Offered by Dorotheum | Salzburg, Austria | October 15, 2022
Photo – Dorotheum
Hard to believe a Steyr 220 has not come across this site yet. There have been a few that have popped up over the years, which can only mean that this site was asleep at the wheel. That or confident another would pop up soon. And here we are.
Steyr, which is mostly known for Steyr-Daimler-Puch products like the Pinzgauer, actually built road cars, including some fancier-looking ones like this. The 220 was the last in a line of 120/125/220 that stretched back to 1935. The 220 would be built from 1937 through 1941. It was the company’s most glamorous product – and their last passenger car.
Power is from a 2.3-liter inline-six that made 55 horsepower. Just 5,900 examples of the 220 were produced. Interestingly, a 220 with the same engine number sold on Bring a Trailer for $36,000 earlier this year. The car here has maroon wheels and fenders in lieu of body-color fenders and tan wheels, but it could be the same car. It has an estimate of $78,000-$110,000. Click here for more info.
Offered by Dorotheum | Salzburg, Austria | October 15, 2022
Photo – Dorotheum
So it’s not pronounced “oaf”… it’s actually ÖAF, for Österreichische Automobil-Fabrik. The company was founded in 1907 as the Austrian Fiat truck plant. The trucks were called “Austro-Fiats”, and they started developing their own stuff during WWI. In 1925, Fiat lost control of it, and the name shifted to OAF.
MAN took over OAF (what a sentence) in 1938. After WWII, the company was split off, eventually going private in 1970, merging with Graf & Stift. The following year, MAN acquired them again. The last OAF-branded trucks left the assembly line in 2008.
The AFN express truck debuted in 1924 powered by a 2.9-liter Fiat inline-four that made 42 horsepower. This fire truck dates from 1930 and remained with it’s local Austrian fire department until 2009 (though not in use, I hope). It was then sold into private ownership and restored. The estimate here is $24,000-$34,000. Click here for more info.
Offered by Dorotheum | Salzburg, Austria | October 15, 2022
Photo – Dorotheum
The “Steyr Baby” was a small car produced by Steyr-Daimler-Puch between 1936 and 1940. It was actually called the Steyr 50 upon its introduction, and it was renamed the 55 when it was updated for 1938. Updates for the Type 55 included a lengthened wheelbase (by like two inches) and a stronger engine.
That engine is a 1.2-liter flat-four that made 25.5 horsepower compared to 22 horsepower of the Type 50. Only 7,800 Type 55s were built, all in two-door sedan style. The diminutive shape and rounded profile has lead to the occasional “Austrian Volkswagen” nickname.
This example was restored at the end of the 1990s and wears a two-tone paint scheme, as they came with from the factory. A rare survivor, it’s likely the best one around. The pre-sale estimate is $37,000-$47,000. Click here for more info.
Offered by Dorotheum | Vosendorf, Austria | July 2, 2022
1954 Tempo Viking Bus
Photo – Dorotheum
Tempo-Werke (officially Vidal & Sohn Tempo-Werke GmbH) was a Hamburg-based company that got their start in 1924. The company was purchased by Daimler-Benz in 1971, and the marque was phased out after 1977.
The Viking was introduced in 1950 to replace previous three-wheeled light trucks. A pickup and van were offered, with power from a 452cc two-stroke twin making about 20 horsepower. They featured a front-engine, front-wheel-drive layout. Top speed was about 40 mph.
This passenger van variant has three rows of seats and has been restored to a condition probably better than when it was new. This Viking is estimated at $19,000-$27,000. Click here for more info.
Update: Sold $17,168.
1967 Barkas B 1000 Kasten
Photo – Dorotheum
VEB Barkas-Werke was an East German manufacturer of vans that existed from 1958 until 1991. And they made essentially one product during that time: the B 1000 (they also produced engines for Trabant). In over 30 years, they somehow managed to only make about 176,000 of these.
But they are kind of iconic in that the front-engine, front-wheel drive van is the vehicle of choice for baddies on the “wrong side” of the Berlin Wall. The engine is a 1.0-liter two-stroke inline-three that made about 41 horsepower.
An unlikely full-restoration candidate, this van has had just such a thing. It carries an estimate of $15,000-$23,000. Good luck finding a better one. Click here for more info.
Update: Sold $17,168.
1956 Goggomobil TL-300 Transporter
Photo – Dorotheum
About 2,000 Transporter models were built by Goggomobil, or Glas, the company that produced the Goggomobil. These were built at the request of the German postal service, and they very much do like look a mail van.
Different levels were offered. We’ve featured a TL-250 Transporter and a TL-400. This is an early model and is a TL-300, meaning it is powered by a 298cc two-stroke inline-twin. Output was rated at 15 horsepower.
Of the 3,667 Transporters produced, only about 100 are known to exist, a quarter of those thought to be roadworthy. The estimate is $63,000-$84,000. Click here for more.
Offered by Dorotheum | Vosendorf, Austria | July 2, 2022
Photo – Dorotheum
Like so many others, Hanomag’s roots trace back to a mid 19th-century industrial company. Steam engines, farm equipment, and tractors came before cars, which arrived in the 1920s. During WWII, they became a major player constructing vehicles for the German army, including perhaps their most famous vehicle, this half-track.
The 20B was a four-wheel drive personnel carrier produced between 1937 and 1940. In all, about 1,700 were built. Power is from a 2.0-liter inline-four (there were also Stoewer versions of this car as well as a six-cylinder BMW version). Output was just under 50 horsepower. It’s got a five-speed manual transmission with a crawler first gear.
Production ceased in 1940 because they were too heavy and hard to repair. Stoewer kept building a refined Type 40 version until 1943. Almost none of these still exist. This one was intended to be, and was, bodied as a fire truck by Karmann in 1940. It is impressive that it still exists. The pre-sale estimate is $26,000-$37,000. Click here for more info.
Offered by Dorotheum | Vosendorf, Austria | July 2, 2022
Photo – Dorotheum
It’s pretty amazing how many early BMWs this auction house manages to round up for sale. This is a derivative of BMW first car, the 3/15. First sold as the Dixi 3/15, the 3/15 would be sold in a few series under the BMW marque.
The DA-3 Wartburg was sold in 1930 and 1931. It was only offered as a roadster, making it BMW’s first “sports car.” BMW used a front drop axle to lower the frame, and the aluminum body featured boattail styling. Power is from a 747cc inline-four that got increased compression in the Wartburg for a rated output of 17 horsepower.
Only 150 of these were built, with 100 in the first year and 50 in the second. This one was restored about 20 years ago and now has an estimate of $58,000-$79,000. Click here for more info.
Offered by Dorotheum | Salzburg, Austria | October 16, 2021
Photo – Dorotheum
The Puch brand existed under the Steyr–Daimler-Puch corporate umbrella and was primarily known for building motorcylces and scooters, in addition to military vehicles. There were cars, too, but for most of the time the company used its resources to build cars for other manufacturers. Occasionally, the company thought “hey, we could build this for us, too.”
And that’s what we have here. The Puch 500 is, quite obviously, a Fiat 500 built under license in Austria. It’s badged as a Puch, and they had their own range of models different than those produced by Fiat. For instance, this is a “D”, which were built between 1959 and 1967. It’s actually been tarted up to look like a 650 TR II, which was a sport model.
The 650 TR II was powered by a 40-horsepower, 660cc inline-twin. This car has just such an engine. It was built to this spec in the 2000s, with it being registered as a 650 TR II in 2011. The pre-sale estimate is $33,000-$44,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Offered by Dorotheum | Salzburg, Austria | October 16, 2021
Photo – Dorotheum
Another Dorotheum auction, another round of interesting Steyr cars. This particular model is the XXX – which is reverted to “30” for online search reasons, obviously. The “30” was produced from 1930 through 1933 by Steyr of Austria.
It was the successor to the XX and XII. The car was designed by Ferdinand Porsche and is powered by a 2.1-liter inline-six that made approximately 38 horsepower. The “E” model was introduced in 1932 as the economy model. It had two less horsepower than the normal versions.
Just 343 XXX Es were built. This one survived WWII intact and has known ownership history since new. A restoration was completed in 1987, and the car now carries a pre-sale estimate of $81,000-$100,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Offered by Dorotheum | Vosendorf, Austria | July 3, 2021
Photo – Dorotheum
I’m pretty sure Dorotheum has now offered more Steyr automobiles in the last six months than every other major auction house has combined over the past five years. Steyr made their money with munitions, and with the end of WWI on the horizon, they realized they needed a product to fill the gaping hole they were about to see on their books.
So cars it was. Steyr brought in Hans Ludwinka – the guy who would later be responsible for the Tatras – to design their first car, which they called the Type II (The Type I was their initial test car). It went on sale in 1920 and was powered by a 3.3-liter inline-six rated at 40 horsepower.
Steyr produced 2,150 examples of the Type II through 1924, most of which were touring cars or limousines. This car was sold new to the Egyptian ruling family and was purchased and returned to Austria in the late 1970s when it was restored. It is now expected to bring between $290,000-$380,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Offered by Dorotheum | Vosendorf, Austria | July 3, 2021
Photo – Dorotheum
Here’s another small car from BMW’s early era. The company launched the 303 in 1933. It was their first six-cylinder car and the first BMW with “kidney” grilles – two things the company continues to be known for. In 1934 they introduced the 309, which was essentially a 303 with two fewer cylinders. It was intended as a replacement for the 3/20.
The 309 is powered by an 845cc inline-four that made 22 horsepower when new. Rubber engine mounts were used to reduce vibration in the cabin, and the cars carried bodies from Ambi-Budd. You could choose from a two-door sedan (as shown here), a cabriolet, or a tourer.
Approximately 6,000 examples of the 309 were produced through 1936. This one has known history back only a few decades, and it was restored in Austria. Pre-war BMWs are rarely seen, and the fact that this was about as basic of an example as you could get in 1934 makes it even more impressive that it is still around. It should bring between $14,000-$22,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
