Wednesday, April 18, 2007

The Fend Flitzer


The Fend Flitzer is a German microcar built just after World War II. After the war, the allies imposed such strict controls on German manufacturing, that ex-Luftwaffe technical officer and aeronautical engineer, Fritz Fend couldn’t practice his trade. This didn’t stop his inventive mind. Fritz developed a vehicle suitable for the thousands of Germans who had lost limbs during the war.
His first vehicle, which he dubbed the “Flitzer” was designed as a mobility aid rather than general transportation. His first working model appeared in September of 1948. It had a tiny 2.5 horsepower two-stroke engine. Later models would be upgraded to 4.5 horsepower. Just over 250 Flitzers were produced and of that, only a handful have survived. Fend’s creation would go on to spawn one of the most popular German microcars of all time, the Messerschmitt (KR175, KR200, KR201 and finally the TG500). But it all started with the small single-seater, three wheel FLITZER.

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