Fafnir was a German engine and vehicle manufacturer based in Aachen

Aachen

Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...

. They made a range of cars between 1908 and 1926.

The company was founded in 1894 producing needles. With the growth of the bicycle industry, they started to make wheel spokes. In 1898, the company was registered as "Carl Schwanemeyer, Aachener Stahlwarenfabrik AG".

From 1902 the name "Fafnir" started to be used on the company's products, including a range of motorcycle engines.

Omnimobil and early car production

In 1904, the company started to produce kits, consisting of an engine and associated components, to allow others, particularly bicycle makers, to enter into motor vehicle production. These were sold under the name "Omnimobil". The kit at first was based around a two-cylinder engine rated at 6 Horsepower

Horsepower

Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...

(HP) with later a larger option with a four-cylinder, 16 HP unit.

Beginning in 1908, finished cars were manufactured with the type "274" with a 1520 cubic centimetre(cc) engine and a maximum speed of 60 km/h (37.3 mph) and the type "284" with 2012cc capable of 70 km/h (43.5 mph). The engines had overhead inlet and side exhaust valves.

By 1912 six different models were available at prices between 4,100 and 16,000 German Reichsmark

German reichsmark

The Reichsmark was the currency in Germany from 1924 until June 20, 1948. The Reichsmark was subdivided into 100 Reichspfennig.-History:...

(RM).

Post World War I cars

In 1919, the company changed its name to Aachener Stahlwarenfabrik Fafnir-AG. The pre war 1924 cc Typ 472 and 2496 cc Typ 384 were re-introduced and a new Typ 471 with 1950 cc engine announced which could be bought with a supercharger.

The Typ "471" proved to be the last car model made and survived in production until 1927.

Motor sport

Fafnir had its own racing team running up to seven cars with drivers including Rudolf Caracciola

Rudolf Caracciola

Otto Wilhelm Rudolf Caracciola , more commonly Rudolf Caracciola , was a racing driver from Remagen, Germany. He won the European Drivers' Championship, the pre-1950 equivalent of the modern Formula One World Championship, an unsurpassed three times...

.
One of the racing cars has recently turned up in the United Kingdom and competed in number of VSCC events.

Closure

Fafnir production methods were very labour intensive, and with the difficult trading conditions of the 1920s failed to compete with the large manufacturers. Prices were reduced, but losses mounted and with debts of 1.8 million RM the banks forced the company into bankruptcy in 1925 with a resulting closure in 1926.

Fafnir cars

Type	years	cylinders	capacity	power output	top speed
Typ 274	1908-?	4 in-line		14 PS (10,3 kW)	60 km/h (37.3 mph)
Typ 284 (8/16 PS)	1909-1912	4 in-line	2012 cc	16 PS (11,8 kW)	70 km/h (43.5 mph)
Typ 384 (10/25 PS)	1910-1914	4 in-line	2496 cc	25 PS (18,4 kW)	75 km/h (46.6 mph)
Typ 486 (6/16 PS)	1913-1920	4 in-line	1559 cc	16 PS (11,8 kW)	60 km/h (37.3 mph)
Typ 394 (14/35 PS)	1914	4 in-line	3990 cc	35 PS (25,8 kW)	85 km/h (52.8 mph)
Typ 471 (9/30 PS / 9/36 PS)	1920-1927	4 in-line	2250 cc	30-36 PS (22-27 kW)
8/50 PS Sport	1923-1927	4 in-line	2000 ccm	50 PS (37 kW)