New Auto Cult

Wendax? 🤔  Bayer? 🤨   Rolls Royce I know. 😉 

@chris, Isn't that AC's forte? Excellent models of relatively obscure (to us) makes?

@jkuvakas Yep! It's surprising (to me anyway) just how many car makes I'm unaware of.

I couldn't resist going in search of this unknown make. According to all the search results I could find, the Wendax was made by a West German manufacturer of motorbikes and 3-wheelers, and when the head of the company decided that in a booming West German car market producing a "proper" 4-wheel car might be a good idea, they came up with this . . .

Unfortunately it wasn't a "proper" car at all. It has been described as the worst car ever made. Yes, I know there have been quite a few contenders for that title but if you read the amusing description in this article you can see how bad it was. It was basically described as unfit for the road. (You need to scroll down quite a bit to get to it).

The Story Of Wendax And The Worst Cars Ever Made. - GAUK Motors | The Car Search Engine

It apparently died a well-deserved death in 1951, so the Autocult model must represent a much later (and possibly ill-advised) attempt to revive the brand. No sign of it anywhere online so it must have been doomed to failure the second time around as well. I wonder who thought of even trying it?

The "WS 750" model name indicated by Autocult was the designation given to the original car illustrated above, but there is obviously no way the 1970s-style body shown by Autocult could have been retro-fitted to the 1951 chassis.

Oddly enough, it bears a (very) vague resemblance to the early 1970s Austin Kimberley, a home-grown Australian variant of the Austin 1100. But I hardly think that has anything to do with it.

A fitting coda to the original version, "With the company deeply in debt and struggling to salvage the disaster of the Wendax WS 750, the final nail in the coffin was a lawsuit from the Blendax toothpaste company, who felt that their names were too similar. Production ceased, and the story of the worst cars ever made came to an end. "

Yes indeed. A real kick in the teeth, that was.

It would still be interesting to know who thought reviving this less-than-illustrious brand name was a good idea, and what became of the prototype (?) Autocult have reproduced. Although I don't think I (or anyone else) will lose a lot of sleep over it.

Windex and Bayer - those are pretty common brands.  Surprised you don't know them! 😜 

I just know that many of you are fascinated by the fate of the Wendax car brand and, like me, you were wondering who might have decided to try and revive it by producing the model apparently reproduced by Autocult, according to the first post in this thread.

I just looked at the latest article in MAR Online and the just-announced Autocult Wendax 750 illustrated there is actually a replica of the original 1951 car

That sounds much more plausible. So that boxy little 70s sedan must be something else entirely. I can't say it excites me greatly but it would be (mildly) interesting to know what it actually is, if not a revived Wendax.

Come to think of it, it looks a little like a six-light variant of an old Fiat 128. No, on second thoughts, it doesn't really. The curve of the front screen does have a touch of Austin/Morris 1100 about it, but I doubt if that is relevant either. Anyone recognise it?

@graeme-ogg Fun read.  What a piece of junk.

@graeme-ogg Good eyes, man!    That boxy thing looks like a 1960s Renault to me!  😲  Look for the Renault 16 Projet 114 from Avenue 43 soon...

@graeme-ogg, Renault 6 with a trunk?