Auto Design

After a degree in engineering followed by doctoral studies, Wunibald Kamm worked at Daimler – Motoren – Gesellschaft (1922-1925), Schwabische Huttenwerke (1925) and the German Aviation Test Centre (1926-1930).

On 1st April 1930, Kamm was appointed Professor of Power Engineering and Vehicle Engines at Stuttgart Technical University. In the same year, he founded the non-profit foundation Research Institute for Power Engineering and Vehicle Engines Stuttgart (FKFS), which allowed him to carry out research and cooperate with industry outside the strict rules of the university.

This is where the K-Wagen (Kamm Car) was produced. It was a research car with reduced consumption and a streamlined shape with low air resistance. Four cars were produced between 1938 and 1941. The vehicles featured a profile similar to an airfoil with a shortened rear and a pronounced boat tail form.

Apart from the aerodynamic features with drag coefficients down to 0.23 (contemporary production vehicles had values of 0.5 to 0.6), other features included automatic tyre pressure adjustment (to reduce rolling resistance), overdrive gear (to reduce consump­tion) and mixture leaning for the engine at motorway speeds (also to reduce consumption).

The third car K3 shown here is based on a chassis of the Mercedes Benz 170V and was built in 1938/39.

The series version of the 170 V reached a top speed of almost 110 km/h. The aerodynamic structure and the other modifications improved the top speed to more than 125 km/h and this was in a four-cylinder 1.7 engine producing only 38 hp.

Compared with K1 and K2, the third car was designed for more comfort and the drag coefficients were therefore below the values of the two predecessor models, which had been designed for uncompromisingly aerodynamic design. However, all four cars had at least one fundamental feature in common: the characteristically foreshortened “Kamm tail” named after its inventor.