Thread: Konig History

  1. #191
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    Funny story Steve. That woman would be Linda. She's a great lady. I have a picture of her somewhere, but I can't find it. They do do things a little different there. I saw a billboard advertising soap with a woman sitting in a bathtub lathering up and her top was fully exposed. When Jenny took us to a club, they had jugglers, magicians, comedians, and the stripper took all off. My eyes popped out, but Hans never stopped talking or laughing.



  2. #192
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    The Ford V6 engines were German obviously - from Cologne. Koenig must have made a few because Flo Konig was given a car by Ford - a Capris I think. I have an idea that Volvo Penta was tied up in the deal.
    I gathered they were not all that successful - which doesn't exactly surprise me.
    The big 6 that Dieter built that is the subject of the article in German showing the boat with the wing - does nyone know what class record Dieter was after, who drove it, what the outcome was and so forth. Also what was the 6? Was it an all new engine / Four stroke?
    Love to know.

  3. #193
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    I have a story about Flo's car that may have been that one Tim. I don't recall anything about the motor you are talking about so I don't know the time frame, but the car I drove had enough miles on it in 1976 that the throttle was a little sticky. It sounds like it could have been the same car, because I think it was a Capris, and seems like it was green. Can't remember if it was standard or automatic, but the thing I remember was being afraid when I was about to pull away.

    Dieter, Walt Blankenstein and myself went into East Berlin to have dinner with boat builder Bernie Danisch and some of his boat racing friends. I went back to East Berlin the following day and spent the night. People from the west could stay for 24 hours in East Berlin without a visa. Dieter lent me Flo's car.

    As I approached Checkpoint Charlie the following morning with a severe hangover, I was very nervous. It was because of that sticky throttle. It didn't stick every time, but it did often. When you depress the gas pedal, sometimes the motor would not rev. So you push down a little more....nothing....push a little bit more....nothing....push a little harder, then suddenly VROOOOM! It's as if you purposefully were racing the engine.

    I didn't really pray much in those days, but I did then over and over "Please don't let the throttle stick". As I pulled up to where the guard who wanted to see my passport was standing, several more guards armed with machine guns and pistols surrounded the car while one took the keys to look in the trunk and another slid a large mirror on a dolly with a handle underneath the car to see if anything looked abnormal or suspicious. Ahead of me between the car and the barrier which was down were several large tank traps. These were like great big "jacks" like the kids game with the bouncing rubber ball. They were made up of maybe 4" or 6" H beams or something like that, and were arranged so that you did not have a straight shot to drive through the barrier arm closing the exit. You would have to manuever in an S shape to get out.

    The guard at my window handed me back the keys after everything checked out. None of these guys say much if anything at all. They just give you a very stern and threatening look. I started the motor, and kept praying that the throttle wouldn't stick this time.....and it didn't. I don't know what would have happened it the motor would have suddenly roared to life as I started to go, but I can tell you I was extremely relieved to get on the other side of that guard post.

    ADD: I wouldn't be surprised if Volvo Penta was involved either Tim.



  4. #194
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    I am sure that would be the same car. I have seen a few ads for the big outboard in Germany so I will try and track down some copies. At the time I saw them I really wasn't that interested but this book is now so much Dieter's story that I have become interested in everything he did.
    It must have been horribly heavy.
    I heard a wild story about Rudolf Koenig being asked to build enormous outboards to power high speed landing carft to aid with the invasion of England.Don't know if you know anything about that.
    I am also trying to find out about a guy called Daniel Zimmermann. Zimmermann was an East German engineer who built a race bike called a ZPH with two partners. It wasa prewar DKW with square 54 x 54 stroke, boost port, rotary disc valve, etc etc. He worked for MZ from about 1953 and then took charge of the state sponsored East German hydro team. He may have worked afterwards for Dieter but I have no real evidence that he did. fascinating fellow though.
    Anyway...nearly finished!

  5. #195
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    Bernd Tschierschke
    BT who was a machinist/tool and die maker who worked in Deiter's shop, moved to Canada and lived in the Ottawa area. I met him there about 1978. He could identify the engines he had worked on as he stamped his initials "BT" on the block.

  6. #196
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    Do you know what happened to Bernd Glenn? He was a good guy. We exchanged Christmas greetings until about 1980.

    Tim...I never heard about building any outboards for an invasion of England. I don't believe Rudi spoke any English. He would be at the factory early in the morning with a gray lab coat and beret. He would stand at a small lathe located near the corner of Dieter and Sigfried Lubnow's office and turn a small piece of metal. He would stand at that lathe for long periods of time. I don't know if he had alzheimer's but I never saw him talking to anyone.

    There are a couple of members here who have asked me about Daniel Zimmerman also, and you might get in touch with them. Ezyrider and Sergio. Sergio is a motocycle historian. He said Zimmerman was an engineer from Postdam which is right on the edge of Berlin. So I am sure they knew each other, but don't know if they worked together. I would not be surprised to find out that they did. Dieter was curious about everything to do with motors and would consider anything anyone put before him.

    Ezyrider (George Taylor) posed a question to me for a friend of his who raced motorcycles. He said several innovations credited to Walter Kaaden were Daniel Zimmerman's. Again, I had to information to help, but maybe you might want to contact Sergio and EZrider and put your heads together. I have a German magazine with an article about the factory that I brought back from Berlin sometime in the 70's. I'll look to see if I can find any info on the big motor.
    Last edited by Master Oil Racing Team; 07-22-2010 at 08:56 AM. Reason: name spelling



  7. #197
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    Tim, I have an article from the May 1977 issue of BOOTE, a German boating magazine. It was about some of the 50 year history of Konig Motorenbau. I wish I would have kept learning German after I quit racing, then I could post what the article says. I guess I will have to find one of those online translation programs to get it right. In the meantime, this is what I get out of it. It may be totally off base, but here goes.

    Under Adolph (which I presume is Hitler) the Brownshirts forbid him to do the civil work and must work for the Fatherland. For the greater German war effort he must build the legendary 3 cylinder outboard motor for storm boats, and also motors for the war marine. (This must be the forces that would be storming the beaches of England). It goes on to say something about after the war Rudi's business was in the "cellar" but it wasn't long before he was working to build it back up.

    Some names mentioned in the article Konig-Brummer, Robert Blakenfield, and Karl Nussbaum (also a pic of Karl who worked there a long time). There was a picture of Sigfried Lubnow in his office, and one of Rudi Konig shaking hands with Kurt Miscke's daughter with Kurt standing at the side.



  8. #198
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    It would be great to have a translation of the entire article.
    thanks for the names - I'll follow them up.
    I believe the factory built aircraft parts for the Luftwaffe as well as supplying outboards to the military. The factory was completely blitzed by a 500 pound bomb but I am told that they started up after the war with machinery acquired from a big, abandoned Luftwaffe repair facility.
    Rudolf was apparently lucid when the Newcombes were in Berlin - up until 1973.
    The behaviour you describe sure sounds like things had deteriorated for him soon after.

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    I gather that Hans George (with an e or without?) Krage was a Koenig customer and a mate of Dieter's. Reading between the lines he seems to have been a bit of a wildman - or am I getting it wrong?

  10. #200
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    Sorry to keep firing questions but was the V6 in fact the biggest outboard in the world in 1968 or was it perhaps the most powerful and did the winged boat establish any records?

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