1970 NSU Super Prinz 4L taken for a drive 

Seeing this brought back cherished memories of 1970, when my dad drove us from West Yorkshire to Naples (and back) to visit family, in his brand new red NSU Prinz-L Super ! Not the most roomy interior for that kind of journey - family or four plus toddler - but nobody died, and whenever we needed to stretch our legs we just pulled over. That little engine got us across France, over the Alps via the Mont Blanc Tunnel and through 250 miles of Italian autostrade and never missed a beat...... lots of laughs, and the occassional fright - an adventure we'll never forget.

Our first family car. We had a '62 , bought in 1970. You've just brought back so many memories. Can't wait to show this to my dad. Thanks. BTW great channel.

The engine is a vertical twin, mounted transversely. Not a flat twin. Flat twins have horizontally opposed cylinders.

The biggest NSU was the RO 80, a wonderful car, far ahead of its time.

Great video, thanks for posting. You are quite young so I excuse you from any historical faux pas. These cars were quite common in the UK in the '60s and '70s. Quirky but decent reputation. Most rear-engined cars of the period were a bit too light on the steering. Some people put bags of sand under the bonnet of their Hillman Imps, etc, to keep the steering firm. (Others put bags of sand in the boot to keep their rear-wheel-drives going through the snow). NSU was bankrupted by its Ro80 rotary-engined saloon car. It was a brilliant vehicle, 20 years ahead of its time in terms of comfort, handling, looks, etc. Unfortunately its rotor tips had not been perfected and the engines failed invoking myriad warranty claims. My father converted two Ro80s to Ford V4s, one for him, one for his dad. I drove his for a few years and the ride and semi-automatic transmission was like something you would expect today. Amazing. Anyhow, I appreciate your enthusiasm and diligence to dredge up these old motoring curiosities.

That brought back many happy memories I had a bright red Nsu Prinz when stationed in the RAF in Germany in 1964. Drove it from Cologne ,through the Alps to Venice and Rome and only needed to refill the tank just across the German border on our return journey. I miss that kind of mpg! Thanks for the video.

Great! A historically important car! It gave birth to the polo, influenced the golf, hillman minx and even the later fiesta, bmw 2001 series, and even developement units for the fiat saloons of the 70's. So msny cars hsve this cars dna in their history and roots. From body, inovation, syspension and tardis like interior. This little thing gave us every modern supermini and small saloon designed and built in the uk and europe. Well done for showing us this rare and important car

These bring lots of memories growing up in Italy in the 70s. And you mistaken they were very successful out of Germany maybe not the UK, they were reliable, utilitarian and simple to run. Nice video

Oh my gosh that brings back great memories. I had a 71 NSU Prince. I was in Germany at the time and it was given to me by an old World War II German veteran that couldn’t drive anymore. Love that car.Every time you put gas in it you filled the oil reservoir cause it was a two cycle. Drove it all over Germany had a great time

Love this little car. Car manufacturers in the 60s and 70s realised that it might be a good idea to be able to see where you are going - just look at all that glass!

33 seconds to 63 miles or 17.5 seconds to 50 miles from stand still, all with 30 hp from 599 cc H2 twin. The 1200 (1192cc) Beetle with 34hp needed 39 seconds to 63 miles or 19 seconds to 50 miles. The Trabant 601 last series with 26hp need 48 seconds to 63 miles (two door sedan manually shifted) and 22 seconds to 50 miles.

Pretty common in the UK in the 1960's. Most were scrapped when they broke down because getting them fixed and finding spare parts was difficult.

Had one as my first car in 1979. There should be a cover over the engine as rain water gets onto the sparkplugs. It was missing in mine. My Grandfather used a metal door pocket off a Hillman Imp as a cover, fixed onto the top of the rear bonnet cover above the louvres. Heater was chronic, as it was a heat exchanger from the exhaust. Best way was to start her up, and hold a high idle for 5min. Also the fan was single speed and it was slow. Took ages for the windscreen to clear in frosty mornings. There where some things that where really ahead of the times, like alloy finned (for cooling) front drum brakes with steel inserts. Nowadays all car have discs , but some Renault's have finned drums on the rear brakes. Yes she was basic, but which would you prefer car to get home in the wet Scottish winter, or a wait for 2 buses and a long walk home. Yup basic wins

Of course I've heard of the Prinz. When I was a kid in the 70ies there were lots of Prinzes driving around here in Denmark. Mostly they were green. The Prinz had a larger brother with oval headlights, and three rear lights. It was actually pretty cool.

My dad had an NSU Prinz - although I think I'm right in saying it had a 1,000 cc engine. It had an automatic clutch but a gear-lever which took a little getting used to. It was an absolute hoot to drive - my dad let me drive it back from the West Country one summer's evening and it was a joyous experience.

My Father had a NSU 1000, 1litre, 4 cylinder, Alloy Air Cooled. I Learnt to drive in it 1971 and have fond memories of it. It was larger than the Prinz in the Video, but similar shape.

Thanks for posting and sharing. A bit of trivia, this car was also produced under license in Egypt in the 60's under the name "Ramsis"

Interesting video but my goodness...the volumes are all over the place. :D

Dad used to deal in cars a bit in early seventies. He had one and I used to drive it as I has just passed my test in 1972. It was a great little car. Compared to the British equivalent it was very reliable and incredibly economical. Thanks for great memories of my old man and his cars. Happy days.

My mum had one in Lancashire in the early/mid 70s and loved it to bits. No idea where she got it from. Sadly my older brother drove it into a ditch and wrote it off, mum was relived that him and his mates were OK but was also furious!

Not that uncommon in UK in the 60s. The styling is just like the later BMW 1602/2002 series.

Just came across this video. My bright red NSU Prinz 4 (ANU609B- yes, I still remember the number!), was my first new car. I had just finished my engineering apprenticeship, my wife was a teacher and we had no kids (yet) so we splashed out. £550 I think. We drove all over the UK in that car. It would do 50mpg no matter how hard you drove it, but in fairness that was usually with the accelerator to the floor. I once got it up to 80mph downhill but you needed a pilots licence for that because the already light steering was almost non-existent by then. We just loved that car but only kept it a couple of years before getting a Singer Chamois. It was fun the drive, but everything was fun then. Both of us working, no kids, a new car, newly married, couldn't keep our hands off each other. What memories we made. Ps. You said it was for sale. What was the asking price? I'll guess about 4 to 5000 (£).

I had a 1965/66 back in 1970 when I was going to university in Tübingen, thanks for the memories.😢

My dad's first car, NSU Prinz 4 in light green. All NSU driver at that time flashed their lights as they passed each other and the wave of the hand. After all, we are a big happy Prinz 4 family. Happy days, sniffle sniffle!!!!!!

They were built in my neighbourhood, the city Neckarsulm. NSU is the short word for the town.

My Grandad had 2 NSU Prinz's the first in a petrol blue which was written off the last one in this colour he used to wear a trilby when driving it and Corgi did a model in the exact same colour with a driver figure with a brown trilby like my Grandad this brought back so many happy memories thanks for postingi

I used to own one of these. Apart from the occasional breakdowns and catching fire in Southend it was a great car. I used to drive it flat out everywhere. Great fun!

My parents had one of those NSU Prinz in red. I still remember it as it was yesterday.

My brother bought a 1966 one in 1970 as his first car. They were simple but had some awesome technology. Overhead cam driven by con rods, the two coils are six volt in series and fire both cylinders at the same time, and the dynastarter, a starter motor and generator on one. Because the starter/generator coil was about 250mm diameter it would turn over if the battery had any spark, and if it didn't it was the only car I've ever been able to push start up-hill on my own! The handbook had a graph showing fuel consumption vs speed. a srtaight line graph. 0 mph = 100 mpg to 100mph = 0 mpg. My brother's had burned out valves when he bought it and five years after the warranty expired the dealer provided a 50% discount on the new ones as they were the first valves that had ever failed.

It looks like a ZAZ, or whatever, from the USSR.

In the 1980's I worked for Marconi and there was always one of these in the car park, I loved it then as I love it now. I had a BMW 2002 at the time, which I'd often park next to the NSU if I could!

In my opinion, this is a good-looking car.

Cool. Many years since I've seen one of those. Farht means journey in German. Our school German language text book was called Farht ins blau, journey into the blue. I don't remember much of the language we were taught but the book title caused much tittering for us eleven year old's. That was in 1971. Oh crap, I am old now!

Its not flat engine, its inline 2 engine.

My Dad had an NSU Prinz before I was born. He ALWAYS talked about it, and how it would buzz down the highway keeping up with traffic all day. He also had a Corvair and VW Transporter, so he seemed to like air-cooled rear-engine cars.

The sports Prinz is a fantastic looking car . Nsu rensport 250 won the world Grand Prix title for three years I think in the fifties . The Munch Mammoth motorcycle used an NSU engine . The NSU 250 manx was a very inovative bike in it's day and would blow a Triumph 500 twin into the weeds at the time . The NSU Ro80 had a Rotary engine it proved to be a disaster with engines breaking and put them out of business . There was some nice twin cylinder cars out of Japan look up kei cars .

In the mid-1970s, I bought a euro-spec VW Beetle. It had a locking steering column instead of the key on the dash. The four key positions were Halt-Garage-Fahrt-Start [Lock-Off-Run-Start].

My parents had two NSU's. A Prinz 4L, followed by a 1970 1000c in green. My dad almost got a metallic brown M reg Ro80 around '82. This car is very nice.

I owned one about 40 years ago, it was 6 or 7 years old then. At its end of life, though very little rust. Most cars had a very short lifespan in that time, say 70's, early 80's. Lot of fun driving it, handling was not too bad, but terrible brakes. A briljant designed engine, overheadcam with a very complex system to drive the camshaft, and the dynastart, a combination of a dynamo and starter directly mounted to the driveshaft.

Somebody has done a great restoration on it, showroom quality. With its square edges, small size and rear engine it reminds me of the Hillman IMP.

My dad was a main dealer for NSU in 1967 he changed from Volkswagen to NSU in 1968 he had the first NSU RO 80 that came off the stand at Earls Court what an engine but such a shame about the sills. Enjoy the show

Well made? Quality build? Are we really talking NSU Prinz here? I had the misfortune to own one of these cars in the early seventies in my "old bangers" era. It was without doubt, the worst car I ever owned. Here is a list of its failures (some of them re-occurring). The rear brake drums (aluminium), were fastened to the splined drive shaft with a large 2 tab locking washer. One tab used to chew it's way into the recess designed for it on the brake drum. Shortly after purchasing the mini monster, I was returning home after a visit to the local dealers to obtain a new Locking Washer having noticed some wear in the rear nearside wheel area. Slightly downhill on a long gentle left hand bend, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, something overtaking me on the inside.... Yes, it was my rear nearside wheel. The realisation coming to me as I keeled over onto the Brake backing plate. As it was slightly downhill, my escapologist wheel continued for at least another 1/2 mile before itself keeling over. How the oncoming drivers managed to avoid it, I will never know. It used to regularly spit spark plugs out of the cylinder head. On a 2 cylinder car, this has a drastic, immediate effect on what performance there was to begin with. I now know that particular fault could probably have been cured by a couple of "Helicoils" but in those days, I was on a very limited budget and it had spat one too many spark plugs out. One of the worst faults was caused by the engine mounting syste,m. 3 rubber blocks, 2 at the bottom either side and the main anti torque one at centre top. Every time you take off from a standing start, the engine tries to rotate backwards, or on the overrun, rotate forwards. All controlled by the anti torque rubber bush at the top, until that decides it has had enough. The net result here in that as soon as you change torque direction, the whole engine pivots on the 2 lower mountings (usually forward, as it is mounted at an angle) until it is resting on the bulkhead between the engine and passenger compartments. At this point the weight has also been taken up by the gearbox end of the gear control lever. You will now find that your gear lever cannot be moved and you are stuck in whatever gear you were in prior to the catastrophe. Hopefully that will be 2nd gear and not neutral, so you can at least get the heap of rubbish out of everybody else's way The steering is light. A bit of an understatement there. It was so light that stop the chance of aquaplaning on anything more than a Summer Dew, most people used to carry a bag of sand around with them in the front of the (front) boot. A bit of fancy switchgear doth not a Classic make. NSU should never have survived the production of this machine. Not sure how it overlapped chronologically with the Hillman Imp, but switchgear apart, The Prinz wasn't a patch on the Imp. Sorry for the length of this, but I will never forget my association with this (IMO) pile of c**p

Jim Brown mentions the 1000 and TT models. The dream version was the special order TTS. 100bhp from 1000cc. It was delivered with gearsets for road, hillclimb or race! I once saw a Swiss TTS with camping gear on the roof play with a hotted up BMC 1300GT on the M62. At 70mph the TTS driver floored it, and it was like the 1300 was stalled at the lights the NSU disappeared so quickly.

When i was a little boy here in Italy i saw many of these cars , we nicknamed it "vasca da bagno" (bath tub), i also remember the prinz 1000 tt (it was kind of "gti")

the dealers who distributed these car often did not do the servicing and repairs , think it was the cooling fan bearings that gave allot of trouble a local mechanic made special tools to use on thes cars and work came from the dealers , this was around 1970, the mopeds built by nsu called the qwickly were more well known than the cars

I am intrigued by the later TT models. But this specimen is in beautiful condition.

My dad had one of these back in the early 70's. It was green, and had semi-automatic transmission. The engine was bigger than this model (I'm guessing 1,000 cc) and was perky to drive. I remember coming back from the West country with my dad, who let me drive all the way home, which was a real hoot. It was a perky little car and I have very fond memories of it.

These were quite common in the late 60s early 70s.there was also a slightly larger bodied 1000 and TT which were mini Cooper rivals.

My first car (well, a '65 one). Ridiculously frugal! The 1200 was basically two 600 blocks end to end. The 1000 made more power than the 1200, and the top models were the 1000 TT (name resurrected later) and the 1000 TTS, - 96bhp. Then there was the option of the Speed Kit. On the M6, an MGB tried to show off by overtaking a Swiss-registered TTS. The TTS took about 25 seconds to disappear over the horizon.

My father had one back in the mid-1970's. Great little car. The ones you want though are the TT or TTS. Real pocket rockets and NSU's equivalent to the souped up Fiat 500 and 600's of the day from Abarth.

i worked for a car dealer in the UK that sold NSU cars back in the late 60's these cars were way ahead of their time, the engines in these cars were hardened to last, beside's having rust protection that was lacking on other makes of cars of that period.

quanti ricordi... la PRINZ era la nostra macchina quando ero piccolo...che bel video.complimenti

My sister's friend's brother had the 4 cylinder version in bright orange. It was absolutely demented.

I owned this car for 4 years, glad to see it restored

Fantastic video. I believe my grandfather owned one of these in the sixties.

Great review and what a beautiful little car. Like the reviewer I’ve never seen one in the flesh but looks fun if a bit scary to drive. Like he says it’s slow and one wonders if cars from an earlier era would be adequate on today’s roads and the way we drive now?

My dad bought one of these new exactly as in the vid in 1968 when we livid in Lusaka, Zambia went all over in it great little car for Africa

What a cute little car, that boot catch is a work of art and looks well made.

The last and most powerful version was the 1200 TTS/E. They had between 70 up to 85 hp! Nice and astonishingly agile cars, often used in hill races. Good drivers could outperform BMW‘s or even Porsches. Only negative aspect: they got quite warm in the engine compartment, and several burned out about 10 - 15 minutes after they were parked

First of all : compliments for your outstanding retro test of this wonderful machine. Second : i always wished if someday BMW could buy the tools and the copyrights to re launch again this precious creature of global car's history and to repeat the big success of Austin Mini under Bayerische's tunning criteria . Hellos from Argentina

the RO80 was one of the nicest German car designs of all time , a friend's father has about 10 in his paddock in Australia

Listen to MAtt's comment at 0.48 secs into the video. "But, outside of Germany, pretty much unheard of". The same car made it 1/2 way around the world into the Southern Hemisphere. I can remember them growing up as a boy in Auckland New Zealand. Astonishing!

The actual reason why it was no success was not the engine. It was plain and simple the body design. In 1970 people expected an eye-catcher, even when the car was cheap. But the Super Prinz 4L was considered ugly. A bathtub with four wheels. Citroen Duck was also considered ugly but it was extravagant. That's why people bought it. There was just nothing you could fall in love with the 1970 NSU Super Prinz 4L. Today it might be different, it is a nice minimalist car. Awesome restoration of the 1970 NSU Super Prinz 4L in the video.

Superb little car. DO NOT remove that engine. It's what makes the little beauty so of its time. Great video, but on dear, the volume keeps you busy throughout.

Hm... Kind of reminds me of the original 1960 to 1964 Chevrolet Corvairs.

I had two of these , the single overhead can is driven by two rods and eccentric like there motorcycles

It was reasonably succesfull in italy too next to germany you still see them there. You saw them in the netherlands until the 1980 s

So lovely to see a NSU Prinz 4L running around. I had one of these as my first car way back in 1982. It was totally gutless, the heat exchanger exhaust fell away from the engine, the front had a tendency to float in floods and my brother hated it, but I only think of it fondly. I'd love to have one now, but I think I'd do something about the engine. Now they've successfully electrified some original beetles, so I wonder...

I remember saying some of this in the 80's and 90's. When I was at highschool there was a guy living nearby who had at least 2, he must had been a collector. I remember thinking they looked amazing!

It's bigger brother the NSU Prinz 1000 lent it air-cooled straight four to what at the time was the most powerful and most expensive motorbike: The Münch Mammoth. Kept the twin headlight unit too.

my grandfather bought one new, i still remember it, same colors as the one in the video. The backs of the front seats don't lock upright, so if you're a child riding in the back seat and the driver brakes hard or hits something, they make a pretty good launching ramp so you can go through the windscreen! don't ask me how i know

In Dublin when I was a Kid.. NSU stood for No Shaggin Use!! They were so unreliable!!

"NSU, kaputt im Nu". NSU broken in an instant, was the comment made by bystanders when these vehicles broke down in Germany. Rustbuckets they were, that's why you don't see many nowadays. This example was either never driven in winter or has been restored. Right hand drive makes it even rarer. Great vid!

My mum had a green one G reg I think.Dad had a red obling headlight one with black perforated vinyl seats with a 1.2 rear engine that the water pump used to go wrong back in the early 1970s

Overhead cam, hemispherical combustion chambers... all to squeeze those few horsepower from 87 octane fuel. Always loved the fuel gauge, directly driven by string from the float.

What a wonderful toy-like automobile, I always wanted to get a NSU Prinz

The Prinz 4 was also very popular in Italy. Unfortunately AudiNSU (like VW) used Italian steel in the early 70s which was VERY prone to rusting.

I saw a few of these growing up in Malaysia in the early 70s. They soon disappeared off the roads and were considered 'old fashioned' even by that time

Love this little car 😁

My mother had one in the early 70's it was one of the few cars she ever sold and did not have to scrap.

Great video about real German 'Grundlichkeit'. The volume however could be a lot better. Thanks

My neighbour had one of these in the early 1970s and subsequently traded it in for a Mk2 Cortina 1600 Deluxe which seemed quite upmarket back then.

My grandmother had one in the 60's; bright red. It needed a bag of cement in the front to cope with the strong winds in Cape Town. We asked her if she had wound up her rubber bands whenever she set off. Not amused!

The engine was not a 'flat-twin' but a 'two cylinder line'. I had a Prinz in the 70's and loved it. He forgot to mention that it was a good idea to place a sack of potatoes in the (front) boot during the winter months as the car was very light at the front, nevertheless the road-holding was relatively good , being better than the beetle or the Simca 1000 as it was less wind-sensitive than they were. A great point in its favour was that the overhead-camshaft (!) was driven by a shaft directly from the crankshaft so it was 100% reliable (and efficient). A smashing car ........... its big brother the Prinz1000 was even better with a 4 cylinder engine. I love them both.

05:20 Beautiful simplicity

My sister owned a NSU Prinz in 1975 and let me drive it along country lanes some months before I got my driving license with 18. One time I almost put the car in the bushes because the pedals were so narrow and so close to each other that I accidentally stepped on the gas pedal with the brake pedal and the edge of my foot. 🤣

Great channel really like the odd ball old cars. Thumbs up from Murray harbour pei canada

They were a lot of them in Portugal (Lisbon), when I was growing up (a couple of years ago... Lol). I remember them very well. They used to be considered very reliable but slow.

Heh heh, the good old "bathtub". I still remember them from my childhood.

I saw an earlier model of the Prinz with the 600 cc engine in Perth when I was in my teens. I looked with interest at the motor and I'm pretty sure it was in line, not horizontally opposed.

Thje biggest fans of the NSU Prinz were the Italians! NSU already wanted to stop production in 1971, but there were still 75.000 orders from Italy to be delivered. So production was kept on until 1973.

I wouldn't say it was virtually unknown. They certainly had a presence on British roads back in the 1950s/ 1960s. They were too expensive compared to rivals, so I would call it a niche market for people who appreciated the higher quality of German cars, or wanted something different.

The car in which I learned to drive in the age of 13. It was a bit tricky to ride it backwards into our garage, slightly uphill and around a corner. Mum let me do that and so the first 10km of driving car in my life was backwards around corners, uphill. Actually a good training 🤣

This reminds me so much of the ZAZ 968

Reminds me of my 63 Corvair in miniature. Especially the quad light version

If you really want to report on a car that was also a direct competitor to the VW Beetle (and even had roughly the same shape), get your hands on a two-stroke AutoUnion 1000 from about the same era - complete with a free-wheel lever to save the engine when going downhill. The only difference was that the AutoUnion was front-wheel drive and had the engine in the front as opposed to the back. Furthermore, if you want to see a really tiny engine in a positively cavernous engine-compartment, take a look at the Goliath (also of about the same era). The real problems for light vehicles like the NSU Prinz (and even more so the VW Beetle) was that they were conceived to be run on the cross-ply tyres of the era, which made the cars easily correctible when the back-end let go on fast bends, due to their relatively stiff side-walls; the slide was easier to manage. Then radial tyres were introduced as a "benefit", but they behaved completely differently. Their soft side-walls allowed the tyres to go to the extreme edge of gripping ability before suddenly, and often quite catastrophically, letting go all at once. That's the reason that Formula One cars, even today, are still all fitted with cross-ply tyres. MsG

my first car in 1985 in ugly greeeeen....very rare...the rust problem...so a 12 years old car was a vintage car...I remember the heater....you had warm air mixed with exhaust smoke

Great content ideas, but you need to get some help with your sound production.

Cute little car...surprisingly popular in my 1970s Paris.

It looks so proper with it's little silver belt.