The Steyr 100 and 200 were a series of medium-sized cars built by the

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n manufacturer

Steyr-Daimler-Puch Steyr-Daimler-Puch () was a large manufacturing conglomerate based in Steyr, Austria, which was broken up in stages between 1987 and 2001. The component parts and operations continued to exist under separate ownership and new names. History Th ...

AG from 1934 to 1940. The four-door

streamlined Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are field lines in a fluid flow. They differ only when the flow changes with time, that is, when the flow is not steady flow, steady. Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the f ...

body designed by engineer Karl Jenschke was manufactured in

Steyr Steyr (; ) is a statutory city (Austria), statutory city, located in the Austrian federal state of Upper Austria. It is the administrative capital, though not part of Steyr-Land District. Steyr is Austria's 12th most populated town and the 3rd lar ...

, a 1933 prototype was assembled by Gläser-Karosserie GmbH in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, Germany.

Design

The cars had a four-cylinder straight

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

and a four-speed

manual gearbox A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canadian English, Canada, British English, the United Kingdom and American English, the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed ...

driving the rear wheels on a

leaf spring A leaf spring is a simple form of spring (device), spring commonly used for suspension (vehicle), suspension in wheeled vehicles. Originally called a ''laminated'' or ''carriage spring'', and sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring, e ...

swing axle suspension, a layout already introduced by Steyr on larger cars. The independent front suspension, however, was a first for the company. The four-speed transmission had synchronizations on the top two gears, while the 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine received five main bearings. "Steyr Type 100"
p. 30
/ref> A four-door saloon, two-door convertible, and a bare chassis were available, in addition to a light commercial model called the Steyr 110. The 100 could reach a maximum speed of about . Though not high-powered they could easily climb the Austrian

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

mountain passes, demonstrated by the

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

governor Franz Rehrl, when on 22 September 1934 he and engineer Franz Wallack travelled the Grossglockner High Alpine Road driving a Steyr 100, about one year before the official opening. In 1935-36 the Austrian travel writer

Max Reisch Max Reisch (1912–1985) was an Austrian long-distance traveler, author, researcher and orientalist who in 1933 made the first overland journey by motorcycle to India (from Europe), and who in 1935/1936 was the first to circumnavigate the worl ...

crossed

Farther India Farther India, Further India, or Ultraindia, is an old term, now rarely used, for Southeast Asia, seen in colonial days from Europe as the part of the Far East beyond the Indian subcontinent, but south of China. It refers to Indochina (Cambodia ...

(

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, and

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

) in a Steyr 100 and continued his journey through the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. After 2850 vehicles built the design underwent improvements in 1936, creating the more powerful Steyr 200. An additional 150 examples of a light commercial Steyr 110 had also been built. One technical novelty for the 200 model was the

starter motor A starter (also self-starter, cranking motor, or starter motor) is a device used to rotate (crank) an internal-combustion engine so as to initiate the engine's operation under its own power. Starters can be electric, pneumatic, or hydraulic. T ...

, which also doubled as an

alternator An alternator (or synchronous generator) is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field wit ...

. The 200 also received an updated body, with a somewhat larger (still split) rear windshield. In late 1937 the grille was redesigned to match the larger 220 model, losing the central bar but gaining a "200" script, and of a convex rather than concave shape. 5040 such vehicles were produced until 1940.

References

{{reflist Steyr-Puch vehicles Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Sedans 1930s cars

Design

See also

References