Featured here are some of the 2012 highlights, including selected press photos, thanks to press information sent from Bremen
For fans of classic cars, the Bremen Classic Motorshow means that the season has opened at last. The 2012 exhibition will be taking place for the tenth time, with approximately 550 exhibitors. In 2011, approximately 40,500 people visited all seven halls in the Messe Bremen. This years theme is: originals
Hand-picked “Originals” from the private reserve of the Musée National d’Automobil in Mulhouse are at the centre of focus,
in a special exhibition in 2012
Möhlmann Automobil Logistik has a highly challenging job in safely transporting the ten exhibits, that will be adorning the special “Originals” exhibition. The exhibits will be coming from the Musée National d’Automobil Mulhouse in France. Three fully covered trucks will be transporting the ten irreplaceable treasures. Günter Möhlmann also transports major automotive prototypes. As such, this company has aquired the required expertise
Rolls Royce Phantom III Limousine, 1939
The Phantom III, which was the successor of the out-of-date Phantom II, is characterised by its 12 cylinder V-engine made of aluminium, with 7.3 litres cylinder capacity, and it took its inspiration from aviation.
Thanks to numerous trumps, this Rolls Royce was successful at setting itself apart from its competitors. Especially thanks to its independently suspended wheels at the front, the legendary
soft suspension and the particularly low noise level, it succeeded in convincing customers. All in all, a total of 727 of these vehicles were built. The vehicle on display here was sold to the business
man Brendon Bracket by the Rolls Royce dealer Harold Rolfe Owen in Mayfair. H. R. Owen, who was a rather colourful character and successful fighter pilot in the First World War, subsequently
rounded off his career by founding a successful sales agency for luxury vehicles, which still exists as an active company to this very day. The body of the car was manufactured by Gurney Nutting. Apart from a range of different Phantom III car bodies for the British royal court, Gurney Nutting also manufactured the famous record car “Bluebird”, by Malcolm Campbell, in 1931.
Voisin C7 Coach, 1928
This make of car was founded by the aviation pioneer Gabriel Voisin. Both civil as well as military pilots succeeded in setting up a variety of different records with his airplanes, which were known as “flying stags”, and also frequently ventured out on extensive adventurous trips.
Gabriel Voisin was known as a rather headstrong and hot-tempered personality, and as such it was no surprise that he also continued the successful tried and tested basic idea of his planes in his automobile vehicles. This meant a lightweight construction, thanks to the extensive use of aluminium, in addition to a cleverly devised system of mass distribution which in this combination, led to the Voisin automobile’s excellent road holding properties.
The model on exhibition here is the C7, which bears the name “Lumineuse” (the shining light). This vehicle is typical for the design of the Voisin automobiles. Despite the rather insignificant performance of its only four-cylinder 1.5 litre engine, it was in particular demand with customers who had a distinct tendency toward exacting standards regarding aesthetic appearance and design features of their vehicles. The C7 apparently seamlessly integrated itself into the at that time prevalent wave of design that was known as the so-called “New Objectivity”, so common in the
1920s. In France, in architecture and art as well as in fashion, the protagonists of this movement were, among others, Le Corbusier or Sonja Delaunay, whereas in Germany on the other hand, the
Bauhaus movement, with Walter Gropius and other artists also succeeded in earning quite some measure of fame. The world-famous dancer Josephine Baker, for instance, could often be admired sitting behind the wheel of her Voisin “Lumineuse”.
Maybach DS 7 Limousine, 1927
The significance of the fundamental pioneering work carried out by the duo of Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, ultimately leading to the birth of the automobile, is indisputable. Their perfected cooperation led to the great success of the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) in the early phase of automotive manufacturing. Wílhelm Maybach, a highly talented and pragmatic technician was among those inventors who were the first to make the explosion-piston engine reliable and operational.
After the death of Gottlieb Daimler, Maybach left the company to open an own company with his
son Karl in Friedrichshafen. The equipping of the Zeppelins with Maybach engines clearly demonstrated the high standard of the motors’ quality. Later on, the production was also expanded
to include the manufacture of luxurious automobiles.
The Maybach model that is on display here constitutes the culmination of the Friedrichshafen vehicle production, and it has a 2-cylinder V engine with 7 litres of cylinder capacity, offering a
performance of 150 hp. In so doing, it was a competitor for such illustrious vehicles as, among others, the Bentley 8 Litres, Cadillac, Hispano-Suiza H6 and J12, Mercedes 600 and 720, and the Rolls Royce Phantom II und III.
Initially intended as an exhibition piece at the Swiss Maybach importer Schlotterbeck in Basel, the vehicle on display here was sold to a Swiss industrialist, who kept it until 1962. The bodywork of the vehicle, made by Hermann Spohn in Ravensburg, is a so-called “Pullman Landaulet” car body, which not only displays the separation of the driver to the passengers, but also has a fold-back top in the back part of the car.
