Newest release announcement from Autocult: Aero, Singer, and Opel

Three new release announcements from Autocult:

1934 Aero 750 Sport Coupe Uhlik 1000 mil

In 1933, the well-heeled Otto Nimshaus lived in Prague. He was so fascinated by the premiere of the endurance race ‘1000 mil československých’ that he decided to take part in it himself the following year. With this tight deadline, it was clear that his vehicle could not be a completely new design of his own and that he would at least have to fall back on a already existing chassis with engine. Otto Nimshaus went for the substructure of an Aero 20. However, with the standard engine just under 1000cc, the displacement was too large for the advertised 750cc classification of the 1000 miles drive and so he had an Aero 18 engine installed. However, since this engine had only 662 cc, the displacement had to be increased to 750cc in order to be competitive.

The more or less standard chassis-engine mixture was still to be clad in sheet metal and he commissioned the company of Oldřich Uhlík in Prague-Strašnice for this.

To the chagrin of the client, however, the sports car was not finished until three days before the start on June 9, 1934, leaving him hardly any time to test to test his car. Presumably, Otto Nimshaus nevertheless lined up expectantly in the starting row and probably gave everything in his power, but his car did not give him any pleasure. The car’s technology must have been so inadequate that driving it was enormously strenuous and he gave up the race prematurely after just under 500 kilometers!

1935 Singer Popular “Viena Capellanes

At the sight of the teardrop-shaped car, the permanently mounted propellers are immediately noticeable – even today, the eye remains a shade longer than usual. What might this have been like in 1935, when the world was still dominated by rationality?

The feeling at that time has not been handed down, but the extravagant appearance may have served exactly the purpose of the car, because it was used for advertising for a Spanish bakery called ‘Viena Capellanes’.

Bakery owner Ricardo was responsible for implementing the propeller function. The chassis of a British ‘Singer 9 HP’ was chosen as the substructure, whose engine had a displacement of just under 1,000cc. The engine power fade into the background due to the teardrop-shaped body that Ricardo worked out for the vehicle.

A total of three identical small delivery vans were made with this design and the bakery used them for service trips from 1935 onwards, including to the leisure and reaction areas of Case de Compo or Dehesa de la Villa.

Unfortunately, the bakery only enjoyed its unconventional sales cars for a few years, because for the Spanish Civil War all three vehicles were confiscated by the military and when the Spanish conflict was over, only one car was returned to the Viena Capellanes – the other two had probably not survived the war.

After repairing the vehicle damages, the only service vehicle was used again for the bakery and was used throughout the years of WWII until 1946.

Opel Admiral B "ZDF-Coupe"