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The Horch P 240 – short-lived luxury…
In our visit to the August Horch museum we continued our search for remarkeable exhibits...
We found a car sprayed in dual tone grey, which bore some resemblance to a Simca Chambord and Opel Kapitän of the mid-fifties, not altogether unpleasing. It was the Horch P 240 – or Sachsenring P 240.
The Horch tradition of building representative quality cars did not die easily after the war. Even in the new DDR, the leaders cherished the idea of producing a luxury middle class car. And yes, it would be called a Horch.
The instrument cluster could be a transplant from the "ponton" Mercedes, but the dashboard cover, the clock and the elaborate radio with an array of pushbuttons is altogethe more flamboyant than its Western example ...and is more reminiscent of the Borgwards in those days.
The research and development work on this car began in the "Fahrzeugentwicklungswerk » abbreviated FEW, in Chemnitz, then named Karl-Marx Stadt, and were continued in the Horch factory, or VEB « Horchwerke. »
The engineers already did have a proven straight-six engine at their disposal, the OM 6, which had been developed earlier in 1951 for the military vehicle P 2 M.
The first Horch P 240 prototype being shown to party officials and SED Secretary General Walter Ulbricht. The Horch sign is clearly seen on the bonnet…
Actual development work started on the 14th of January 1954. It began under enormous time pressure, as the first prototype had to be ready on the birthday of the SED Secretary General Walter Ulbricht, which was on June 30 1954…
The engineers succeeded in getting things done on time, and a gleaming black prototype was shown to the proud DDR-politicans, but the car was then still far from being fully developed. Continuous shortage of materials and general supply problems also seriously hampered this much-needed further development and postponed the start of a series production.
The P 240 was the car for directors and party officials in the former DDR. Here you see an impressive line of these cars awaiting delivery in front of the buildings of the VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau.
It took until 27 August 1957 before the green light was given by the DDR council of ministers to start up the production of this car. But alas, two years later, production had to be stopped. All the manufacturing capacity was needed for the « true » peoples car, the Trabant.
Only 1382 cars were made, and so the last Horch had a rather short production life…and while it was built it had already been rebadged after a minor restyling as « Sachsenring P 240. »
A strange styling mixture between the instruments of a Mercedes "ponton" and the steering wheel, column and gearchange from a Simca Aronde or Monthléry ... Western car builders seem to have inspired the DDR-styling men in designing the latest Horch...
We show You here some photos we took of the car, and we found in the instrumentation lay-out some resemblances with the Mercedes ponton series of the mid-fifties. Further details of the dashboard were then again rather more flamboyant, and embraced some trends seen in the US. The car was quite well-balanced and sufficiently modern, compared to some of its western counterparts in those years. The car holds its own compared to the Renault Frégate, for example. But a few years later , West German manufacturers made a quantum leap, just think of the new generation of the Mercedes « Heckflossen » limousines which sported the safety cell of Barènjy, which made their debut in 1958. If the Horch would have continued to be built, it would soon have been hopelessly outdated, damaging the proud name it carried so briefly on its bonnet…
The next time we tell a bit more about an even more unique car which translates the DDR-« Zeitgeist » or « spirit of the era » even better, the « Repräsentant »…
Hans Knol ten Bensel
The Horch P 240 was also made in stationwagen version. The car looked quite elegant, even for Western standards. Only a very small number were built, mostly destined for the DDR television crews…
The 6 cilinder engine of the Horch P 240 is derived from the military jeep or « Kübelwagen » P 2 M. For this military vehicle, Walter Träger had designed a six cilinder engine of 2 litres capacity, with 65 HP at 3500 rpm, typed OM 35. Capacity was then enlarged to 2.4 litres, and power raised to 80 HP at 4.250 rpm. This engine, renamed the OM 6, was used in the P240. It had a very long life, because after the production stop of the P 240 in 1959, the engine was used for military porposes until… 1971 !
