Hey Sam!! Konig's History Is Here!!!

**Jeff Lytle** · 08-18-2011

These surfaced around the Miss Supertest celebration http://www.misssupertest.ca/ I attended a few weeks ago.
The Harmsworth Trophy Races were held in Picton Ontario Canada in 1961, and the same weekend, the John Ward Trophy for class OC races were held.

Pic #1--The John Ward Trophy

Pic #2--A Smiling Dieter with his trophy

Pic #3--The Mayor of Picton, H.J. MacFarland, shaking the hand of the OC winner as the Lieutenant Governer of Ontario John Keiller MacKay beams his approval.

**F-12** · 08-18-2011

Dieter Konig was not only a brilliant engineer, he was a nice guy. Got the chance to see him when I worked for Walt Blankenstein. When you could get him out of creative mode, he just loved being with friends, and enjoying a good time. He is very much missed.

**Steve Litzell** · 08-20-2011

Originally Posted by Donald

Not that it makes any difference, but I want to correct the information about Al Bryant and Mather Hyatt in Berlin. They were not in military service at that time. After the war, they were discharged in Berlin and were hired by the US government as civilian employees. Both married German women, Al came home in 1949 and Mather stayed in Germany working for the government until he retired. Al was supposed to be the USA distributor, and did most of the early negotiations getting the motors approved. However Al had a job which prevented him from being available to answer inquiries most of the time. I remember seeing Al's garage full of crates of motors with room for no more. That's when Scott Smith came into the picture. Scott was Mather's brother in law and owned a hardware store with a warehouse in Dallas, Ga. So, Al, Mather and Scot agreed that Scott would become the distributor and Al would become a dealer. After meeting Dieter in 1956 and Al pressuring me to switch to Koenig, I bought an A, B, and C from him for a total of $1500. In 1957 I won the overall highpoint trophy in SEBA, (Southeastern Boating Asso), and the B runabout championship in Fort Payne, Al. We didn't go to any NOA or APBA races at that time. Dub Parker pursuaded me to go to my first NOA race in 1958. Dieter come over for the Fort Payne SEBA championship in 1957, and since I had been having trouble keeping the three cylinder going, he worked on the motor and set it up on my hydro with his prop and I set a SEBA record of just under 74 mph. That was the race where Dieter took his Barbecue down to the lake and washed the sauce off. That's enough typing for me in one day.

Cannot get any better than having a good friend and racer chime in on this. Seems that I will have nothing to offer on this as it has been posted before at another thread on this site. But I will expose some of the rumors and myths about Konig that I know and remembered to ask about. This past Tuesday was the 20th year since we lost or friend and a MAJOR PLAYER in our sport. And I miss him very much to this day. On the other thread I will tell of the myths. Some of these stories, Dieter knew about, and he played well into them being of the dry since of humor that he had and I think he knew that drew in motor customers

**Lee Sutter** · 08-21-2011

Great reading!!! Thank you everybody.

You can do it Steve....

**Steve Litzell** · 08-21-2011

Originally Posted by Lee Sutter

Great reading!!! Thank you everybody.

You can do it Steve....

Well most of the History has already been said on this site at the Konig history thread. The USA dealership/ Importing of Konig motors carried some stories with it. Many did not know about Mather and Al being the first, But one Myth that has been around a while that I heard as a young lad was that Dieter and Scott where related. I'm sure that there are some that still think this. Mather is Rosie Smith's ( Scott's Wife) brother. So when Dieter first came to USA. Mather introduced Dieter to Scott that owned the hardware store and warehouse in Dallas Ga, where motors were stored. Scott also loaned Dieter his pickup truck to attend a Race I think in Mississippi or Alabama. As Ralph said that is how Scott got into the Konig importing as Al had his work and Mather was living in Germany. In the mid 50's and early 60's there were many Konig dealers in USA and Canada, but these were sub dealers if you will, that was much like Mercury or OMC dealers. These dealers bought their Konig motors and parts from Scott who was the Importer. Keep in mind also that as Dieter helped his father grow their company he thought that all motor sports could used Konig power. Konig motors ruled the Go cart tracks and later moved up into 3/4 midgets with the 4 cylinder motors. One of the early Konig stars on the land quest for speed was Ron Ambrose, he won many races with the 125/175 cc cart motors and then again in 3/4 cars. The win sheets at cart tracks were filled with Konig winners. This came to a stop when the organizer's put limits on production numbers that Konig could not meet. USAC did the same to the 3/4 cars by stating only 4 stroke motors. Also at this time Rudolf drove the pleasure engine side of their company. Racing was at this time just extra cash but pleasure boating was growing in Europe and mercury and OMC did not have a sound footing in Europe at the time so Konig pleasure boat motors were the mainstay. In one of the Elvis Presley movies from that time should a water skiing sene that had Konig power on the ski boat. With the racing motors being used on boats and carts/cars it was only natural to also apply them to bikes. ( The Kim Nucombe story) and latter sport aircraft. The changes to the motors were made in castings and crankshafts to suit these new needs.The aircraft motors were of their own casting and design. Among some of the myths on the cranks, I heard one time the reason for a key way in the top of the crank was Konig was trying to stop the movement of the rope plate when the motor was running. It was believed by racers this was why the key way. The truth be told it was used for the drive side of the crank to the transmission on bikes and the in out coupler on cars. The 2 degree taper always held the flywheel and ignition timing in one place if properly tightened.The jack handle thing on the tower is one of the stories that Dieter actually liked and help promote as his very dry sense of humor would sometimes overcome him. When I asked point blank about this, he laughed and said I'm glad this joke is still told. he then said to me." I can make fast this part more easy than modifying used part! Also Jack handle has two slots not one!" Later these where changed to the same tubing with a 6 mm bolt in the center that threaded into the motor plate. This was done because of vibration would wear the locating pin in the steering bar and made for a hand full of boat and motor when the bar would shift from one side to the other. Konig motors was a on going state of subtle change for improvement and lasting more so than speed. "If my motors win race, Why do I need to make them Faster? This work is for boat makers and propeller makers". He only made horsepower changes when he was beaten on the race course. The modern makers of race motors have even pondered, How can you make a motor from 250 cc all the way up to 748 cc, and used the same exhaust, and it works? Just subtle changes, easy to manufacture and keep cost down, this is the genius of this man. In closing of this segment many people have trouble saying the Konig name properly. Some transpose the i and n as say like koing. I here this mostly up North. In the south we say it like it has two o's as in Koonig but we in the south tend to make two syllable word out of a one syllable word. Truth be told the two dots over the o in German gives that sound a er sound
So to say Dieters last name correct. it is Ker-nig.I was taught that by Uli Collaz at the factory. I here this before from Ralph Donald but he was taking German lessons and I thought that his teacher was a little off, but not so . Thanks Steve

**Master Oil Racing Team** · 08-21-2011

Great info Steve. I had heard that Mather was Scott's brother-in-law also. I did an interview with Scott in 1975, but I don't remember details. I will get it out and play it back sometime soon.

Dieter was also approached by some Englishmen to build a 6 cylinder motor for a formula 2 car, but I think they never came to an agreement.

As far as pronouncement of his name, you are correct Steve, but I have also heard Germans pronounce it like ker-nicch or ker-nish. It's a little bit hard to describe it in writing. Easier to say it.

**Steve Litzell** · 08-21-2011

Originally Posted by Master Oil Racing Team

Great info Steve. I had heard that Mather was Scott's brother-in-law also. I did an interview with Scott in 1975, but I don't remember details. I will get it out and play it back sometime soon.

Dieter was also approached by some Englishmen to build a 6 cylinder motor for a formula 2 car, but I think they never came to an agreement.

As far as pronouncement of his name, you are correct Steve, but I have also heard Germans pronounce it like ker-nicch or ker-nish. It's a little bit hard to describe it in writing. Easier to say it.

yes Wayne, you are right about that as well, but as I was told, and I don't know if I was having my leg pulled or not, (Don't know why they would ever do that as I would not do that to them) but Dieter said to me that that Ker-nish pronounce was more Berlin type slag. As you know the word for no is Nine in proper German, but ne is slag from the North and nea is the slang from the south region. Like we say na for no in some regions in USA. It's all fun though Eh?

Allen J. Lang · 08-22-2011

I showed the Konig literature to a German sailor while we were in the Naval hospital in Charleston, SC back in the early 60s. e pronounced it Ker-nig and said it meant "KING" in German. Quite fitting I thought.
This is a great run down on Konig history. Thanks to all the contributors.

**BRIAN HENDRICK** · 09-07-2011

At our recent Rideau Ferry VINTAGE meet in Eastern ON, we had a few Konigs on display and a discussion ensued regarding the Konig factory.
I have always thought that post 1950 it was in East Berlin, ie; -the GDR.
Another 'story' was that Dieters fatal crash in 1991 was related to the ultralite being 'tethered' to the ground. Reason being it was in the EDR, and permission for private test flying was difficult to arrange.
Is any of this correct, or was the shop just in west Berlin, which until 1989 ,
was encompassed by the GDR.

**Mark75H** · 09-07-2011

It was not tethered due to any permitting problem, he was working on a tethered trainig scheme to develope more sales of ultra light craft and engines.