We had one in the day in Australia... baby blue. It was my mothers car and she had it for years... It performed really well and its handling was spectacular ! I would love to drive one again...
Something that I love about the smaller European cars from that era, was the astounding space efficiency. I’m 6’ 3”, and I can comfortably fit in Renault Dauphine, 4CV, R4 and R8’s, Heinkels, Isetta’s, the Prinz, etc. The same cannot be said for a lot of modern hatchbacks, and even some sedans!
I learned to drive in one of these. Ours was a 60 but didn't have the rear opening windows. I always remember "26 hp" certainly not 40. It cruised the freeways at 65 no problem and got 40 mpg. Like early VWs, there's no fuel gauge. You run it until it wants to quit, then pull a lever somewhere under the dash which gives you a small reserve like older motorcycles. It was our family's daily driver for two years.
About 1968 I went by a friends house & he had a 1963 I think? it was a 2 cyl & he sold me it for $15! Pushed it home about 2 blks Me & my friend were 13 yrs old!
Cool video! Growing up, my neighbor, Norby Rosenborg, had two of these! A minor FYI, the letter Z in German has the same pronunciation as the Z in Italian... Think Pizza. Therefore, the NSU Prinz carries the same meaning and is pronounced exactly like it's English counterpart, "Prince". Nice video! Thanks!
I had no idea they made 2 cylinder versions. I suppose you probably know that the Prinz 4 cylinder was the powerplant for the Munch Mammoth motorcycle. I'd love to have a Sport Prinz. I believe a Sport Prinz was the first car to recieve a Wankel engine as NSU is the company that gave Felix Wankel the funds to produce the first rotary prototype engine. A one rotor engine they stuck in a few Sport Prinz's. I am guessing the Dynastart must be momentarily converting the generator to a motor?
Glad to see you and a few others are showing historic variety. In England we have Hubnut. We got the larger NSU Prinz and all in colours you should never paint a car in.
RO 80 Was 2 rotor and They were plagued with short engine life before needing a rebuild because of poor apex seals which were made from wrong material and fragile. Not many folks on Earth own an RO80. Just like almost nobody has an example of the Citroen model with the single rotor.
Any plans for a 'test drive' in a Borgward Isabella (also from the Fatherland)? I test drove a '58 in 1959. It rode smoother and quieter than any of the "low-priced" three from Detroit of that era, full sized American cars!
Was wondering what a 'dynastar' light was? Looked it up... 'Dynastart', a combined starter/generator. Impressive little car. Even more impressed after I looked it up on Wikipedia.
Dynastarts were very unreliable and no mechanics knew how to work on them. If they were any good, cars would have them today, but they don't, they have a separate starter and alternator.
@@xyz2121The starter-generator was very handy to get to, and pretty simple really. It just took a certain amount of time and patience working on your back under the car.
My parents immigrated from Germany in the mid fifties. They had the exact same car right down to the color. After a couple of brutally cold northern Wisconsin winters with a feeble air cooled cars heater the bought a Opel Kadett.
Mark the Ultramax camshaft drive uses just two rods to rotate the cam. The third rod is simply a distance piece. It just lengthens or shortens with changing engine temperature.
Hi, I own a Prinz 30 from 1959 fully operational. Also a Dkw 3=6 sonderklass as you have on the back of your video. I Have also some NSU parts for sale. Not many, but still...
Hi Richard, What an exciting example of 60's mini cars.......and check out the "scoot" from 5 to 45 mph....tell me again , what kind of starter it has ?? It sounded like something rather simple.... Again this is a very cool little vehicle.....Thank you for the video- I love it when you take ' us' ( the audience) for a ride....Thanks again..!!!
Interesting that some of the features are similar to the VW Beetles of the time, the round vents by the headlights, the stick shift etc. Being 6'4" tall I often complain about lack of leg room for the driver, judging how scrunched up he is, modern cars have nothing on(lack of ) leg room on the NSU. Love that tinny sound when the door is closed. One thing I find curious is the driveline tunnel on a rear engine,rear drive car.Are the shift linkages really that big that you need a tunnel? Cool car just the same.Like the VW, it probably gave mobility to many families who wouldn't be able to afford a car otherwise. Remember seeing a lot of these running around in rural Germany when I was a kid, and am surprised that they were actually imported to the U.S. I don't remember ever seeing one here. Enjoy your videos, keep showing us those oddball cars that many people probably don't know even existed.
There is a large heat duct the runs thru the tunnel to supply heat to the defroster as well as all the cables and shifter back to engine, makes for strong body support too
You havent driven one, have you? I have and its the only car my mother refused to get into after a demo. This was in 1963 when I was selling used cars and had almost every other night a different set of wheels to get her to her job and me back to the lot. It stank, was noisy, tiny and had no power at all. To say it had 40 hp is stupid. A 56 VW had1200 cc and produced 36 hp.
You condemn the brand because you took a ride in one 60 years ago that smelled bad? You don't hold on to things do you? Ever been in a locker room? Well, if your mother says it's bad I guess that settles it. A 600cc 2 stroke is lighter, fires twice as often and put out twice the power of a heavy 4 stroke 1200cc VW boxer. Why do you think they were used almost exclusively on dirt bikes that raced in cc class for so many years. You would think that a former automotive expert would know something about motors and how they develop power.
Probably. My XS1100 Yamaha motorcycle has an ignition system of that type. Fires @ every TDC. So it fires the intake charge and again when it hits TDC after pushing the spent charge out the exhaust valve.
They use to get up to 75 mph on the flat but if u got a gust of wind across the bow she damn near changed lanes lol. The front was very light I could lift the whole front of the car off the ground when I was 17 years old.I had mine for just on a year but at 17 it wasnt fast enough for me lol.
So on the driver side the back part of the window slides forwards and on the passenger side the front part of the window slides backwards? Weird! :-) And yes, the beetle had the reverse to the left and back.
Keith Johnson it sure does. I've wondered about that myself. I don't have an answer. I just found out this car was imported from South America, as it has the very unusual rear windows. Maybe the hole has something to with being built in Argentina?
My cousin bought one used. A week later he decided to go on vacation in it. After 50 miles it set fire, and burnt completely to the ground. Fortunately he got out, and managed to take his suitcase. They had air-cooled engines and were renown for setting fire.
I think that is a Transverse engine..,not an inline.Im basing this on the location of the spark plugs and the generator?,down in the cooling inlet chute.
Transverse refers to the direction the engine is mounted in the car (sideways), not the design of the engine itself. An inline engine has the cylinders all in a row, pointing the same direction, as compared to a V, where the cylinders are at an angle to each other, or a horizontally opposed engine, where the cylinders are in opposite directions. The position of the spark plugs on this engine shows that it is indeed an inline two cylinder, _and_ is transverse mounted.
Hello there. We have 4 prinz's. All barn finds, one is complete in a shed and the other 3 have been left out in an apple orchard for the last few decades. Located near the welsh border in England
The Russian version of the NSU Prins was the Zaz 968 with an aircooled 4 stroke four cylinder boxer. They are not cheap today since the Russians has become collectors too. But i believe they go for less than a NSU.
Those rotary one's were rare. More or less prototypes with 1 rotor as Felix Wankel worked for NSU and they gave him funding to produce the prototype single rotor engines on a small run. Something like 30 years after he designed and patented the concept at age 19 or 20.
I have fond memories of a flat black '58 Simca Aronde my friend drove all thru high school. I don't know if it ever broke down on him. He seemed to be driving it every day.
My father had one. This one here is not too reliable by modern standards. But it did not really matter, as every locksmith or petrol station owner could it get back running in 15 minutes. Seeing all these cars, I think progress would be going a little bit back to the basics.
Reliable when new but not when they got older. You would have to be your own mechanic. Spare parts have to come from Germany and are very expensive if you can even find them.
I have all original glass from a 1960 Prinz in excellant condition for sale. 1,000 for windshield, best offer or trade for everything else. Northern California.
+cacaaleau A LOT of people lost their lives in cars like this back in the old days, so many things we take for granted now in cars like crumple zones, proper defogging of windows, etc... all this saves lives.
No seat belts, I smacked my forehead into the windshield when the failing brakes didn't stop the car in time. I once saw a Prinz in a field behind a 7-11 with a round hole burst through the driver's side of the front windshield. So you know what happened to its previous owner
They were not very popular in the UK. I don't remember ever seeing one. I saw more Isettas than these. The later NSUs were a little more common. I actually prefer the design of this NSU to the Fiat 500/600. I guess NSU's engineering and marketing could not compete with Fiat.
We had one in the day in Australia... baby blue. It was my mothers car and she had it for years... It performed really well and its handling was spectacular ! I would love to drive one again...
Something that I love about the smaller European cars from that era, was the astounding space efficiency. I’m 6’ 3”, and I can comfortably fit in Renault Dauphine, 4CV, R4 and R8’s, Heinkels, Isetta’s, the Prinz, etc. The same cannot be said for a lot of modern hatchbacks, and even some sedans!
Beautiful well designed car and great presentation. Thanks for doing this video.
David Bostock My pleasure and no Problem. Thanks for coming along for a ride !
That was my very first car! Loved it! So sorry I ever let it go.
I learned to drive in one of these. Ours was a 60 but didn't have the rear opening windows. I always remember "26 hp" certainly not 40. It cruised the freeways at 65 no problem and got 40 mpg. Like early VWs, there's no fuel gauge. You run it until it wants to quit, then pull a lever somewhere under the dash which gives you a small reserve like older motorcycles. It was our family's daily driver for two years.
NSU were such well engineered cars, and they were no slouches, either! Lovely.
About 1968 I went by a friends house & he had a 1963 I think? it was a 2 cyl & he sold me it for $15! Pushed it home about 2 blks Me & my friend were 13 yrs old!
Can't tell you how many times I had to push start my father's on a cold winter's morning.
I noticed you got there an early 80's Autobianchi and a mid 50's Renault 4CV waiting to be restored. nice collection! BTW cool videos.
Cool video! Growing up, my neighbor, Norby Rosenborg, had two of these! A minor FYI, the letter Z in German has the same pronunciation as the Z in Italian... Think Pizza. Therefore, the NSU Prinz carries the same meaning and is pronounced exactly like it's English counterpart, "Prince". Nice video! Thanks!
Magnificent little car... I've never seen one up close before!
+doctor zaius they are very fun indeed
Just awesome!! Thanks for the ride!!
I had no idea they made 2 cylinder versions. I suppose you probably know that the Prinz 4 cylinder was the powerplant for the Munch Mammoth motorcycle. I'd love to have a Sport Prinz. I believe a Sport Prinz was the first car to recieve a Wankel engine as NSU is the company that gave Felix Wankel the funds to produce the first rotary prototype engine. A one rotor engine they stuck in a few Sport Prinz's. I am guessing the Dynastart must be momentarily converting the generator to a motor?
There was a guy who made a straight-8 with a pair of NSU 1000 engines. Don't know if the video still exists or not.
Glad to see you and a few others are showing historic variety. In England we have Hubnut.
We got the larger NSU Prinz and all in colours you should never paint a car in.
NSU were the first to introduce the Wankel rotary engine family sedan the RO 80 (1967 - 1977)
De first rotary engine was in to the NSU Spider it was a one rotar engine
Yes. Correct. They made some single rotor Sport Prinz.
RO 80 Was 2 rotor and They were plagued with short engine life before needing a rebuild because of poor apex seals which were made from wrong material and fragile. Not many folks on Earth own an RO80. Just like almost nobody has an example of the Citroen model with the single rotor.
@@gregorytimmons4777 They did solve the problem with the apex seals using a special engineered material but it was too late to save NSU.
Any plans for a 'test drive' in a Borgward Isabella (also from the Fatherland)? I test drove a '58 in 1959. It rode smoother and quieter than any of the "low-priced" three from Detroit of that era, full sized American cars!
I didn't even realise it was your channel just looked up this car out of curiosity
😁
The battery originally went under the rear seat like a Beatle, but lots were changed to the back.
Was wondering what a 'dynastar' light was? Looked it up... 'Dynastart', a combined starter/generator. Impressive little car. Even more impressed after I looked it up on Wikipedia.
Dynastarts were very unreliable and no mechanics knew how to work on them. If they were any good, cars would have them today, but they don't, they have a separate starter and alternator.
@@xyz2121The starter-generator was very handy to get to, and pretty simple really. It just took a certain amount of time and patience working on your back under the car.
What a collection. I see DKW, Renault, the Prinz amongst others. Still can`t believe that where on sale in the USA.
My parents immigrated from Germany in the mid fifties.
They had the exact same car right down to the color.
After a couple of brutally cold northern Wisconsin winters with a feeble air cooled cars heater the bought a Opel Kadett.
Mark the Ultramax camshaft drive uses just two rods to rotate the cam. The third rod is simply a distance piece. It just lengthens or shortens with changing engine temperature.
See the Ultramax camshaft drive in action... ua-cam.com/video/_4bgV9ICcU8/v-deo.html
Hi, I own a Prinz 30 from 1959 fully operational. Also a Dkw 3=6 sonderklass as you have on the back of your video.
I Have also some NSU parts for sale. Not many, but still...
Hi Richard, What an exciting example of 60's mini cars.......and check out the "scoot" from 5 to 45 mph....tell me again , what kind of starter it has ?? It sounded like something rather simple.... Again this is
a very cool little vehicle.....Thank you for the video- I love it when you take ' us' ( the audience) for a ride....Thanks again..!!!
Interesting that some of the features are similar to the VW Beetles of the time, the round vents by the headlights, the stick shift etc. Being 6'4" tall I often complain about lack of leg room for the driver, judging how scrunched up he is, modern cars have nothing on(lack of ) leg room on the NSU. Love that tinny sound when the door is closed. One thing I find curious is the driveline tunnel on a rear engine,rear drive car.Are the shift linkages really that big that you need a tunnel? Cool car just the same.Like the VW, it probably gave mobility to many families who wouldn't be able to afford a car otherwise. Remember seeing a lot of these running around in rural Germany when I was a kid, and am surprised that they were actually imported to the U.S. I don't remember ever seeing one here. Enjoy your videos, keep showing us those oddball cars that many people probably don't know even existed.
There is a large heat duct the runs thru the tunnel to supply heat to the defroster as well as all the cables and shifter back to engine, makes for strong body support too
The tunnel is an important structural member, along with housing various systems.
Neat little car.
I love these little cars. Throw a set of Wildwood brakes on this and you have the perfect transportation vehicle.
You havent driven one, have you? I have and its the only car my mother refused to get into after a demo. This was in 1963 when I was selling used cars and had almost every other night a different set of wheels to get her to her job and me back to the lot. It stank, was noisy, tiny and had no power at all. To say it had 40 hp is stupid. A 56 VW had1200 cc and produced 36 hp.
You condemn the brand because you took a ride in one 60 years ago that smelled bad? You don't hold on to things do you? Ever been in a locker room? Well, if your mother says it's bad I guess that settles it. A 600cc 2 stroke is lighter, fires twice as often and put out twice the power of a heavy 4 stroke 1200cc VW boxer. Why do you think they were used almost exclusively on dirt bikes that raced in cc class for so many years. You would think that a former automotive expert would know something about motors and how they develop power.
@@edgarhelbling6525The wood shavings used in the seat cushions developed an acrid odor
The glove box was an option, as well as a glove box with a clock.
really?
It is very pretty! ❤
Oh man, Id be proud if this was my first car :D
Two coils, one set of points. How did that work? Did the spark plugs fire twice per cycle?
Probably. My XS1100 Yamaha motorcycle has an ignition system of that type. Fires @ every TDC. So it fires the intake charge and again when it hits TDC after pushing the spent charge out the exhaust valve.
Those camshaft rods are awesome, better than the chains they use nowadays
Awesome until they wear out and your engine is destroyed.
my cousin had one in 1966, Houston Texas, we pulled into a German mechanics shop and he ran out waving us off, he wanted no part of it...😁😁😁
Moron!
Why was that? I believe NSU always had great engineering...
Impossible to get parts in the USA.
@@xyz2121You had to make your own. The most- frequent repair was replacing the generator bushings.
Super 1960 NSU prinzu
with that rear boot latch, it might be earlier than 1960? I thought they had push buttons on later models.
They use to get up to 75 mph on the flat but if u got a gust of wind across the bow she damn near changed lanes lol. The front was very light I could lift the whole front of the car off the ground when I was 17 years old.I had mine for just on a year but at 17 it wasnt fast enough for me lol.
Un sensacional autito.
So on the driver side the back part of the window slides forwards and on the passenger side the front part of the window slides backwards? Weird! :-)
And yes, the beetle had the reverse to the left and back.
Did Felix Wankel ever consider putting one his 'rotaries' in the back of this beauty? Would fit perfecty , a mini super car!
NSU Spider 1964-1967, 2375 built. Single-rotor Wankel engine. NSU Ro 80 1967-1977, 37398 built. Two-rotor Wankel engine.
Mark, what is the purpose of the hole in the steering column? It looks like a place where a column shifter might go.
Keith Johnson it sure does. I've wondered about that myself. I don't have an answer. I just found out this car was imported from South America, as it has the very unusual rear windows. Maybe the hole has something to with being built in Argentina?
The hole in the column is for an optional steering lock.
My grandpa despised his NSU Prinz. Even to this day he gets all fired up when talking about it. I think it's his biggest regret in life 😄
Cute little deathtrap car... ^^
It was more popular in Canada, where there were at least 7 dealerships.
Those little oval vents up front look like the same pieces my 1958 VW Bug had.
🤔Where can I find these kinds of cars? I want one as my first car to drive 😩
Vintage Microcar News always has some in the classified available
2stroketurbo Thanks!
I have a 1958 for sale
Shift pattern is the same as an Opel Kadett, an M22 Muncie, or a Top Loader.
My cousin bought one used. A week later he decided to go on vacation in it. After 50 miles it set fire, and burnt completely to the ground. Fortunately he got out, and managed to take his suitcase.
They had air-cooled engines and were renown for setting fire.
People are fooled because they are small and look cute but there's a reason why they did not become very popular.
I think that is a Transverse engine..,not an inline.Im basing this on the location of the spark plugs and the generator?,down in the cooling inlet chute.
Transverse refers to the direction the engine is mounted in the car (sideways), not the design of the engine itself. An inline engine has the cylinders all in a row, pointing the same direction, as compared to a V, where the cylinders are at an angle to each other, or a horizontally opposed engine, where the cylinders are in opposite directions. The position of the spark plugs on this engine shows that it is indeed an inline two cylinder, _and_ is transverse mounted.
those look pretty reliable. are they?
Yes. but, no parts are available. So lucky people that have them enjoy them. Damaged ones are almost not repairable
2stroketurbo That's too bad, they are a cute little car!
You'll still find some spare parts in Germany.
how can I email you, just bought a 59 prinz, here in salem,or
Ive have 2 of these prinz 59 and a 60 im looking for the sun roof hole so i can graft one any leeds will help maybe a fiat 500 would work also
iv been trying to get one for years any onw know were i can get one
+oliver reilly Keep looking they pop up !
Thanks
Hello there. We have 4 prinz's. All barn finds, one is complete in a shed and the other 3 have been left out in an apple orchard for the last few decades. Located near the welsh border in England
Hi slinky any photos thanks
yes got some photos. Do you have an email address I can send them too?
@ 2stroketurbo A roof rack; in the Netherlands we called that, an imperial - just spoken out fonetic dutch.
What? No gas gauge?
You really needed a reference for a typical "H" shifting pattern? LOL
this of those cars that looks like you could drive it in ether direction. the front and the back of the car looks the same!
That's what all the kids said at school.
And no, I haven't forgotten your crankshaft.
The Russian version of the NSU Prins was the Zaz 968 with an aircooled 4 stroke four cylinder boxer. They are not cheap today since the Russians has become collectors too. But i believe they go for less than a NSU.
Soviet ЗАЗ 968 have got a V - 4 engine; not a " boxer ".
my 59 was rotary powered & no turn signals
Those rotary one's were rare. More or less prototypes with 1 rotor as Felix Wankel worked for NSU and they gave him funding to produce the prototype single rotor engines on a small run. Something like 30 years after he designed and patented the concept at age 19 or 20.
You need to look for a Simca 1000, french car
I have fond memories of a flat black '58 Simca Aronde my friend drove all thru high school. I don't know if it ever broke down on him. He seemed to be driving it every day.
NICE
How reliable are these cars?
My father had one. This one here is not too reliable by modern standards. But it did not really matter, as every locksmith or petrol station owner could it get back running in 15 minutes.
Seeing all these cars, I think progress would be going a little bit back to the basics.
Reliable when new but not when they got older. You would have to be your own mechanic. Spare parts have to come from Germany and are very expensive if you can even find them.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Maybe the same engines as the very heavy WW II motorcycles with sidecars had?
🥰🥰🥰
Cool.
Yeakel Oldsmobile in Los Angeles gave you a free Prinz when you bought a new Olds.
30 horses all the way up to 120 kph!
it feels stronger than 30hp.
+Morgan Currie i've seen two behind a truck going sucked at least 110kmh in a regularity rally
Well, American Cars need at least 100 for the same Speed.
Nice
I have all original glass from a 1960 Prinz in excellant condition for sale. 1,000 for windshield, best offer or trade for everything else. Northern California.
I'll offer you a million dollars for everything.
It's a Prince here in the U.S..
Bloody hell, that engine's noisy. Didn't you need ear defenders?
These small low power cars were fun to drive and very cheap to run.
Fun if you wore ear muffs and never drove in winter.
NSU Made superb Products....the RO 80 Wankel rotary Car made them go Bust.
I wouldn't like to crash in one of these -
+cacaaleau A LOT of people lost their lives in cars like this back in the old days, so many things we take for granted now in cars like crumple zones, proper defogging of windows, etc...
all this saves lives.
No seat belts, I smacked my forehead into the windshield when the failing brakes didn't stop the car in time. I once saw a Prinz in a field behind a 7-11 with a round hole burst through the driver's side of the front windshield. So you know what happened to its previous owner
By the way, Prinz is pronounced Prints.
🙂
Hawkeye Pearce riding in a sardine can...
They were not very popular in the UK. I don't remember ever seeing one. I saw more Isettas than these. The later NSUs were a little more common. I actually prefer the design of this NSU to the Fiat 500/600. I guess NSU's engineering and marketing could not compete with Fiat.
An Audi before they became snob magnets 😡 cool little car
i do not think the snobby Audi owners of today would like to know this is the forefather of their car.
NSU designed what would become the rabbit after running out of money they were purchased by V.W..
Nsu k70 badged as nsu then vw
2x shift
It'll do 70 or 80, huh? Maybe if you're drafting a semi! LOL
They come with grappling hooks? And maybe a harpoon to snag a rig and be towed?
Like
Hermoso vehículo...muy simpático pero muy complicado su motor.......sonaban las bieletas!!!
prinz sau nu, dar macar ai incercat!😞
ffs. get on with it!
speedometer goes to 80 not the car!!
Priscilla Rest
MOON SHOT ERA: TRICKLE DOWN TECH FROM TAX $$$$ BILLIONS IS NOT EVIDENT!!
That was no ride!
NSU were my fav make of German car . Pity they got swallowed up by Audi !