Oh, man! When I was a child we moved to the UK from San Francisco. Our first car in Birmingham was a red, 175cc Heinkel. A '59, I think? My dad wedged a pair of Lotus Elite buckets in it, so I could sit in the back. It was a bit of a squeeze for 3, so after a couple of years he traded it in on a Renault Dauphine. The Heinkel had amazing acceleration up to about 40 mph, then ran out of steam. Believe it or not, we vacationed all over Britain in the little bugger. Thank you for bringing back a piece of my childhood!
BTW, my dad ran a music store in Birmingham. One of his idiot friends always insisted popping the roof open, so he could ride standing up. With a comb held over his lip, he would do his best Hitler imitation, saluting madly as they putted along in downtown traffic. Strangely, this drew a lot of smiles in post-war Britain...
The Heinkel Kabine (pronounced like "ka-'bee-ne") should have either a 175 or a 200 cc engine. These air-cooled engines were slightly modified from the Heinkel scooters and are very solidely built and reliable. I did a tour with my Heinkel scooter (175 cc) with a second passenger on the back seat from Germany, crossing the Alps, down to the Mediterranian, some 3000 km, with no technical problems at all. These engines are really easy to service, repair, and to keep alive.
Thanks for a fun video. Would like to suggest you point the camera in different directions inside the car so we can see. For example: looking out the back window, looking up through the bubble, etc. Also, you could mount the camera behind you pointing forward. Lastly, finding a road where you can really get up to speed and maintain it.
I bought a new Heinkel in 1959 colour light blue. The brakes were good, the steering very positive and the engine reliable. I recall it was the 197cc four stroke. There were shims under each valve spring and it could easily return 60mpg and carry two people with luggage or two small children all in the days before seat belts. Excellent fold back sun roof. All nicely put together. I just wish I had kept it.
What fun to see this road test pop up today! The other day I was watching a video, by a Mr. HubNut, who drove the British version of this car (same color), the Trojan. It had a 10HP, 198cc motor, w/ the same controls, but reversed for RHD...
Thank you for showing all the details. That Isetta steering wheel/column attached to the front door with universal joints was covered by a patent--so Heinkel couldn't use it.
Tuve un Heinkel 198 cc eb 1960, hecho en Argentina, realicè viajes de 400 km. con el, debido al transito actual, es un poco peligroso su uso en rutas rapidas, no por su calidad y marcha, sino por las velocidades y tamaños de los nuevos automoviles y camiones que circulan
BTW Heinkel built scooters too, using the same engine. They were very reliable and used to be around well into the 1960‘s. As was said before, Messerschmitt also built a Kabinenroller, BMW built the Isetta (originally a Italian design). Dornier also built a microcar, the Dornier Delta. AFAIK there were only prototypes built, as the production would be too expensive. There was the Goggomobil, Isetta, Goliath, Zündapp Janus and Kleinschnittger around, so the market was already competitive and Dornier would have joined too late and at too high prices. They instead went to Spain and designed and built aircraft (Do 25, which would evolve into Do 27).
cool little car , there's one for sale at the moment in new zealand start price $25,000 nz thats why i searched youtube to check them out , they look advanced for the year they were made , they must of caused a real commotion when they were released
Our chemistry teacher had one of these. One day as he was waiting to turn into the main road, some of us (not me) lifted up the rear so the drive wheel left the road and when he revved it up they let it drop. Pow! Straight out into the road! Fortunately (deliberately?) there was nothing coming.
I remember these cars from my childhood in Holland, like the BMW, the Goggomobil. The days the German Mark was cheap, they were working to get Germany back on it's feet. Like our hotwater system was a Juncker geiser haha, the former Stuka aircraft company. While for those who could buy real cars then, they bought, Jaguar, Wolseley, Riley or a Sunbeam, or even a Rover. Those days are gone, it has been turnes around completely
Im pretty sertain that this is the same Heinkel i sawed from the yunkyard in Gothenbourg Sweden in the 90s Toyota white, made a new boble in the back that was difficult. Sounds terrible now, should be smoth. Was made for a clothing company named Solo for display/ event. Best regards Per Lundin (56)
Be careful on cornering. Whereas the Isetta would slide across the road if cornered too fast, the Heinkel was more likely to roll over. It was popular in the UK, built under licence as the Trojan 200. After a while they seemed to disappear from the roads while many Isettas were still around. I put that down to being written off after roiling over, but I'm only guessing.
My Grandmother had one and rolled it one night. A passing truck driver helped her roll it back up, and she got home with the rear "glass" (it is plastic) in the back, saying "the bubble has popped!" We popped it back in and it was fine. My Dad sold it and bought a Mk1 Cortina Estate GT - I guess their incomes improved around 1962!
Yours is 175 cc.. single wheelers were smaller displacement, the four wheelers had 200 cc... And much faster. The gearbox is non synchro and takes a bit to get used to.. the 200cc in tune will do 50... Mine almost 60 !!
Not realy. In german a cabin is a hut ( Uncle Toms cabin/ Onkel Toms Hütte). Kabine in german means the passenger room of a plane or ship. Side note : Hitler ( in standard german Hüttler) means: A man living in a hut/ cabin.
I love all your little cars, but you need to invest in a GoPro and mount it on your head so you don't have to hold your camera or phone, whatever you film with.
Tuve 2 , uno rojo y otro con el color de fábrica gris, todavia tengo un tablero impecable completo con velocímetro y reloj, si alguien lo precisa me avisa y podemos llegar a un acuerdo.
It's begging for a modern scooter engine and automatic transmission. Keep the original engine and transmission in a display case. Also, that wiring.... ouch!
I'd go to a 'CVT' if possible...or at the least a liquid-cooled Honda engine. That should be 'doable' w/a custom removable 'engine-mount' so the original engine could be re-installed if ever wanted. ( who cares about 'tampering' if it's not really drive-able? I want to drive it...not just 'stare at it and wish it ran well enough to do 55 or so' ) There are plenty of these in 'pristine original condition' in museums and collections...I want mine on the road!
@@gerrynightingale9045 yeah but the brakes.... and the cvt+engine case might have the rear wheel stick too far back out. sounds like a nightmare for a car that's already barely driveable by design.
@@comethiburs2326 I don't see an 'engine-swap' as a huge problem...and my Honda scooter stops fine w/drum-brakes, even with my fat-ass on it! The 'CVT' might be too much, but if possible to do it without damaging the original structure, I would do it.
@@gerrynightingale9045 it's going to be a package problem, unless you can find a 250cc or more vertical scooter engine running on 8"s. any bigger/horizontal engine will poke out of the trunk.
@@comethiburs2326 I see no insurmountable problem in replacing an engine in a vehicle which already possesses an engine of the same characteristics as the original...they are both internal-combustion, and both will have all the same principles involved with the transmission of movement. ( a modern 4-stroke Honda of 250cc's is vastly more reliable with greater 'torque' factors than a 65-year-old 'bang-bang smoker' of the same displacement...if that were not true, then all engines/transmission would still be *exactly the same* in all respects and they are *not* )
It's a scooter rear end, amazing technology. I had the UK (Slought assembled) Trojan version. the name change was because most people didn't like the name Heinkel, remembering the He 111 that tried to flatten London 15 years earlier.
