The 1938 Schlörwagen Pillbug: The German Engineering Masterpiece That Was Lost in Time
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- Опубликовано: 31 июл 2024
- Discover the Schlörwagen, the aerodynamic rear-engine passenger vehicle prototype developed by Karl Schlör and presented at the 1939 Berlin Auto Show. This forgotten German engineering marvel never went into production, but its innovative design and impressive drag coefficient of 0.186 still inspire car enthusiasts today. Learn about the Schlörwagen's unique history, design, and performance in this in-depth look at one of the most underrated cars in automotive history.
00:00 - Intro Retro Car
00:06 - 1938 Schlörwagen History
02:56 - Outro Retro Car
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#retrocar #Schlörwagen #AerodynamicCar #1939AutoShow #KarlSchlör #AutomotiveHistory #ForgottenCars #InnovativeDesign #VintageCars #CarPrototype #AutomotiveEngineering 
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The teardrop shape is the most aerodynamic and hydrodynamic shape...this guy seems to have gotten everything right...in the 30s!
maybe with the exception of timing ?
And while he was prescient, he got it the wrong way round.
@@iscadean6038 Wrong - it's the right way. Did you ever see a wing profile (the inspiration for the design)? It's exactly like that. And where's the thicker part of a falling water drop (the ideal aerodynamic form)? Yes, in the frontal area, not in the back.
Decades ahead of it's time. They could do it better now with carbon fiber and electric motors.
@@Fastvoice the shape as designed would cause it ‘fly’. Lift would occur and it would become unstable.
Best looking car I’ve seen in years
Agreed, its shape has an appeal. Also, having given attention to the seating design, in terms of space, it has a lot going for it ergonomically.
You and 52 people that gave you a thumbs-up had better hurry up and visit an eye doctor for serious visual issues. However, I'm afraid it's gonna turn out to be a simple case of poor taste, and that's is incurable.
The German public considered it unattractive, the reason why the car did not succeed. You can see why they felt that way, but it was a good try from an engineering point of view.
@@deanronson6331You have no taste yourself.
@@sorellmanNo I can't!
For the life of me I can't!!
This would make an excellent car even now!
I think it would have a strong tendency to lift fairly alarmingly at speed, and crash protection would be absolutely zero. It's a lovely car, though, but would have bee prohibitively expensive to manufacture in any quantity.
It is the Nissan Leaf only backward... 🤣🤣👍👍
8L / 100 km is really good, especially for an old 1930s engine!
Way ahead of its time, beautiful engineering design.
Alte deutsche Ingenieurskunst.Auch wenn sich dieses Muster in Gänze nicht durchgesetzt hat war es dennoch vorausschauend , vor allem innovativ und richtungsweisend.
More other-worldly German engineering from the period. Great find!
Everyone: There are alien civilizations out there.
Germans: Hold my beer 🍺
@@John-wd5cb Yup. Don't hold it, drink it. Thanks, man. 🍻😉
@@Mooncake-01Y09 Prost 🍻
@@John-wd5cbnot todays Germany.
Looks surprisingly futuristic for the 30's!
To the creators of this video. Have you ever heared of german aerodynamics expert Baron von Koenig- Fachsenfeld, who died in 1990s (1994?). A strange rural nobleman, autodidact ( No engineer!), who in his castle did aerodynamic experiments in a very small , Windkanal ' and wrote a book about his experimen. He was a nobleman, but Not as rich as you mighty think. In 1920s he took part in some motorcycle races, and he wanted faster motorcycles and cars , without using a more powerfull engines. There are old photos of one or two BMW cars with experimental Chassis (?)/ Karosserie of Baron von König - Fachsenfeld, and when you visit the castle , in a town district of Aalen ( Fachsenfeld), you can still see an experimental motorcycle and an experimental vehicle for a (failed) speed record. During National Socialists era, he was for his aerodynamics knowledge asked to work in aircraft industry, but He refused, claiming to be no trained scientist or engineer. But in reallity he didn' t like Hitler and didn't t want to be involved in building deadly war machines. After war his ,Scientists/ inventor ' time ended, became a man, who used his wealth and reputation for doing good things in Fachsenfeld Village.
There are good people in Germany.
@@redtobertshateshandles : I did two guided tours in his former estates(?) , one in castle, one in park. What good things did the last Baron of this family? After lost wwll milions of ethnic german s had to leave eastern europe, but there had been no houses or factores for those german refugees. The Baron transformed a sidebuilding of his Castle into a large workshop (?)/Werkstatt, where the noted refugees could produce ladders and toys, invented by himself. When school or Kindergarten needed things, being expensive, the Baron bought it , or used his title and Reputation for getting the things cheaper. When clubs or societies of Fachsenfeld did a good job, the Baron supported then ( but Not such ones, doing their job badly) . And : He was Not married, but every person, working for him, got its wage until a year after his death!
In his castle? He sounds a bit like Dr Frankenstein.
@@iankearns774 :: This ,Windkanal'/ aerodynamic chamber-shown was very small, so he did the tests assumingly with small toysized cars , motorcycles and planes or only small parts. The guided tour covers the castle/ in this case the englich words house/manor/ hall used would be perhaps better, and the only four or five generations, this family existed as noblemen. During early Napoleon Era, a common man named König became knighted for being a good Administration official, and to have a castle he bought the ruins of a lange house, owned by a nobleman, and started to rebuild it..His son also became a high Administration official in Justice or Financial service and finished the castle..This ones son enlarged the building and supported local artists, painters...The next one was not so well educated and mannered, and the last Baron i described. So, no old family, but mostly educated men in civilian positions.
@@brittakriep2938 Did you really you just respond to an ignorant comment about a castle and Dr. Frankenstein? How old are you that you cannot grasp the simple concept of sarcasm and people not caring about what you have to say? I fear this may be a medical condition that you have that doesn't allow you to relate to other human beings well. You are easily tricked and your mind continues to have your fingers type and type defending really nothing of importance. It's fine to post a comment with excellent information. It's your mental skills in decline that do not allow you to be judicial in your responses. I hope you have better days
The Germans and their engineering ….always way the hell ahead.
*were. That is definitely not the case now. The county is so inefficient as to make every stereotype a joke that is the opposite of reality
@@TheAsheybabe89alsmost true, the reason are over engineered laws and rules for everything thats that’s slowdowns everything. maybe the goal is we all dying in perfect beauty.
Our auto industry does not run like flint michigan. We are efficient, our cars are safe and don't break down all the time. The USA are our best customers.
The nazis raised the whole industry dictatorial capitalism with eat or be eaten. Trade unions eliminated, maximum exploitation with low wages and slave labor. It all sounds familiar to me! Isn't that how it is in the usa? Hmm...🤔
Sorry for this post!
It has been said the German tanks of WW2 were over engineered which led to lengthy repair/servicing problems.
I like it a lot!!!! Its a shame that no original exists today!!!!
Nice video. It's ultimate fate was - that it was never put into production.
Beautiful car
This car is designed like a woodlouse.
One of the most successful primordial animals on our planet.
🤣🤣🤣
A woodlouse on wheels?
@@B.Ies_T.Nduhey Bionics deals with the transfer of natural phenomena to technology. A well-known example of this is the Velcro fastener. Books by Werner Nachtigall are interesting.
😮i love it, its so beautiful! it looks so simple and sleek, but friendly.🥰
Another 1930s German Miracle 🙏
Hyperbole! Lol! Watch at 2:02
Of what exactly do you think here?
This is a great follow-on to your video on the Dymaxion Car. But like many of us subscribing to your channel; this is the first I'm ever hearing about the Schlörwagen. I wonder how many other experimental aerodynamic, "Art Deco" concept cars were made that I've never heard about . . . ?
32nd Like.
Reminds me a little of the AMC Pacer from years ago. it was a goofy-looking little car but was great for driving in and around town.
The pill bug is very low for it’s time, amazing design.
Close to the SAAB 92 UrSaab from 1947, which offers frontwheeldrive and a certain practicallity.
🙋♂️THANKS RETRO FOR SHARING THE PILLBUG 🤗😎💚💚💚
Vielen Dank für dieses Video.
Wow, never heard of this before! Shame it didn't survive to go in a museum. Great video👏🏻🇬🇧👏🏻
Excellent find.
Very interesting...Thanks for the upload!
That's absolutely beautiful and far ahead of its time. Even the rounded Ford Taurus wasn't so sleek. What's with the big fan or propeller attached to the vehicle? No explanation.
I think that's part of the wind test
2.35 sounds like that was the Soviet aero engine .
That was indeed the Soviet engine from 1942.
Wow! That was interesting indeed. Never heard of such a car before.
Gottingen was the place where professor Ludwig Prandtl established the MVA (Modellversuchsanstalt) research laboratory for fluid dynamics, particularly aerodynamics, in 1919 which became quite well known.
Another very notable person in that context is the Austrian engineer Paul Jaray who created several designs of aerodynamic cars in the 1920ies already.
The first car with an aerodynamic body shape built in series was the Tatra 77.
Professor Conrad von Seelhorst was one of my distant relatives.
A soil scientist.
Vehicles like this, Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion car (designed a few years before the Pillbug) and the Davis Divan, which came about a decade later, was cost. Curves were expensive back then.
hmm, there were quite a few other issues, like the dymaxions rear wheel steering. It was actually fabric covered like an airplane, so not an issue really to make curved surfaces.
@@PRH123 Made right here in Connecticut.
But none of the very fancy (and expensive) curved glass.
Bucky was on to something. It would be easy today with electronic steering and traction control.
And is 5 years younger. Wonder if Bucky knew about it
Genial was deutsche Ingenieure leisten.
For reference of drag coefficients: .20 is great for a modern car (Tesla Model S has .208). .30 is good (Average car). .40 is not so good (SUV) .50 is terrible (Truck)
0.000 (TicTac UFO)
Formular one goes up to 1.0 and these cars aerodynamical over engineered. But alway for what purpose. If you want high traction this will result in not the lowest numbers.
Looks like a pacer on stairoids.
I want one now !
I don’t like AI narratives
Yep, exsp when AI is not able to pronounce an Umlaut ö oder oe right, because it was programmed by native English speakers.
The narration is not really AI. It is a text to speech program. The computer probably is not writing the script. I do agree it is quite annoying.
It's the future where everything is kaput. 😂
Very nice
Eine sehr coole Kiste 😊
How could they manufacture these arched glass windows already in 1938?
It is probably not glass.
Cool car!
Target markets are usually very conservative. They don't easily take to new products that are too different or radical. I'm also guessing the costs for the manufacture of this vehicle would have gone well beyond what people were prepared to pay. Already the window glass would have cost a small fortune to make with the technology of those times.
I have never seen this before, what a masterpiece, at least in performance..!!
Is that a supercharger on there? Looks a lot like a VW Beetle chassis. I can see this on the road soon, with modern chassis, crumple zones, etc. Maybe move the seats back some for safety! There are lots of smaller cars running around today than this one. A truly unique, and ahead of its time, design.
Way ahead of its time
And a hundred year later, we get the Cybertruck...
This is like a smaller version of Buckminster Fuller’s Dimaxion Car! Beautiful
wow way beyond its time . impressive ! . also in 2024 that design is really pretty , efficient and marketable . tier drop every high end sports car everywhere
I would buy one today!
It obviously inspired the design of the B-hind of many 911's and a prolly also the Citroen DS series. Nice video :)
I was suprised by the initial drag coefficient as it was even less than Aptera, but then the number for the functional model was so much more. I wonder what changed, were they initially testing it without wheels or something. Anyone interested in efficiency check out Aptera Motors in California.
Reminded me of the Dymaxion car, at first thought it was 3 wheeler. The Dymaxion car was also susceptible to cross winds.
Groovy ❤
Who the heck would want it today?!
It’s kind of adorable. The more I look at it the more I like it
Wow a 6 seater. Imagine that as a family saloon today. Awesome. Now make a 2 seater with all wheel drive. Yeah Baby!
On October 18, 1933, the American philosopher-inventor R. Buckminster Fuller applies for a patent for his Dymaxion Car. The Dymaxion-the word itself was another Fuller invention, a combination of “dynamic,” “maximum,” and “ion”-looked and drove like no vehicle anyone had ever seen. Well worth a look .
This reminds very much of earlier and much better known Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion.
Aptera is a start-up that will be producing a very low-drag EV. The drag coefficient is 0.13 I believe. I hope you check it out. I have been following it for a long time and am very confident it will go into production. If you're a certified investor, you can invest through U.S. Capital. Crowdfunding was very successful but is closed now. Thank you Retro Car for this video - wonderful history.
Yes it will, but some backers will have waited 10 years by the time they get their cars, assuming the company stays solvent,
0:45 0.113
What is a good drag coefficient for a car?
The average modern automobile achieves a drag coefficient of between 0.25 and 0.3. Sport utility vehicles (SUVs), with their typically boxy shapes, typically achieve a Cd=0.35-0.45. The drag coefficient of a vehicle is. My Chevrolet Matiz 2005 has 0.342.
It looks great still modern today
Model 3 is the most aerodynamic Tesla ever, according to official information, with a drag coefficient of 0.219.
timeless design.
Looks very much like the car proposed by Norman Bel Geddes in his book Horizons published several years earlier, 1933, in the USA.
Cool car. Looks like a modern version of the Alfa Romeo Aerodinamica from 1914.
The '30s holds some more great Aero models. Lots if design thise days was amazing, really.
It looks likes a large metal bug, but it`s way cool!
A car this shape was already invented in 1924 by an engineer called Persu.This one is a better copy of that one.
Looks like a retro concept car for Bad Chad to hammer one out :-)
0:19 The rear ist very similar to Citroën ID 19 and DS series - about 17 years later...
Inspired the UFO Phenomenon
I'll bet it was hot as hell on a sunny summer day. This was before automotive air conditioning, and how much of yhe aerodynamic fuel savings would be eaten up by the AC?
In cross section, it's a wing, which is bad news for higher speed stability due to it literally trying to lift off the ground. A better design would be to have the same basic shape but with the rear third curving up from below instead of downward.
Way cooler than the v.w. beetle!
Fun fact: The 90ties cartoon TaleSpin featured a Schlörwagen in its fifth episode, albeit art deco design elements where added to it to fit the shows artistic style.
I want one.
Now this should have been called the Beetle. 'Bugs' and 'Pills' are not gonna get customers queueing around the block - unlike Beatles or Beetles...
Paul G
amazing CD, hey?
First the car then the world
Note the fully enclosed driveline which is not unlike some premium modern cars! 👍🏻
Or GM's torque tube from the early 50's
Cool! Did you look to the RO 80 with Wankel motor..
The US had the Stout Scarab and the Dymaxion. Both shared some of the same ideas. While a lot of developments came out of the war, many good ideas were lost
Sensitivity to Side Wind seems a common drawback in drop shaped body cars.
I endorse Janice Joplin:
'Hey, guy, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz, my friends all drive Porsches..., I'm counting in you, man...'
Gesund +
actually:
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends
So, oh, Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
@@babagalacticus Yes! But comment was inspired in Janis Joplin song, not just a quotation. Thanks
I'd buy it.
Me too !!!
Modifications would be necessary for safety regulations today.
If you turn it 180* it will work better...look at 3:17🎉
The 'problem' about it turning is, that it has to transport people from one place to another 😉
"...wind-tunnel test..."
😎
It has just the shape of a
falling drop of water...
A falling water drop is ball-shaped
This is the only battery electric car I will accept.
Why?
Pillbug is certainly an apt name! She's got a great drive train! But as they say, she's got a face only a Mother could love!
00:00:10 It looks like the Twingo's Great great grandad.
This looks like Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Car (1933.)
Looks very much like The Dymaxion Car ( Buckminster Fuller ) 1933
How was the engine cooled? In the blow up at 0:48, I see no radiator, and there are no louvers anywhere on the car. Very interesting concept, though, nipped in the bud as were many things by WW II.
Hard to swallow all that information , gulp .
For reference as of 2024 it's drag coefficient is as good as any other ultra advanced electric car. The Light Year Zero is 0.175, and the Lucid Air achieves 0.195.
Hints of Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion car.
With a VW1.9 TDI , low rolling resistance tyres would be a winner.
The first Ur Saab around 1946-1949 is a other milestone...
In fact it is based on a much older Alfa Romeo, I think from the 20s or 30s, which had an even more extreme waterdrop shape. These cars looked too futuristic for their time and as you know people don't like change if its not explained to them.
1914 Aerodinamica
looks similar to: The Dymaxion car was designed by American inventor Buckminster Fuller during the Great Depression and featured prominently at Chicago's 1933/1934 World Fair.
What an imaginative difference compared with cars today where they all look alike per class and they only come in grey or silver gray.
Resembles the helmets of the guards from the Death Star in Star Wars.
This shape would radically enhance the range of electric cars... See Aptera
Seems like a better version of the Dymaxion car
Beautiful thing?? Advanced!! Just as the first VW beetle from Josef Ganz and the first VW campervan of Ben Pon. They were genious,