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Radial Engine powered VW Bug
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Re: Radial Engine powered VW Bug
Early in the developement of the VW Beetle in 1933 Zundapp was a major partner with Porsche and wanted at 1 liter water cooled 5 clylinder radial installed in the prototypes. Porsche was disagreed and favored the flat 4 cylinder engine which was derived from an aircraft motor already in production. Three protoype Beetles were built with the radial engine and sufffered from overheating problems, crankshaft failures, as well as torsion bar failures. Both engines wee rated at ~25hp. Reportedly the radial was also objectionably loud when it was running.
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Re: Radial Engine powered VW Bug
A few years ago some guys in Germany put an Alvis-Leonides in a Goggomobil (!):
[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luvkcP0mkgA[/YT]
Links to earlier videos come up, posted during the build process.
I was looking through some automotive engineering trade mags from the 1930s and noticed that their vision of the "car of the future" at the time featured radial power. Think of an aerodynamic Art-Deco minivan with a five-cylinder radial mounted in the back.
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