the Toyota US distributorship, and it only went south when Toyota was insulted after they found out that Studebaker was concurrently talking with Nissan at the same time.
Both models, especially the Corvair look alike 🙂 were quite common in Uruguay when my car nutness began (mid ’70s), which means they had sold very well about 10 years earlier.
There are a couple versions of a locally built station wagon, IIRC it was based on the later NSU 1000, similar to the second version Prinz but with a 4 cylinder engine.
This are the best images I could find right away, but if you have patience, “NSU Uruguay” should return something better. This one is being offered for sale at 800 dollars.
https://moto.mercadolibre.com.uy/MLU-450926424-nsu-prinz-p10-marchando-permuto-winner-baccio-x3m-yumbo-_JM
I will include this model when I do the 4 cyl CC.
Wolfgang, this was an unexpected but most appreciated post. I saw the one posted at the Cohort about a month ago and was thinking that the Prinz really needed writing up here. But I never got to it. You’ve more than done it justice.
This first generation Prinz was a bit odd looking, but they certainly got the basics down right, and laid a foundation that would come into its full glory with the four cylinder cars.
Very nice post! Loved that bunch of cameos.
Actually, in Argentina Autoar assembled the Prinz 3. They had some history assembling cars that used Willys engines but the NSU was the company’s ticket to enter the group of automobile manufacturers that were supported by the government with tax exemptions as long as they increased each year the percentage of locally built parts.
Unfortunately the failed to secure locally built parts in the required amount and by 1962 were expelled of the manufacturers group, declaring bankruptcy shorly after.
The Prinz are fondly remembered in Argentina and were nicknamed “Galeritas” (little top hat) because of the Prinz unusual shape.
I’m really interested in the camshaft run by a connecting rod. It seems much more sensible than a chain or belt. Anybody know why this idea didn’t catch on??
Because it’s more expensive. Back in the day, a lot of OHC engines used shafts to drive the cams. Eventually it went to chains (and belts) for economic reasons.
That darn money thing again! Interesting that one of the cheapest cars sold used the most expensive cam drive method, though.
I’d like to know why they used three connecting rods mounted in parallel to drive a single camshaft.
My best guess is that if the engine stopped with things at top dead center, a single connecting rod might prevent engine rotation at start up.
Another possibility is that multiple connecting rods reduce camshaft “whip.”
Any mechanical engineers out there with some insight on the topic?
My best guess is that if the engine stopped with things at top dead center, a single connecting rod might prevent engine rotation at start up.
I think you’re almost or partly right. If there were two, and they stopped at TDC/BTC, when the engine was turned over, there is presumably a risk that the cam could be driven backwards Three are there to make sure none of that can happen.
Evan, I didn’t full answer your question. The specific reason NSU used them is because they had been using the same system for some time on their motorcycle engines. The whole idea of the Prinz was to capitalize on their vast motorcycle experience and production facilities. I’m not sure, but I suspect the Prinz engine was mostly a NSU motorcycle single doubled up. or something close to that. The cam drive parts may well have been the exact same ones they used on the bikes.
Chain technology improved a lot in more recent years. I don’t have time to look it up right now, but I suspect the majority of OHC engines prior to the 1930s or even later all used shafts. And by shafts, I mean a vertical rotating shaft with bevel gears on top and bottom. That was once the standard drive for OHC engines.
Vertical shaft drive was a common drive method for overhead camshaft Aero engines, and this method was used by W.O.Bentley in his initial 3.0 litre 1920’s engines. In 1926 W.O introduced his larger 6 1/2 litre OHC six (becoming the Speed Six which gave Bentley its 1920’s wins at Le Mans). This newer,larger six cylinder engine of 1926 used a three connecting rod drive of the overhead camshaft with strong spring bearing loading to compensate for the small connecting rod length variations occurring during the engine temperature variations from cold start to operating temperature. The connecting rod drive system was adopted to eliminate difficulties in setting and maintaining accurate valve timing related to shaft drive bevel gear lash temperature variations. This W.O Bentley system was resurrected by NSU for its OHC motorcycle and auto engines.
See the following link to see the operation of the NSU ultramax camshaft drive system.
http://www.nsu4.nl/english/e1ultramaxcamshaftsystem.html
Excellent!- Thank you so much for this information and link.
Vertical shaft drive was a common drive method for overhead camshaft Aero engines,
Diagram showing the cam drive shafts on an Allison V1710 of WWII. The Rolls Royce Merlin, Packard 4M-2500, the WWI Liberty and some pre-WWI engines from Hall-Scott used similar systems.
Was there anything intrinsically wrong with the Prinz? I actually quite like it, in either the earlier, wrap-around rear window version, or later, Corvair-inspired car. If it was as reliable as the Beetle and didn’t cost any more, it’s too bad it didn’t catch on.
Rudiger, there was nothing intrinsically wrong with the Prinz.
The company had a problem though: it’s called VW Beetle. VW had an unbelievably strong distribution net in Germany. Too, Opel and Ford were stronger than NSU. Then there was a host of other competitors that included FIAT, Renault, Borgward and so on. As I recall, NSU’s dealer net was certainly competitive with them.
That sounds about right. Although the Prinz might have been a superior car, VW with their vast dealer network was simply too large to compete against. It sounds a lot like GM in the US.
From the Wikipedia entry, it then looks like NSU blew whatever meager resources they might have had on warranty repairs of the failed Wankel engine in the later Spider. They would be absorbed into Audi in 1969, and that was the end of NSU and the Prinz.
Related reading:https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-german-deadly-sins-the-neckarsulm-chronicles-part-3-the-nsu-ro-80-todsunde-durch-technik/
In my life, I think I have seen one Prinz, the later body style, being used as a daily driver. That may have been an odd neighborhood because it was also the only place I ever saw a Subaru 360 in use as a daily driver.
This beauty showed up at the Orphan show a couple years ago.
Wankel powered
Bit more upscale interior too.
Found this one while on bike ride in 2013 in Salmo, BC.
A lot of new (to me) information and clearly written by someone who has facts in place. Thanks for bringing another interesting and almost forgotten car to our attention
The Sport Prinz was only the 2 cylinder. First were 583cc and later editions were 598cc. That’s from the wikipedia page. I’m not positive. They stopped making Sport Prinzes before I was born!
I own a Sport Prinz 2 cylinder but I’m not sure what size engine is in it.
The Spider was the one with the Wankel. I have another Sport Prinz with a 4 cylinder, but they didn’t come that way stock. Sooner or later, I’ll drive/tow a Sport Prinz to the Great Pacific North West Mini Microcar Extravaganza held in Forest Grove, Oregon every Father’s Day weekend. Maybe I’ll try it this year, but I might drive a 1952 Singer hotrodded with a Volvo Amazon drive train. I need to sell the Singer so I can sink, I mean invest, the money into an NSU.
Dear Smitty: please, please write a little report with a ton of pictures about your Sport Prinz’s.
I was looking for brake hoses for my 1961red Prinz when I came across this article.Rather unbelievable , the first NSU that got Wolfgangs attention in 1986 I believe is the car that I am currently restoring. I purchased it 2 years ago from a person in Calgary and had it shipped to my home in Toronto. The car caught my attention because the wheels were painted black, like mine. Originally the rims were off white. Looking more closely I noticed the blue windshield sticker. A quick trip to the garage confirmed, That’s My Car!
Growing up in the Toronto suburbs in the 50s and 60s I do remember seeing some Prinz, but they were not common. Of course no tiny cars were common. At our local small shopping center there was a Mini and a Fiat 600 which were always parked together. Maybe it was a safety in numbers thing. The NSU that I remember were mostly the later “Corvair” style. As a fan of small cars I always liked them, but I did not realize their mechanical design was so interesting and robust.
Story goes that the first design for the new Prinz was utterly conventional and neat, but then BMW revealed the 700 and NSU suddenly had a big problem…
The New Chevy Corvair was basically ‘phoned in’ to Claus Luthe from the motor show, and he had a go at trying something similar. Given its rush job nature, I think the results were excellent.
I am familiar with the car as a neighbour had a beigy-white one when I was child (IIRC replaced by a dark blue1000 or 1200 – Typ 110?).
It was parked near a Heckflosse in a cul-de-sac of otherwise modest bungalows, which in 1970s Britain was most odd. Must’ve been a spy or something…
I was struck not only by the NSU’s neatness, but the sheer quality look of the thing. Our UK cars looked like a pile of parts by comparison.
I like the last image (the white car with “Roma” registration). Don’t know why, don’t know why …
This is my first time to read your article. Very interesting. Frankly, in the U.S. I would never have wanted to be in such a small car because of the risk of one’s life in a collision. I do remember seeing them on the roads here.
I’m retired, but my former long time co-worker owns a 1960 Prinz, left to him by his father, who bought it used intending to use the engine in a tractor (he lived on a farm) that never was started.
My friend used to drive around the farm in it with his brother; if it got stuck they both would pick it up and move it to a spot with better traction.
Currently, it is being restored by the wife of another friend of his, not sure where she’s getting parts for it. My friend sticks to restoring Mustangs, of which he has several.