Dornier Delta

In the 1950s, the German aircraft designer and founder of the aircraft manufacturer Dornier GmbH decided to at produce a small car. His brainchild was the 1957 Dornier Delta, which turned out to be quite nondescript in appearance.

By the way, if you look closely, you can find something from an insect in the appearance of Delta, although there may be other associations. A feature of the trapezoidal body of the model was two doors in front and rear, opening together with all body components – similar to BMW Isetta.The  Dornier Delta could accommodate a passenger and a driver in front and two more passengers in the back, and they sat back to back.

The Delta was powered by a 197cc 9.4 hp two-stroke, single-cylinder engine located in the middle. It was paired with a 3-speed manual transmission. The only prototype was made.

A little later, the company decided to merge with Zundapp, whose engineers made the car look more attractive. The final model was called Janus and was equipped with a 245 cc engine with a power of 14 hp.

Janus, of course, was more attractive than his unsightly predecessor, however, this did not affect public interest. Although around 7,000 were produced before 1958, poor sales quickly forced the company to abandon the model.