The Zündapp Janus was a

microcar Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are oft ...

model made by

Zündapp Zündapp (a.k.a. Zuendapp) was a major German motorcycle manufacturer founded in 1917 in Nuremberg by Fritz Neumeyer, together with the Friedrich Krupp AG and the machine tool manufacturer Thiel under the name "Zünder- und Apparatebau G.m.b.H." ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

between 1957 and 1958, the only car ever built by the company.

Dornier Delta

Claude Dornier Claude (Claudius) Honoré Désiré Dornier (born in Kempten im Allgäu on 14 May 1884 – 5 December 1969) was a German-French airplane designer and founder of Dornier GmbH. His notable designs include the 12-engine Dornier Do X flying boat ...

was always trying to minimize the dependency of his company Dornier Flugzeugwerke on building aircraft, by diversification into other areas. After

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 opposing ...

, and the Allied ban on aircraft production in Germany until the late 1950s, Claude diversified the company's production and encouraged his son Claudius to find new areas. As a result, Claudius designed and developed a four-seater car, where the two front and two rear passengers sat back to back, for optimal use of the enclosed space. A prototype was built and tested, which was named Dornier Delta. The company had not built a car before, and economic calculations showed that the volume of sales required would make it uneconomical for the company to make the car using its existing facilities. Zündapp was a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

maker, but in 1954 decided to make a more weatherproof vehicle. They looked for partners who could design such a vehicle, and approached Kroboth, Brütsch, and

Fuldamobil Fuldamobil is the name of a series of small cars produced by ''Elektromaschinenbau Fulda GmbH'' of Fulda, Germany, and ''Nordwestdeutscher Fahrzeugbau'' (NWF) of Wilhelmshaven between 1950 and 1969. Various designated versions of the car were ...

before settling on the ready-developed vehicle from Dornier.

Zündapp Janus

Under a commercial agreement, Dornier licensed Zündapp to produce and market the car. Further developed using Zündapp's engineering input and envisaged as a "quality bubble car", the novel developed design featured a front-opening door for access to the front seat, as well as a rear-opening door for access to the rear-facing rear seat. This "coming or going" design was given the name of the Roman god, Janus, usually pictured having two faces: one looks forward while the other one looks back. The car was powered by a mid-mounted two-stroke, single-cylinder, engine unique to the Janus, developing , enabling a top speed of . The front suspension was of the

leading arm A (semi) trailing-arm suspension, sometimes referred to as (semi) trailing-link is a vehicle axle or wheel suspension design in which one or more horizontal arms (or "links"), perpendicular to and forward of the axle, are connecting the axle or w ...

-type that proved to be very comfortable, and in the rear the car had a

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 ...

. The company added four individually mounted ventilated brake drums, operated via hydraulics. Production started in June 1957. However, whilst in racing and sports cars the mid-engine configuration leads to optimal

car handling Automobile handling and vehicle handling are descriptions of the way a wheeled vehicle responds and reacts to the inputs of a driver, as well as how it moves along a track or road. It is commonly judged by how a vehicle performs particularly durin ...

, the engine in the Janus was much lighter than the rear passengers, leading to a variable centre of gravity. Secondly, the car lacked the most modern elements seen on competitors’ cars, and was not low priced. These factors combined to result in a lack of sales success, with only 1,731 cars being made in the first six months. By mid-1958, having made only a total of 6,902 cars, Zündapp abandoned the project and sold the factory to Bosch.

In popular culture

In the animated

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

'' Cars 2'', Professor Zündapp a.k.a. Professor Z is based on a 1957 Zündapp Janus.

Dornier Delta II

During the mid-1960s, Dornier developed the Delta II with Hymer AG. The vehicle could carry up to six passengers and offered two sleeping places for camping. The development never got beyond the prototype stage.

References

*Taschen, Benedikt. ''Kleinwagen, Small Cars, Petites Voitures'', 1994. {{DEFAULTSORT:Zundapp Janus Microcars Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive vehicles Cab over vehicles Cars introduced in 1957 Zündapp