NSU Prinz 4 - it's like a squashed Corvair! But is it fun? 

I bought my first Prinz 4 in 1995. In 1997 it was written off by some thugs in Mile End who tipped it onto its side (with us inside). In 1998 I bought my current Prinz 4 from its original owner in Surrey. I love the car so much that when I moved to Canada, I had the car shipped over. I now drive her (she is called Stella) in Vancouver BC where she causes much confusion. Because she is rhd, most people guess English or Japanese manufacture and not German!

My dad had an NSU RO80 which was a horse of a different colour! It may have been disastrous financially but it was an amazing car which still looks modern and futuristic today.

Oh! Memory Lane!! My first car was a 1964 blue NSU Prinz 4L. Fabulous thing, so advanced for the time - as you mention, all sycro box, discs up front and an absolute DELIGHT to drive. I was in a band at the time & we could get a full drum kit in it! Once it got going, the handling was surprisingly good, if a bit susceptible to wandering about a bit in a cross-wind... Also, it was pretty quite in the ....erm...."cruise"...with all the noise generators well behind you. Loved that little car - SO much character, and it never let me down ever, despite having almost 90,000 miles on the clock! I also loved the Drivers handbook that came with it, reminding that checking the tyres regularly (with the tyre pressure gauge in the supplied tool kit) not only enhanced the safety, but also endowed the driver "The Air of The Expert". Best watch on here for ages; made my evening, thank you.

welcome to the new channel... Hobbitnut & the Frodo road-test

I had Prinz 4 in 1980. Its clutch had gone and I was told I could have it for free if I picked it up before the tax and MOT expired. It turned out that the clutch cable was way out of adjustment, and I drove the car home. It needed very little for a new MOT and I really liked it. I don't recall it being as noisy and shaky as this one, but time fogs the memory. They were quite popular in the UK being economical and unusually rust resistant for their time. IIRC Prinz 4s sold in the UK prior to us joining the EEC were assembled in the Irish Republic. Great to see this. A bit of nostalgia for me!

That engine has a lovely burble about it. A cutey, without a doubt... Thank you Marcel for letting hubnut show it to the masses.

The first American to orbit the earth, John Glenn, drove a NSU Prinz. The other six Mercury astronauts drove Corvettes.

There were a few about in the 70s and I remember them well. Mind you, haven't seen one on the road for 40 years. Thanks for the memories.

Here the "schoolteacher" 😅: Prinz 3 = 583 cc. Prinz 4 = 598 cc. Max speed (from test in an old review, Quattroruote 12/1970 - Italy): 120, 647 km/h (only driver) and 115, 448 km) h (full load). Actually the first Prinz 4 version in 1962, same review, did 123,323 km/h at medium load. Anyway, Prinz 4 was my dad's car, that dynastart and engine sound... how much nostalgia! 1975, I remember my father have a problem with a bushing in the gear lever... stop at the roadside, checking, show me the bushing, fixing and on the road again! Thx for the video!

What a little sweetheart!

My dad had one of these cars , his was the 1000cc version. It was an up-spec version that looked a bit like the TT. Beautifully made cars. His was a 1969 model so 6V electrics of course. The last production year of the model was 1972/73 and by that stage the engine was 1200 with 12V electrics. You'll need to keep the king pins greased because they tend to seize and affect the steering. I remember the exhaust system being incredibly expensive and quite complex. My lasting memory of the car is the whisky bottles clinking around in the bonnet because that's where he kept his stash so my mum couldn't find it!!

The NSU Prinz , the car for the kings !

What a great example of one of these cars. The exhaust note sounds great, especially on downshifts.

Absolutely brilliant video Ian ❤👍 what a beautiful car love the colour brilliant

That is drop dead gorgeous

'A little tight in the rear'. That is a selling point. I have wondered about these for 45 years. Seriously. I fell in love with the little red Spider when I saw it as a kid in the Science Museum (Wonder if they still have it)? So naturally I wondered about these. They were few and far between even in 1979 and not one Spider, as I looked for my first car having saved up a bit and sold my beloved Nikon FE. (Warning: Deviation and old mans waffle). I missed out on a MK3 Spitfire by 10 minutes. I told the guy I was coming with cash and had to get a train and bus and walk... I went home fuming yet, lo and behold, in the local garage at the end of my road was sitting a convertible Vitesse 2L Mk1... £395.00 so I paid up (most of it) and drove it 100 yards home. It really taught me how to drive what was in part a dodgy handling vehicle, though when sorted it was wonderful..The sagging rear spring was a godsend for grip. I spotted it on the cover of Classic Car Weekly a few months ago. The bloke exaggerated how long he had owned it! Anyhow I deviated and I have to make a complaint. I'm not sure which was worse. The Jesus sandals or the bare feet? ( It was the bare (bear) feet, we are used to your sandals). For the love of god get your lovely Mrs to invest in some dainty driving shoes for you. Just to continue the complaint, I was hoping to hear something about the engineering. We did get some nice info on the engine and gearbox and boot prop device. I noticed there was no sign of suspension or steering parts intruding into the bonnet or boot space, all seemingly being hidden under the tiny wheel arches, apart from a single anchoring point at one end. How was the steering? Is it a rack? I had gained the opinion that these cars were very nicely engineered. Did it feel well put together? I waffle on like this and sound like a total bore when I have had no sleep for 36 hours. Which I haven't. Apologies and of course I'm not really complaining, apart from about the feet. Edit: Yes I am hallucinating now.

Another brilliant review. Lovely car so well made for its day. When I was 8 my dad had an NSU 1200C. Great car and very nippy and rare even then. Would have one now.

My friend had one in the late 90s Our favourite thing was the way the manual described the capacity of the glove box. “The Glove compartment is a useful size. It will hold a thermos flask (full). or an airbed (empty),” and they say Germans don’t have a sense of humour!

The Prinz was kept on the Market by the Italian customers. Because Volkswagen wanted to cease production around 1969, but there was still more than 50.000 orders open from Italy so until early 1973 about 70 percent went directly to Italy from Neckarsulm factory

I used to deliver them out of Shoreham late 60s. I owned a Prinz 2L when stationed in Detmold 65 to 67. The 1000 TTS was the one to drive, it rivaled many quick cars

For NSU: they also brought the NSU K70 into the band with VW, which was a 4-cylinder, watercooled, frontwheel driven sedan - which directly competed with the Audi 80 / VW Passat that were just on the brink after the VW / Audi merger. It was sold for a few years and then discontinued, even though it was more modern and spacier than the Audi 80 was. But it was just a stepchild of a former competitior and handled as such. The bigger rear engined NSU 1000 / 1200 was used as a racecar. The 1200 TTS and TTS-E dominated round track races or slalom. The 4 cylinder engine was the technical base for the Münch motorcycles - the first "Superbike" of sorts. NSU had a rich history - all eliminated for and by VAG mediocrity. Thanks for showing though !

Great video I like the older cars more better than the newer ones the good old days of the car with no computers on board 😂

What a great little car and in fabulous 70s brown. Awesome 👌

Another one ticked off the list Ian. Beautiful car

The old car of our neighbours. Back seats were good enough for their two kids. When taking wife and kids to church on sunday mornings. Later switched to THE favourite automotive vehicle of the Dutch during the late sixties/early seventies; the Opel Kadett B. Beige of course.

it looks so like my DAF 44, even the same colour, It also shares the washer bulb as they were only fitted to DAFs and NSU cars. lovely

What a lovely exhaust note! Nice one Ian, keep them coming, thank you!🙏

Sat there all chocolatey like a luxury biscuit 😀

Cool little cute car! It even looks cute in brown,not usually a car colour I like! 😍😍

What a lovely little thing from Neckarsulm in Baden-Württemberg… Thanks guys for this trip! 😊 See you soon ///// Martin

The OHC drive was an NSU "thing"; they used it on their sportmax and Rennmax motorcycles. It gives very accurate can timing but seems to be a solution looking for a problem for a small family car.

What a cute little brown thing! I didn‘t even know there was a two cylinder Prinz. Hope you‘ll also find a Prinz TT to drive. Quite a difference in power and fun!

Love these cars. Always reminded me of a bathtub...in a good way

That is adorable, and I love the colour. My Grandfather had an (Larger model, as you said) NSU Prinz 1000 TT, and loved it. He later sold it, for a used 1976 RO80 and regreated it. Wasn't as smooth and refined in his view. Great video.

That may be the brownest car I have seen. Delightful! I used to see a few of these around in my mechanining days in the eighties, completely forgotten about them till now so thanks for the reminder👍

What a delightful little thing.

Gloriously delightful!

I wish my car was painted in this wonderful brown colour.

That method of spinning the camshaft via connecting rods was first employed by NSU on their motorcycles. I can remember the first time I saw an NSU Prinz in a photograph, or rather a slide, sometime in the late 1960s. A family friend had returned from a vacation in Italy and was showing slides of his trip. There in the background was a white Prinz. My brother and me got quite excited in the manner that only car-mad little boys of single-digit age can get, over this little European Corvair. We knew all about Fiat 600s and 500s also visible in that pic because our relatives in the old country drove them and Corvairs were a common sight in Canada at the time, but now the existence of this shrunken Euro Corvair was a new and exciting development. I remember we had a hard time processing that it wasn't a Corvair at all, but some obscure (to us) European brand.

Another fantastic review of a car I've never seen or heard of. Very interesting and entertaining. Thanks 😊

simply wonderful ! when cars were fun 😎

What a great step back in time Ian, a lovely little car that is great to see on the road. I really like it. Many thanks for sharing.

What a charming little thing!

What a lovely little car! Thanks for the video

Lovely little car Ian

Beautiful, humble car!

Welcome 🤗 in the Netherlands 🇳🇱 Ian ! And yes we’ve got also lovely rainy weather! 😢 So you must feel al little bit at home 😂😂😂 Sadly without your lovely family! What an amazing 🤩 brown super car! Lovely lines , so sad that so many brands don’t exist anymore! Luckily there are still survivors like this example! Looking forward for your next adventure here in the Netherlands 🇳🇱! And don’t forget to buy something nice for the family! Iets lekkers 😋! Stroopwafels, Jodenkoeken, drop , zwartwit! And eat some poffertjes! 👍🏻👍🏻🆙

That's such a charming little thing, absolutely delightful 👌

Lovely little car❤

The Prinz 4 was quite a popular car in Italy at the time. There were still plenty on the road in the 80s.

Such a pretty looking car, looks good in brown. Love the simplicity.

Funny that you mistook the heater for the starter where the Fiat 500 has one, because there is a strange link between Fiat and NSU. There was a factory in Heilbronn, Germany, which was spun off from NSU in 1929 where they assembled NSU-Fiat badged cars based on Fiats, but when NSU started to build the Prinz, there were two entirely different companies building cars with the same name! They eventually settled the conflict and NSU-Fiat became Neckar and finally Fiat until production in Germany ended in 1973.

This is my first time learning about this car and I instantly want one! Thanks for the great video 👍🏻

My grandad bought three of these to do up and sell. He liked them so much that he kept one for my grandma to drive.

When I was a boy I once threw all I ate for dinner at the back of my mum’s head in this car. Good times.

I remember these as a child, the styling always has been attractive to me. Nice to see one of the humble small version preserved like that, usually it's the NSU 1000 and then especially the TT/TTS models which get recognition.

In the 70s my mate's mum left her husband & lived with someone else, this man bought her a NSU Prinz but even though she didn't have a car she turned her nose up at it & got him to take it back! I can't remember what she drove after that for certain but I think it was an old Ford Anglia, so she went from a new car to a 2nd hand one!

I HAD A NSU LAMBRETTA SCOOTER BACK INTHE DAY.VERY NICE LITTLE CAR AND A LOVELY BROWN.

Had a red one did an engine overhaul, novel cam drive system. Later on went to work at a VW dealer and worked on lots of NSU RO 80s !

That's an impeccably preserved NSU PRINZ. Here in Uruguay they were commonly seen running back in the early 80's.

Lovely little car

What a lovely little car. I love the variety of what you get to drive Ian. Hubnut at its best!!!

'Ooh, that's quite hot!' - Bit of a 'John Noakes in Blue Peter' moment!

Thank you for sharing your adventure.

my mates dad had an NSU the bigger one i can remember it being very smart and a lovely ride we spent most of our time in it playing hot wheels so dont remember much more

Around 1970 when I was a lad, there was an NSU dealer just round the corner from where we lived and mum and dad were seriously thinking of buying one of these for mum. They were then offered a year old Mini Countryman (the woody one!) by a family friend, chickened out of the NSU and went for the mini instead. The example you are testing looks to be in amazing condition.

Between this and your latest acquisition your channel has been positively bursting with adorability.

I had a white NSU 1000C called Casper, back in 2004 for a few years, what a fabulous little car. Amazingly good brakes, great gearbox, a fantastic heater, with a great sounding engine that loved to rev. Brilliant car to drive and have fun days out in. I loved mine and was absolutely delighted to see one on Hubnut. NSU's are so overlooked, and yet they were so well engineered. Sadly an impatient Audi driver shoved a Mazda MX5 straight into the front of mine. The MX5 was totally crushed, and the Audi was a write off. All I had a buckled wing and a broken indicator, and few dents. However, I didn't fair quite so well and it ruined my experience with the car at the time and so I ended up selling it to the President of the owners club. I still miss that little car.

Love these simple utilitarian cars but which also have an element of elegance attached to them.

Wow, what a stunning example.

Those slender A and B pillars are a delight (safety aside)

Some reason i really like this... even in brown! An amazing find Ian!

Lots of these things still around here in the Desert/Countryside. You'll still find them in Arizona and New Mexico and other Southeastern States. Noisy little bastard's though 😮😅! I just sold my 30+ year collection of old Scooters and Mopeds including several of these NSU and PUCH examples. We still have a few NSU's in the various scrapyards @ work. Right now, with the Temperature's hovering around the 115+Degree mark... air-cooled cars are your friend. I drove my own 69 Corvair to work these past few days. It's HOT out there 😮!

The styling of the Soviet ZAZ Zaporozhets was also heavily inspired by the Corvair, Imp, and Prinz.

Love these reviews Ian.

what a swet little car and despite the naysayers, driving barefoot is not illigal and no way dangerous and is very pleasant on long trips

What a fantastic little car! Doesn't it sound WONDERFUL!

First time really having a look at one. I’ve always liked the look of these. Neat little thing. Cool video. 🚗🙂

I owned a NSU 1200C whilst in Germany in the early 70’s. My very first car, did several trips to and from UK with no problems, with the exception of my 18 month old son being car sick on one of our return trips back to Germany, so not the cars fault (could have been my enthusiastic driving). In conclusion a great little car.

My father had one of these at the end of the seventies. As he was six foot one I do not know how he managed. I can remember going on holiday with my sister and myself in the back. I am now six foot three and was always a tall child. The front boot full and a roof rack with a full size suitcase on top. I can remember him having to change down to third to get up any road with a slight incline. He went from that to a Vauxhall Ventora with the 3 litre six cylinder engine cylinder.

What a pretty little car!

Thanks for the review!!! My dad had bought one new as his first car!! (He was in his late 20's though or early 30's)... However he gave it to my aunt and drove it till the early 90's when the gear box/clutch gave out sadly! :( (This was also in Italy) I do remember as child the big chrome dials and steering wheel though it was so cool! (bit like your Morris Oxford) I now understand more as to why there were no parts available and I thought it was just because of no equivalent clutch but yeah that gear box looks complicated! Well done to Marcel for keeping this one on the road!!!

A brilliant little roadtest Ian, a charming little car. Give you a laugh the kids are also watching Hubnut but Smart Content... 😂😂

Soooo beautifully brown. Great content again

My first new car in 1964. Bright red. I Ioved it.

I don't need to see those feet !!! Great content👍👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

The rotating knob for the quarter lights is similar to the Rover P6 and Triumph Stag. Nice

I had the bike with the NSU Prinz engine, the Munch Mammoth TTSE 1200. What a beast! I rode it around Australia and then sold it to a famous museum on Hamilton Island in The Whitsunday Island chain. I miss it..

That one handed bonnet mechanism must be fun on a blustery day.... thunk to the back of the head... a pleasure Sir!

I have always seen the Prinz as a miniature BMW 2000/2002

What a fascinating and sweet little car

A few weekends ago, I was parked next to a Prinz TT. These had a very successful Motorsport career.

Now you made me want to drive one! THe sound of the Engine is totally unlike I expected for a little inline 2!!! Seems quiet solid compared to many tiny cars that always seem to rattle a lot.

That diagram of the engine was useful, I was wondering whether it had the pistons going up and down together or were 180 out, but nope, they're together, hence the vibrations with everything rattling away at low revs...

My primary school teacher had one like this and I loved it - and her (yep, little boy crush). I think its colour was mustard. I used to wait for her to leave, so I could hear the engine come to life. Fond memories of car (and of teacher, yes).

And of course the Renault 8. My granny had one, and I almost fell out the back door having found how the door handle worked... I was young.

American watching from the State of Rhode Island in the U.S.-New to the channel-bro-that thing is a trip-in a half! Never-seen-or-heard-of this company-or-car! It's an-air-cooled-Baby-Beemer! Very nice review-comprehensive-I feel-don't think you left anything out-yet succinct-you gave a nice tour of the engine-& specs-seems is left out of many others' similar postings. Peace!

There were a lot of these around Sevenoaks in Kent in the Seventies. They were always filthy, because, I imagine, being so tiny meant they had all the road dust and mud flung at them! Some interesting colours mind too!

I owned an NSU Prinz in 70s, did a couple of long trips, quite reliable, till it fell to bits 🤣

It's like a miniature version of the 1964 Renault R8 I bought in high school. Lovely little car, as long as you didn't lift in the middle of sharp corners (swing axles!).