The X---- Porsche cars

[neilbardsley]

thank you yes. Interesting looking car

[Jack Staggs]

I don't recognize the door handle as being from Porsche. Do you have mor details?

[Porschinelle]

So to day the Denzel story

Wolfgang Denzel was born in 1909 in Graz in Austria not far from Gmund
After engineering studies he joigned an electric motor company
He was already found of mechanical sports (cars and motorbykes) and also an excellent sailor

[Porschinelle]

During the second WW he worked with Ferdinand Porsche in the KDF project, and they exchanged ideas on building sport cars
At the end of the war he started his own company and became importator of the BMW motorbykes for Austria
He also open a coachwork operation
In 1945 for his own purpose he modify a Kubelwagen in a rallye car and raced it in local Austrian races
In 1948 he went a step ahead by building a race car with a wood chassis and a plastic coated body
In 1949 he won the Austrian Alpen rallye with this car and discover at the same time than Ferry and Ferdinad Porsche, that their is may be a market for this type of cars

For the small history 48

[Porschinelle]

It took 3 years to Wolfgang Denzel to develop the car and the first sales happen in 1951
This car had an aluminium body on a steel chassis with an improved 1.3 L VW engine delivering 52HP

[Porschinelle]

This car became famous in 1954 when Wolfgang Denzel teamed with his associate Hubert Stroinnig won the famous "Coupe des Alpes"

[Porschinelle]

The first Denzel had a split windsreen similar to the one on the 356







Porsche Gmund

[Porschinelle]

All the Denzel had a shortened VW chassis
The engine were also from VW origin but improved by Denzel to give more and more power
Denzel was working in cooperation with Okrasa and Oettinger and in 1958 Empi was offering in the US Denzel parts

[Porschinelle]

Denzel cars were appreciated for their low weight and obtain some success in France as a rallye car

[Porschinelle]

In 1956 big step ahead
The only VW part left is the chassis
The engine are now 1.6 L Porsche and the car may be now called Denzel-Porsche
Demand his high mainly from the US, but Wolfgang Denzel has difficulty to move from handcraft to industrial
Furthermore VW who have started their own sport car in cooperation with Karmann and Ghia, refuse to deliver new chassis in 1959
Wolfgang Denzel decide to stop building cars that same 1959 year
The total number of Denzel car built vary from 65 to 300 depending upon where you take your information
Around 45 cars still exist to day

Some more pics

[Trevor]

I've posted this link before, but for easy reference since we're talking about Glockler cars, I have albums/folders set up on Facebook for each individual car. Pics are either ones I've taken myself at car shows, found online, bought at auction or had people email me.

https://www.facebook.com/PorscheGlocklerEnthusiasts/photos_stream?tab=photos_albums

[Trevor]

Regarding Denzel, there is a book titled "Wolfgang Denzel"
http://www.amazon.de/Wolfgang-Denzel-Sein-Sportwagen-BMW/dp/3851193148

It's only available in German but the pics are great, it also gives a list of all the cars produced.

There was also a 2 part article written and published in the SoCal 356 Club magainze that is a good read on Denzels. Issues:
(1) Volume 20 Number 1 Spring 2014
(2) Volume 30 Number 3 Fall 2014.

In terms of the Denzel chassis, the first Denzels were based upon a VW Kubelwagen chassis, then Denzel went to completely making their own. There is a nice collection of pics on FB: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Denzel-Sportcar-Fanpage/226179424131852?sk=photos_stream&tab=photos_albums

[Porschinelle]

Hi Trevor

When I started the Glockler topic I knew for having read some months ago one of its post, that one of this site member was a very qualified Glockler specialist, but impossible to remember who it was
Also impossible to talk of the X---Porsche cars without talking of Glockler
I hope I have not said too much stupidities
Congratulation for your work on facebook that I did found as younhave certainly noticed it and sorry to have not mention your name

[Trevor]

No need for an apology, I thoroughly enjoy reading your posts and information and I'm certainly far from a specialist on Glockler, I just have an obsession with these early Glockler cars and the FB page is a way to organize all the pics into something that people can view and educate themselves about. I've only just begun to try and triangulate the pics with the who, where and when details of them. The Glockler cars truly were the precursor to the 550 and I love the DIY aspect of Helmut and Walter Glockler - much in the way of the famous quote of Ferry Porsche - "In the beginning I looked around but couldn't find the car I dreamt of, so I decided to build it myself." Same goes for Glockler, he couldn't find the perfect race car, so he built it himself.

[Porschinelle]

Back now to Denzel with some pics