1936 Adler Trumpf Junior Sport

The Frankfurt-based Adler company worked as a bicycle manufacturer during the 19th Century, turning later to the production of automobile components, motorcycles, cars, and typewriters. They built the automobile components prior to introducing its first car in 1900, a de Dion-powered voiturette with similar design cues to the Renault. After a few years, the company began making its own single- and twin-cylinder engines, and by 1910 was exclusively using four-cylinder units. In the 1920s, six- and eight-cylinder units joined the lineup. In 1932, the company introduced the revolutionary front-wheel drive Trumpf.

This particular example was built in 1936, the year that Germany hosted the summer Olympics. It spent the entirety of the post-war period within the Deutsche Demokratische Republik. A decade after the Berlin wall fell in the 1990s, the car was brought to the United States by Mr. Schnuerer.

The car currently wears an older restoration and is finished in glossy blue paint with black fenders. The engine is a 985cc side-valve inline 4-cylinder unit with a single carburetor developing 25 horsepower at 4,000 RPM. There is a four-speed manual gearbox, four-wheel drum brakes, and an independent suspension.

The front-wheel drive system allows this 1936 Adler Trumpf Junior Sport to have an interior devoid of transmission or driveshaft instructions which allows a flat floor and spacious room for its occupants.

By Daniel Vaughan | May 2020