NSU Prinz

The NSU Prinz is an automobile produced in West Germany by the NSU Motorenwerke AG. The car was built from 1957 to 1973, and received a model change in 1961 (the old model was continued until 1962).

NSU Prinz 30

NSU Prinz 30
Overview
Production	1958-1962
Assembly	West Germany Australia [1]
Body and chassis
Body style	2-door saloon[2]
Related	Ramses [3]
Powertrain
Engine	583 cc (35.6 cu in) Straight-2 [2] rear-mounted air-cooled
Transmission	4-speed manual all-synchromesh[2]
Dimensions
Length	124 in (3,150 mm) [2]
Width	56 in (1,422 mm) [2]
Height	53 in (1,346 mm)[2]

The first post war NSU car appeared at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 1957 accompanied by the advertising slogan "Fahre Prinz und Du bist König" ("Drive a Prince and you're a king").^[4] After a pilot run of 150 preproduction cars, volume production began in March 1958.^[5]

The first generation Prinz was available with a saloon body featuring an upright roof line and seating for four people. The doors opened wide enough to permit reasonable access even to the rear seats, although leg room was severely restricted if attempting to accommodate four full sized adults.^[2] In addition to a luggage compartment accessed via a hatch at the front of the car and shared with the spare wheel and fuel filler, there was a narrow but deep full width space behind the rear seat sufficient to accommodate a holiday suitcase.^[2]

Prinz 30

The noisy^[2] two-cylinder 600 cc 20 PS (15 kW; 20 hp) engine was located at the back where it drove the rear wheels, initially via a "crash" gearbox. Later versions gained a four-speed all-synchromesh gearbox. Contemporaries were impressed by the brevity of the maintenance schedule, with the engine, gear box and final drive operating as a single chamber and all lubricated by means of oil, added through a filler in the rocker box cover.^[2] There were just two grease nipples requiring attention, positioned on the steering kingpins.^[2] The engine was also commended in contemporary reports for its fuel economy and longevity.^[2] Although noisy, the engine offered impressive flexibility, recalling NSU's strengths as a motorcycle manufacturer.^[2]

In 1959, a little coupé was added, the Sport Prinz. NSU received government approval to build the Prinz in Brazil in the late 1950s, but nothing came of the project.^[6]

NSU Sport Prinz

1964 Sport Prinz.

The Sport Prinz was designed by Franco Scaglione at Bertone studios in Turin. Approximately 20,831 were manufactured between 1959 and 1967. The first 250 bodies were built by Bertone in Turin. The rest were built in Neckarsulm at a company called Drautz which was later bought by NSU. It was not much seen outside Germany.^{[citation needed]} However, a spider (convertible) variant was the first production car in the world powered by a Wankel rotary.^{[citation needed]}

Sport Prinz, rear view

First models had the 583 cc (35.6 cu in) Prinz 30 straight-2 engine but a maximum speed of 120 km/h (75 mph) was nevertheless claimed.

Later, the Sport Prinz acquired the 598 cc (36.5 cu in) engine of the Prinz 4.

NSU Prinz 4

NSU Prinz 4
Overview
Also called	Ramses II (ET) NSU P-1000 (URU, 1963-1964)
Production	1961-1973
Body and chassis
Body style	2-door saloon[7]
Related	NSU P6 (Uruguay, 1963-1967) NSU P10 (Uruguay, 1970-1971)
Powertrain
Engine	598 cc (36.5 cu in) Straight-2 ohv[7] rear-mounted air-cooled
Transmission	4-speed manual all-synchromesh[7]
Dimensions
Wheelbase	70.3 in (1,786 mm)[7]
Length	138 in (3,505 mm) [7]
Width	58.6 in (1,488 mm) [7]
Height	53.5 in (1,359 mm)[7]

One of the revelations of the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 1961,^[8] the Prinz 4 replaced the original Prinz. Its new body closely resembled the then fashionable Chevrolet Corvair, but was of course much smaller. Like the original Prinz, it was powered by a two-cylinder air-cooled engine in the rear. The Prinz 4 was much improved and continued to be a well-engineered car, like its predecessors. The engine carried on the tradition of eccentric rod driven camshaft inherited from NSU motorcycle engines and interestingly had a dynastart (combined starter/generator) built into the crankcase. Later four-cylinder engines adopted the more conventional (pre-engaged) separate starter motor and alternator.

In 1968, Britain's Autocar road tested a Super Prinz. They had tested a Prinz 4 in 1962, and in commenting on how little the car had changed in the intervening six years quipped some of their road testers appeared to have gained more weight than the commendably light-weight Prinz in that period.^[7] The test car achieved a top speed of 113 km/h (70 mph) and accelerated to 97 km/h (60 mph) in 35.7 seconds.^[7] The home grown Mini 850 reached 97 km/h (60 mph) in 29.5 seconds in an equivalent recent test and also managed to beat the NSU's top speed, albeit only by about 3%.^[7] At this time, the UK car market was heavily protected by tariffs, and the Prinz's UK manufacturer's recommended retail price was £597, which was more than the (possibly below cost)^{[citation needed]} £561 asked for the 850 cc Mini, but certainly not completely out of touch with it.^[7] The testers concluded their report that the car was competitively priced in its class and performed adequately.^[7] They opined, cautiously, it offered 'no more than the rest' but neither did it 'lack anything important'.

Prinz 4

Prinz derivatives

NSU TTS 1976 at the Nürburgring

The NSU Prinz evolved into the somewhat larger bodied NSU 1000, NSU 1000TT, NSU 1200TT and NSU TTS models, introduced in 1963. All had the same body with straight-4 aircooled OHC engines and were frequently driven as sports cars, but also as economical family cars as well. The engines were very lively, and highly reliable. Paired with the low total weight, excellent handling and cornering, both the NSU 1000 and the much higher powered NSU 1200 TT/TTS outperformed many sportscars.

In 1965, an even larger model was added, initially called Typ 110, and from 1967 on NSU 1200. It offered more space, so it was a better family car, but was not as sporty as the smaller models. Therefore, the NSU 1200TT used the 1200 cc engine of the 1200 in the smaller body of the NSU 1000.

End of production

When NSU was acquired by Volkswagen in 1969, it was merged with Auto Union AG. Auto Union had previously been taken over by VW in 1964 and produced mid-sized cars, resurrecting the Audi marque. The name of the new company changed to Audi NSU Auto Union AG. The small, rear-engined NSUs were phased out in 1973, as they were far too competitive against Volkswagen's own Type 1^{[citation needed]} and production capacity was needed for larger and more profitable Audis. The successor of the NSU Prinz was the front-wheel drive Audi 50, later rebadged Volkswagen Polo.

Related models

Under license, the Prinz was manufactured in Sarajevo, Bosnia, by PRETIS (Preduzece Tito Sarajevo).

The Prinz was also manufactured in Argentina by Autoar, making mainly models Prinz II and Prinz III / 30. A total of 2.432 units were built between 1959 and 1963. It is told only 40-45 Sportprinz and a few Prinz IV (less than 10) were imported.^{[citation needed]}

The Ramses was the first car produced in Egypt, and was the result of a co-operation between the new Egyptian car firm Egyptian Light Transport Manufacturing Company, and NSU. The factory was located right next to the Great Pyramids. Plans were to produce around 10,000 cars a year, most of the work being manual labor.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to NSU Prinz.

• http://www.nsu-ig.de/
• http://www.nsuprinz.com/
• Restored NSU Sport Prinz in Israel