Veritas was a

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

post

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

sports and race car company, located in the village of Hausen am Andelsbach, near Sigmaringen,

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

. It later moved to Meßkirch and Muggensturm and finally to the

Nürburgring The () is a 150,000-person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long configuration, built in the 1920s ...

. The company was founded by Ernst Loof,

Georg Meier Georg "Schorsch" Meier (; 9 November 1910 – 19 February 1999) was a German Motorcycle sport, motorcycle racer famous for being the first foreign winner of the prestigious Senior TT, the Blue Riband race of the Isle of Man TT Races, in 1939 ri ...

and Lorenz Dietrich who initially re-built and tuned pre-war BMW 328 cars using components supplied by the customer, turning them into BMW-Veritas cars. The first car was used in 1947 Karl Kling to win at

Hockenheim Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain, Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" ( ...

and subsequently become the 1947 German 2-litre champion. After only a few cars were made, following an objection from BMW, the cars became simply known as Veritas.

Road cars

The first Veritas to be made for normal road use were made in 1949 with the launch of the Komet coupé which was little more than a Veritas RS made street legal. It was followed by the more civilised 2+2 Saturn coupé and Scorpion cabriolet, both being styled by Ben Bowden. The company moved to larger premises in Muggensturm in 1949 but they were badly undercapitalised. New cars were designed using a 1998 cc engine designed Eric Zipprich and built by Heinkel. Over 200 orders were received for the new car but there was not enough money to buy the components and production came to a halt in 1950. The company continued in operation until 1952 by making new bodies for

Panhard Panhard was a French motor vehicle manufacturer that began as one of the first makers of automobiles. It was a manufacturer of light tactical and military vehicles. Its final incarnation, now owned by Renault Trucks#Military vehicles, Re ...

cars. Ernst Loof moved to the Nürburgring in 1950 where he rented the old Auto Union workshops and set up a new company Automobilwerke Ernst Loof GmbH and started a new range of Veritas cars with the Heinkel manufactured engine and saloon or cabriolet coachwork by Spohn. Money quickly ran out however and the final bodies were fitted with Ford or

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Gr ...

engines. The number of cars made at the Nürburgring is estimated to be between 6 and 20.

Racing cars

File:Veritas Meteor.jpg, Veritas Meteor
Formula 2 File:Veritas-Meteor-Cockpit.jpg, Cockpit of Veritas Meteor File:Veritas-Motor am 1981-08-15.jpg, 6-cyl-engine of Veritas File:Veritas RS 2000ccm135PS 1948.JPG, Veritas RS2000 CCM at the

Concours d'Elegance Concours d'Elegance ( French: ''concours d'élégance'') is a term of French origin that means a "competition of elegance" and refers to an event where prestigious vehicles are displayed and judged. It dates back to 17th-century France, where a ...

File:Veritas RS (1948) 2014 at the Salzburgring.JPG, Veritas RS (1948) unpainted with the 6-cylinder-engine of the BMW 328, 1971 cm³, about 125 HP 2014 at the

Salzburgring The Salzburgring is a motorsport race track located in Plainfeld, east of Salzburg. Key facts Track Length Bends 15 Straights ...

A total of 17 privately entered Veritas cars participated in 5 FIA World Championship races.

Later production (after 2001)

After a virtual disappearance from motor racing and automotive engineering for nearly 50 years, a small company known as VerMot AG of Grafschaft, Rhineland planned to revive the Veritas name. It produced a concept known as the Veritas RS III in 2001, initially using a BMW sourced 6.0 litre V-12, producing . Over the following years pre-production models of the RS III were exhibited at trade shows and used as press demonstrators. The motor was changed to a 5 litre BMW unit. In 2011 VerMot announced that the RS III would be offered as a hybrid with an additional electric motor, and that a fully electric version was in planning. Various dates from 2008 onwards were announced for the start of production of the RS III, but this appears to have failed to occur and by 2014 the company was dormant.

World Championship results

( key)

References

External links

The Veritas story
{{DEFAULTSORT:Veritas Formula One constructors Sports car manufacturers German racecar constructors Formula Two constructors Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Germany