Vanderbilt Cup Races

Three photos found in the box were of this extremely unusual vehicle. But what in the world is it?

With the only caption on the back simply stating, 'Rear engine German car', it is definitely not a VW Beetle and about 10 years too early to be one.

Introducing the creation of Edmund Rumpler, known as the 'Tropfenwagen'. 

Edmund Elias Rumpler (January 4th 1872 – September 7th 1940) was an Austrian automobile and aircraft designer, building his Tropfenwagen from 1921-1925.

Tropfenwagen in German translates to 'Teardrop Car', and Rumpler has the honor of designing the very first 'aerodynamic' automobile, pre-dating the Chrysler Airflow and Czech Tatra vehicles of a few years later. Benz also had a Tropfenwagen that was built on a Rumpler chassis.

Despite being the first experiment in automotive aerodynamics, it was so well designed in 1921, that it had a drag coefficient of 0.28 which is excellent by even today's standards with most current modern cars having a drag coefficient of 0.26 on down to 0.19. A 1930's era FIAT for instance, would have seen a coefficient of 0.60.

Drag coefficient numbers were confirmed though modern wind tunnel testing at Volkswagen's state-of-the-art wind tunnel in 1979.

 Of note in this last photo are the semaphore turn signals that can be seen sticking out from the side of the car. These may be the earliest incarnation of these that I have ever seen. Like a 1950's era VW Beetle, these would mechanically pop out from the side of the vehicle with a small light at the end of the 'flag' to denote the turning intentions of the driver.

Before his automotive endeavors, Rumpler designed aircraft. The 'Rumpler-Taube', or 'Rumplers' Pigeon' in English, was a two seater aircraft designed well before WW1.

The first Tropfenwagen in 1921.

Advertising brochures touted the lack of dust from its advanced aerodynamics as compared to other contemporary vehicles.

As time wore on, Rumpler developed a larger, stretched version of the car...

...as well as an open top Phaeton version.

Here can also be seen the unique central driver's position in the car for maximum visibility.

To solve the issue of being devoid of a trunk, Rumpler built storage compartments in the area above the engine for luggage and tools.

A spare tire was hidden behind a door at the bottom of the vehicle as well.

Rumpler may have been extremely successful with his aerodynamic design, but the car itself was not a success. Buyers were put off by the new, and unusual, design. Rumpler should have paid more attention to the engineering side of production as well.  The Tropfenwagens were plagued with cooling, steering and fuel consumption issues. Buyers of the day were also faced with an extremely high price tag. Half the cost of a Rumpler could have bought you a Mercedes of the day, so buyers went elsewhere.

Of the 100 built between 1921-1925, only 2 are left in existence.

The one seen here resides on display at the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin today, with the other at Volkswagen's Museum at its factory in Wolfsburg, Germany.

A 1920's British Pathe film of an early Tropfenwagen on German streets.

In depth analysis of the aerodynamics.