About Tough to Crack Car Puzzle #151: Enzmann 506

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Identifying the VW base wasn’t difficult on last week’s mystery motor. But the Swiss plate and CH-sticker made some of you think it was a Ghia-Aigle product. Not so. This was the Enzmann 506, dreamt up by Emil Enzmann. In fact, he is the man wearing the helmet, as our winner Reinhard Bauer knew. He wrote: “The photo shows the Swiss medical doctor and car designer Dr. Emil Enzmann (26/11/1921 – 12/08/2016) in the year 1958 in his own car leaving for a skiing trip (above again-ed.). Enzmann built between 1956 and 1960 about 50 roadsters based on Volkswagen beetle chassis, first with the standard beetle engine (1192cc/30hp) later with Öttlinger-VW-engines (1295cc/45hp). Due to a delivery embargo by VW the production of full cars had to be stopped, but until 1968 additional kits had been delivered. In parallel to the VW-project Enzmann built a one-off prototype of a DKW-Enzmann (type 500) with front engine. With a total weight between 520 - 550 kg the car war very competitive. Remarkable are the, for 1958 very advanced, safety features like safety belts, anti-rollbars etc. About 40 cars have survived until today, 30 as daily drivers, 10 as restauration projects.” Albeit a bit too long, this is a near perfect answer.

Some of you did add some nice information, though. Tobias Wenzel: “The picture shows the car that was planned to be shown at the 1957 Geneva Automobil Salon. However Enzmann did not get an approval and therefore the car has been parked outside.” Alan Spencer: “The designation '506' came from the stand number allocated to Enzmann at the 1957 Frankfurt Auto Show, where the car made its debut.” Enzmann-owner Fredi Vollenweider: “There are also some coupés around. About 15 years ago some New Enzmanns have been built.” Right so. What we did miss was the fact that tight legislation has made it now impossible to get new Enzmanns on the road in Switzerland, with the very last Enzmann being built in 2013 and road registered in 2014. But then, you can’t have it all…

(Words and archive pictures Jeroen Booij)

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