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1931 Heylandt

Max Valier is a familiar name in rocket history. Born in Bolzano in 1895, he became one of the driving forces behind early rocket research, especially the development of liquid rocket engines. In January 1930, at the age of 35, Valier set up shop at the Heylandt company, where he began work on a very unusual test vehicle. This was not a car built for style, comfort, or refinement. It had one purpose: to go as fast as possible.

On April 17, 1930, Valier launched a car powered by liquid rocket propulsion for the first time. Tragically, just one month later, on May 17, 1930, he was killed in an accident.

After Valier’s death, Walter Riedel and Heylandt engineers Alfons Pietsch and Arthur Rudolph continued working on the liquid-gas engine. Their efforts led to another rocket car, nicknamed the “Hellhound.” In May 1931, a test driver took it out for its first runs at Tempelhof Airport.

The car’s drive system was enclosed in a wooden frame and covered by a sheet-metal body, with wind deflectors fitted over all four wheels. The Heylandt company logo appeared on the front, but little else is known about how well the incredibly loud machine actually performed. It seems likely that its May 1931 test run was the only one it ever made.

No further automotive projects from the Berlin factory are known. Instead, the military soon took interest in the company’s work, saw the potential of rocket propulsion, and developed it further for its own destructive purposes.

1954 DKW F91 Sportwagen and “Semperit Rallye 57”

In 1954, Ingolstadt factory driver Hubert Brand was behind the wheel of a Rallye F 91, competing alongside highly successful teammates Walter Schlüter and Heinz Meier. Brand delivered some respectable performances, including a fifth-place finish at the 16th Rallye Wiesbaden with Hermann Luba.

Brand appeared in the starting lists for numerous rallies and hill climbs, always driving a DKW in the class up to 1000 cc, which aligned with the F 91. But anyone who looked closely at his sports car could tell it was far from a standard production model.

Its steel body was smoother, rounder, and more attractive than the regular F 91, giving the car a much sportier look. It even had subtle echoes of the Porsche 356 of the period. The body itself was unique. Some see the influence of Pininfarina in its shape, while others believe the sheet metal may have come from coachbuilder Baur.

Although Brand never scored any major victories with the car, it became known in some race entries as the “Sportwagen Brand.” In 1957, he sold it to Austrian driver Herbert Roittner, who entered it in the first Semperit Rally on May 18–19, 1957. That event would later become a classic fixture in the Austrian motorsports scene.

The car’s story ended only a few months later. On August 12, 1957, the custom-bodied DKW was destroyed in an accident and reduced to scrap metal.

1934 Jawa 700 Jaray

Some motorsport events become milestones in automotive history, even decades later. One of them is the “1000 mil československých,” or “1000 Mile Race of Czechoslovakia.”

The race was first held in 1933 and quickly attracted nationwide attention. Its publicity value was not lost on Jawa. After seeing the advertising success enjoyed by the winning teams, the company decided to enter the 1934 event with specially built cars of its own.

At the time, Jawa had not yet begun full car production. That would start in 1934 with the licensed version of the DKW Type F 2, which was sold as the Jawa Model 700. To introduce the new model and make a strong public impression, Jawa aimed high. The company put everything behind its racing effort and spared no expense.

The new Jawa 700 Sport appeared in both convertible and closed versions, but the factory in Týnec nad Sázavou also produced something even more distinctive: the Jawa 700 Jaray Coupé. Paul Jaray traveled to Týnec nad Sázavou at Jawa’s invitation to design this special version, creating its new aerodynamic shape in just a few days.

Wearing the number 4 on its doors, the factory-driver team of Jaroslav Kaiser and František Kronberger brought the car home in second place behind the winner. For Jawa, it was a remarkable debut — and the celebrations back at the factory must have been tremendous.

1940 Tatra 57B Sanitka Sodomka

When the Tatra 57B was introduced in 1938, there was interest in adapting the passenger car for ambulance use. The job went to the respected coachbuilder Carrosserie Sodomka, whose skilled model builders and mechanics in Vysoké Mýto created a new body that could carry a patient lying down on a stretcher.

Space was tight, so the stretcher most likely filled almost the entire interior, running from just behind the rear window toward the windshield. Access was through a rear door hinged on the left side, and the cabin itself was extremely simple. There was little room for anything beyond the stretcher, which could be moved on rollers.

For the time, this practical layout matched common thinking about patient transport. The car was also clearly marked for its role, with small round signal lights bearing a red cross on the radiator grille and at the rear of the roof. The required half-covered windows further identified it as an ambulance.

Beyond the surviving photos, little is known about the vehicle’s history. What is certain is that it remained a one-off and did not survive. It is possible that the political developments of the short pre-war period prevented any plans for series production from moving forward.