The Audi Type SS was a large, eight-cylinder-powered sedan/saloon car introduced by

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

in 1929 in succession to the Type R "Imperator".

Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen (30 July 1878 – 12 August 1964) was a Danish engineer and industrialist. Life The son of a shipmaster who died when Rasmussen was still a young child, he attended middle school in Nakskov and in 1894 began an app ...

, the Danish-born entrepreneurial industrialist who had purchased Audi-Werke in 1928, had previously, in 1927, purchased the manufacturing plant of the bankrupt

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

-based

Rickenbacker Rickenbacker International Corporation is a string instrument manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California. The company is credited as the first known maker of electric guitars – a steel guitar in 1932 – and today produces a rang ...

business and shipped it home to Germany. He installed it in a factory he owned just outside

Zschopau Zschopau (), is a town in the Erzgebirgskreis district of Saxony, Germany. Geography The town is located on the northwestern slopes of the Ore Mountains, on both banks of the Zschopau River, about south-east from Chemnitz. The highest point ...

, near to Audi's own

Zwickau Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ...

plant. The plan was to build large, relatively inexpensive US-style "Rasmussen engines" for sales to other German auto-makers. The plan failed in that Rasmussen failed to secure any orders for the engines, so he instead produced a couple of models of his own which used them. The Audi Type SS (Zwickau) was one of these. The 5,130 cc straight 8 engine developed a maximum output at 3,000 rpm, which was relayed using a four-speed transmission through to the rear wheels and converted into a claimed top speed of 110 km/h (68 mph).

Oswald Oswald may refer to: People *Oswald (given name), including a list of people with the name *Oswald (surname), including a list of people with the name Fictional characters *Oswald the Reeve, who tells a tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbur ...

, p. 45 The car had two leaf-sprung solid axles and hydraulically controlled brakes which operated on all four wheels. The usual body configurations were available, including a four-door cabriolet and, with a manufacturer's recommended price of 12,950 Marks, a "Pullman-Limousine". Approximately 400 Audi Zwickaus were produced between 1929 and 1932, which for this size of car was a reasonable tally.

, pp. 42–43

Specifications

Sources

* Oswald, Werner: Deutsche Autos 1920-1945, Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart, 10. Auflage (1996), * {{reflist 1920s cars Type SS