Final releases for 2024 from Autocult

1954 Denzel WD 1300 Super "Rallye des Alpes"

Wolfgang Denzel, supplier of the cars of the same name, achieved over 300 successes at sporting events in his career – on two and four wheels – and the greatest success of his career was the overall victory at the “XVII Rallye international des Alpes” in 1954.

On July 8, 1954, the riders started in Marseille and covered over 3,000 kilometers in the winding and mountainous roads of France and Italy before the racers finally finished their marathon ride in Cannes on July 13, 1954. 46-year-old Wolfgang Denzel was sitting behind the steering wheel and his companion Stroinigg guided him the way from the passenger seat. From today’s perspective, the fact that the duo chose a 1300cc Denzel convertible for the rally is unusual, because in the still snow-covered heights of the French and Italian Alps, temperatures were anything but summerly. 

With the numbers of their starting number 228 painted in bold on the two doors, the two Austrians confidently dominated the “1001-1300” displacement class, so that they were rated as the fastest in their class at the finish line in Cannes. For Wolfgang Denzel, this was the greatest motorsport success, not least in his own car, which underlined his myth in the scene as the feared opponent of the Porsche drivers.

Of course, the victory was an enormous proof of the performance of the Denzel engine and the Denzel 1300, so that it not only increased awareness, but also boosted sales. But the Viennese company did not have the capacity to push its car production and continued to assemble its cars in modest series production. Denzel maintained its production until 1959 and even exported to the United States. A total of around 350 roadsters and coupes were produced before the company concentrated exclusively on the distribution/ sales of automobiles from 1960 onwards.

1966 Tatra 603 X/2 (with USB flashdrive version of 2024 book)

The new Edition 2024 is a different kind of book – it is THE book for the automotive enthusiast who wants to learn more about the stories of long forgotten automobiles, brands and other developments. Whether rare, fast or strange – many interesting stories in conjunction with precise historical accuracy, flanged by many historical photographs and illustrations of autocult models produced in 2024, make this book (as well as all future editions) a reading experience for those interested in automotive history. Since time does not “stand still” and we also want to make a small contribution to a “greener world”, we decided not to print the book in a certain number of copies as in the years before. Instead we decided to enclose our autocult-edition 2024 digitally on an USB-Stick to our ‘Model of the Year’.

Attempts at Tatra to find a successor to the 603 sedan were unsuccessful form 1956 until the mid-1960s. In 1966, however, the project was pushed again and a call was made for proposals. In the end, several hundred drafts piled up, the first viewing of which already decimated number of serious versions considerably. In the end, twenty submissions were shortlisted, which emerged as promising for the jury. This was then implemented as a model on a scale of 1:10.

In a further narrowing, only five models remained and their design was now worked out in original size. They were given the abbreviations X/1 to X/5 in the Tatra internal numbering of the project.

The two versions X/2 and X/3 were created under the direction of Ing. Arch Otto Diblik and were similar in some respects. The most striking feature of these two proposals was the end of the rear window. As usual, this sat reasonably upright in the frame, but the body reflected the extremely unusual and probably also very revolutionary look of a wedge-shaped end. This was undoubtedly the eye-catcher of the four-door sedan, but the rear bumper, which was well integrated into the look, with a seamless transition into the rear light sections on the left and right, also looked very far-sighted. How this could have been implemented in reality and thus in series production in the second half of the 1960s cannot be judged, because it remained the only design object that was not ready to drive.

2018 Memminger Roadster