The Steyr 120 Super, Steyr 125 Super and Steyr 220 were a series of medium-sized cars built by the Austrian firm

Steyr-Daimler-Puch Steyr-Daimler-Puch () was a large manufacturing conglomerate based in Steyr, Austria, which was broken up in stages between 1987 and 2001. The component parts and operations continued to exist under separate ownership and new names. History ...

from 1935 to 1941. The moderately

streamlined Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are field lines in a fluid flow. They differ only when the flow changes with time, that is, when the flow is not steady. Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the framework of ...

body was designed by technical director Karl Jenschke (1899-1969) and was manufactured by '' Gläser-Karosserie GmbH'' in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

. The design had a close resemblance to the smaller Steyr 100.

Steyr 120/125 Super

The 120 series cars were equipped with a six-cylinder in-line engine (as opposed to the four-cylinder Steyr 100) driving the rear wheels via a four-speed transmission. Front wheels had a transverse

leaf spring A leaf spring is a simple form of spring commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles. Originally called a ''laminated'' or ''carriage spring'', and sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring, elliptical spring, or cart spring, i ...

suspension while the rear

swing axle A swing axle is a simple type of independent (rear wheel) suspension designed and patented by Edmund Rumpler in 1903. This was a revolutionary invention in automotive suspension, allowing driven (powered) wheels to follow uneven road surfaces ...

was mounted on quarter-elliptic leaf springs. On the four-door sedan model the rear doors were hinged at the back-end (known as suicide doors), allowing the

B-pillar The pillars on a car with permanent roof body style (such as four-door Sedan (automobile), sedans) are the vertical or nearly vertical supports of its window area or Greenhouse (automotive), greenhouse—designated respectively as the ''A, B, ...

to be omitted. By 1936 a total of 1200 Steyr 120 Super had been produced. The 1936 model changes included a wider

axle track In automobiles (and other wheeled vehicles which have two wheels on an axle), the axle track is the distance between the hub flanges on an axle. Wheel track, track width or simply track refers to the distance between the centerline of two wheels ...

and a bigger engine even though the power remained at . The model was sold as Steyr 125 Super, mainly in Germany. It was offered until 1937 and only 200 units were made.

Steyr 220

In 1937 the unaltered body was refitted with a still bigger engine and was named Steyr 220. It was available in four body styles (five-passenger limousine, five-passenger cabriolet, and two cabriolet versions with bodies by Gläser Coachworks of Dresden, Germany). All models received inline six-cylinder engine and mated to a four-speed manual. The bore was increased to , resulting in an output of and a displacement of 2260 cc, or 2.3 litres. Given the car's lightweight and rigid chassis with four-wheel independent suspension, its performance and handling would have been exceptional for the day. This popular model remained in production until 1941 with 5900 units built. During the Second World War this model, especially in a cabriolet version was designed primarily for Nazi Germany's high rank commanders and officers. A Steyr 220, with the more powerful 2.3 litre engine was the car used in an escape from

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. I ...

on 20 June 1942. The car was owned by the camp commandant

Rudolf Höss Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss (also Höß, Hoeß, or Hoess; 25 November 1901 – 16 April 1947) was a German SS officer during the Nazi era who, after the defeat of Nazi Germany, was convicted for war crimes. Höss was the longest-serving comm ...

and was taken by the escapees ( Kazimierz Piechowski, Stanisław Gustaw Jaster, Józef Lempart and Eugeniusz Bendera), who were dressed in SS uniforms and armed accordingly, and driven straight out of the main gates of the camp. The 4 escapees were never recaptured.

Steyr 220 Gläser Roadster

Though Steyr built a total of some 5,900 220 series models from 1937 to 1941, only about six of Gläser-bodied variant are known to have been constructed. The impact of the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

Streamline Moderne movement on the car's styling is evident, especially in the flowing design of the front fenders and skirted rear fenders. Only two of the original six cars are known to survive to this day, which makes it a very rare specimen. One is in the United States, owned by a private collector (the other is exhibited at an Austrian museum). It has been honored at the

Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is an automotive charitable event held each year on the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California. It is widely considered the pinnacle event of its kind and one of the most prestigious car events i ...

and won the Best of Show at the Pinehurst Concours d'Elegance.

Interesting facts

* In 1920, famed designer

Hans Ledwinka Hans Ledwinka (14 February 1878 – 2 March 1967) was an Austrian automobile designer. Youth Ledwinka was born in Klosterneuburg (Lower Austria), near Vienna, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He started his career as a mechanic, a ...

(most famous for the Tatra automobile) designed and built first Steyr, the Wafenauto. Later cars were built under the leadership of

Ferdinand Porsche Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was an Austrian-German automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first gasoline–electric hybrid vehicle (Lohner–Porsche), the Volkswag ...

who joined the company in 1929 after working for Mercedes-Benz. * The company was merged with Austro-Daimler-Puch in 1934. In total, Steyr manufactured 34,776 cars between 1920 and 1940. The 220 was the last pre-war model built by Steyr. *

Erdmann & Rossi Erdmann & Rossi was originally a coachbuilding company based in Berlin, Germany. In the early half of the 20th century, the company became known for the manufacture of chassis used on luxury vehicles. After the devastation of World War II, the comp ...

produced and supplied various parts for Gläser-Karosserie car bodies.

Gallery

File:Flickr - Hugo90 - Steyr.jpg, Steyr 125S (1935) File:MHV Steyr 125 Super 1936.jpg, Steyr 125 Super Sport Twoseater (1936) File:Steyr_220_1.jpg, Steyr 220 File:Steyr_220_2.jpg, Steyr 220 File:Steyr_220_3.jpg, 220 hood ornament File:1938 Steyr 220 Sport Roadster by Gläser, front right (Greenwich 2021).jpg, 1938 Steyr 220 Sport Roadster (Gläser)

References

Oswald, Werner: ''Deutsche Autos 1920-1945'', Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart, 10. Auflage (1996),

External links

Further information about Steyr 120, Steyr 125 and Steyr 220
{{reflist Steyr-Puch vehicles Rear-wheel-drive vehicles 1930s cars Cars introduced in 1935