1932 Horch 670 Sport Cabriolet by Gläser

The Horch was a celebrated German marque whose saga goes back to the earliest days of motorcar production. Founder August Horch had worked with Karl Benz in Mannheim before a disagreement prompted him to form his own company in 1899.

In 1909 Horch had a falling out with his board of directors and departed to start yet another automobile company: Audi. Meanwhile Paul Daimler had left Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft in Stuttgart and joined Horch in 1932. Under Paul Daimler's direction, Horch moved into the prestige ranks of Mercedes and Maybach.

The Horch 12 (type 670 and 600) are cars with twelve-cylinder engine from the Zwickau Horchwerke (from June 1932 part of the Auto Union ). As the first German vehicle had the Horch 670/600 engines with hydraulic tappets , which eliminates the setting of the valve clearance .

Of the 1931-1934 built a total of 81 cars four Horch 670 convertibles are obtained.

In the autumn of 1931 - before the merger of Audi , DKW , Horch and Wanderer to Auto Union - was first presented at the Paris Motor Show , the Type 670 with 3.45 meters wheelbase , which was only available as a two-door convertible . By the end of production in 1934, the Zwickau factory built a total of 53 Horch 670 .

In 1932, the Auto Union presented the Horch 600, which was used with 3.75 m wheelbase for the sedan and the four-door Pullman convertible. After delivery of 28 vehicles, the Horch 600 production ended in the following year 1933.

Both vehicles corresponded in appearance largely the eight-cylinder Horch type 780B and 500B. Striking was the three-piece windshield. The Horch 12 was in competition with the eight-cylinder Mercedes Type 770 ("Big Mercedes") and the twelve-cylinder Maybach Zeppelin DS 8 . Since many potential customers had less money after the world economic crisis of 1929, the Horch vehicles with a new price starting at 23,500 Reichsmark were significantly cheaper than the Mercedes or Maybach cars (approximately 45,000 and 35,000 RM, respectively, based on the year 1932) these sums adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency approx. 93,000, 177,000 and 138,000 euros).

The newly designed by Fritz Fiedler 120 hp (88 kW) at 3200 / min strong V-engine with 6 liters of displacement and 66 degrees bank angle has a seven- bearing crankshaft . The driven via a chain with automatic tensioning camshaft is centrally between the two cylinder banks and operated via rocker arm, the horizontally arranged valves ( SV valve control ). The sealing surface between the cylinder block and head and thus the head gasket were kinked . The driver could from the dashboard of the cylindersand piston via its own line system to supply lubricating oil, which increased the compression and thus facilitated the cold start.

The four-speed gearbox of the Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen is operated with a gear lever in the center of the car. The gears two to four are synchronized, so that no intermediate gas or "double clutch" was required when switching.

The conventional chassis with leaf-sprung rigid axle’s front and rear came from the eight-cylinder 780B / 500B. The Bosch Dewandre servo brake with suction air assisted reduced pedal forces. As a special feature had the Horch 12 permanently installed hydraulic jack for the wheel change.

Horch 670 Cabriolets can be visited in the museum mobile of Audi in Ingolstadt, the time house of the Autostadt in Wolfsburg and in the Cité de l'Automobile - Collection Schlumpf in Mulhouse in Alsace (France).

Descriptions & pictures by Wikipedia & flickr & en.wheelsage & other