The Steyr 50 is a small car released in 1936 by the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n automobile manufacturer

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 T ...

AG.

Design

The

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 approved by Director Karl Jenschke to be constructed in 1935, however, in November of that same year Jenschke was employed as chief designer by the German Adler manufacturer in Frankfurt/Main. It was officially presented to the public at the 1936

Berlin Motor Show The Berlin Motor Show originally started in 1897 in the German capital Berlin as the home of the International Motor Show (''Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung'', IAA) and ran until 1939. From 1951 the IAA eventually became established in Frankf ...

. The car had a

water-cooled Cooling tower and water discharge of a nuclear power plant Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. Evaporative cooling using water is often more efficient than air cooling. Water is inexpensive and non ...

four-cylinder The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categorize ...

boxer engine A flat engine is a piston engine where the cylinders are located on either side of a central crankshaft. Flat engines are also known as horizontally opposed engines, however this is distinct from the less common opposed-piston engine design, ...

with thermosiphon cooling, driving the rear wheels through a four-speed transmission. To save room and weight, a dynastarter was used, which doubled as the axle of the radiator fan. It was regarded as the "Austrian

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

" and was affectionately referred to as Steyr "Baby". The Volkswagen constructor

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 ...

had, despite rumors, not been involved in the design or production of the 50, nor was

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, an ...

, who had designed the

Tatra V570 The Tatra V570 was a prototype early 1930s car developed by a team led by Hans Ledwinka and Paul Jaray. The aim of the construction team was to develop a cheap people's car with an aerodynamic body. However the company's management decided that th ...

. The little Steyr offered better seating and luggage space than Porsche's Volkswagen with shorter overall length, a large

sheet metal Sheet metal is metal formed into thin, flat pieces, usually by an industrial process. Sheet metal is one of the fundamental forms used in metalworking, and it can be cut and bent into a variety of shapes. Thicknesses can vary significantly; ex ...

sliding roof, and

hydraulic brakes A hydraulic brake is an arrangement of braking mechanism which uses brake fluid, typically containing glycol ethers or diethylene glycol, to transfer pressure from the controlling mechanism to the braking mechanism. History During 1904, Frederi ...

(instead of the early Volkswagens' cable-operated ones). Steyr 55 Baby (3)

In early 1938, the car was revised. It got a more powerful engine and a longer

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

. The new model was called the Steyr 55 and went on sale until production ceased in 1940. A total of 13,000 "Steyr-Babys" were sold. Other Steyr models included the

Steyr 100 The Steyr 100 and 200 were a series of medium-sized cars built by the Austrian manufacturer Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG from 1934 to 1940. The four-door streamlined body designed by engineer Karl Jenschke was manufactured in Steyr, a 1933 prototype wa ...

and Steyr 120, both equipped with

straight-4 A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the ...

engines, as well as the flagship Steyr 220 with a 2.2 litre

straight-6 The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine bal ...

producing . All these models were produced as cabriolets as well. The production of Steyr cars was discontinued during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, after bombing of the facilities in

Steyr Steyr (; Central Bavarian: ''Steia'') is a statutory city, located in the Austrian federal state of Upper Austria. It is the administrative capital, though not part of Steyr-Land District. Steyr is Austria's 12th most populated town and the 3rd l ...

. After the war, the factory was rebuilt and from 1953 specialized in the Austrian versions of the

Fiat 1400 and 1900 The Fiat 1400 and Fiat 1900 are passenger cars produced by Italian automotive manufacturer Fiat from 1950 to 1958 and from 1952 to 1959 respectively. The two models shared body and platform, but while the 1.4-litre 1400 was Fiat's intermediate of ...

models (Steyr 2000). Starting in 1957, the company also produced the

Puch 500 The Puch 500 is a city car produced by the Austrian manufacturer Puch, a subsidiary of Steyr-Daimler-Puch in Graz. It was built under licence from Fiat and was based on the Fiat 500. The beginning In 1954 it was decided at Steyr-Puch to resume c ...

, based on the

Fiat 500 The Fiat 500 ( it, Cinquecento, ) is a rear-engined, four-seat, small city car that was manufactured and marketed by Fiat Automobiles from 1957 until 1975 over a single generation in two-door saloon and two-door station wagon bodystyles. Launch ...

. Today the Steyr factory produces the

BMW X BMW X may refer to the following BMW crossovers, SAVs, and SACs: *BMW X1 (SUV based on 1 Series platform) *BMW X2 (SUV with coupé roofline, based on X1 platform) *BMW X3 (SUV based on 3 Series platform) *BMW X4 (SUV with coupé roofline, base ...

models for Europe.

References

* Oswald, Werner: Deutsche Autos 1920-1945, Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart, 10. Auflage (1996), * Rauscher, Karl-Heinz und Knogler, Franz: Das Steyr-Baby und seine Verwandten, Weishaupt Verlag, A-8342 Gnas, 1. Auflage (2002),

External links

{{commonscat, Steyr 50/55
Die Seite für Steyr 50 und 55

Steyr Oldtimer PKW Register
Steyr-Puch vehicles Cars powered by boxer engines 1930s cars Cars introduced in 1936 Rear-engined vehicles