AutoCult Wendax WS 750 Sedan (1950) (Germany)

About the Original

A bluff, weaknesses and a devasting article!

The company `Draisinenbau Dr. Alpers & Co KG` began to manufacture cars under the company name `Wendax` from 1947. In addition to the Aero WS 700, the plant also offered a van. The short-term sales success spurred the company owner, Dr. Adolf Alpers, to accelerate the business. In his mind’s eye he had a limousine following the example of the type Hansa 1500 from Borgward. Within the extremely short time of a few months, the new passenger car had been designed and put into production.

The high capacity utilization of the plant with the type Aero and the resumption of handcar construction for the railway tied up all the workers, so that there was no capacity to test the new car intensively. The selling price stated exactly 5,750 DM. The price was calculated extremely tight that it hardly made a profit, but caused a sensation in the scene!

As it quickly turned out, however, Dr Adolf Alpers’ calculation did not work out.

The initial euphoria of the 102 km/h-fast sedan, designated as WS 750, first available in 1950, quickly evaporated. The reason for this were enormous quality and design failings. Complaints led to needed capacity for the repairs. Workers had to be withdrawn from series production, so that the promised, short delivery times of the new vehicles could no longer be met. The final death blow was finally suffered as the well-known journalist Werner Oswald published his article “In Sachen Wendax” (“Regarding Wendax”) in the automobile magazine ‘Das Auto’ in 1951.

Dr. Adolf Alpers had to file for bankruptcy for his vehicle construction division in 1951. In total, only 55 Wendax WS 750 left the plant located in Hamburg, Wendestraße.