A Horch named Manuela: Bernd Rosemeyer and the motors of the Third Reich

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It is not uncommon for motor manufacturers to let their most coveted racing drivers drive around in the best car they can offer. Bernd Rosemeyer clearly ticked all the boxes for Auto Union after winning 10 Grand Prix races in a very short period of time in the 1930s, and thus he got to drive the company’s top-of-the-range, state-of-the-art wheels, although whether privately or just on occasions where he was asked to help them with a little promotion we can't be certain. Either way, he got to enjoy an extraordinary streamlined coupé based on Horch’s top chassis of the time, the big 853.

Being a bit of a promotional vehicle, and a mightily impressive one at that, it is perhaps no wonder that several period photographs of the car survive, two of them published here. That’s Rosemeyer himself looking nonchalant beside it, ready to put on his driving gloves and enjoy the sensation the powerful engine. The big coupé was a cracking car in every respect and Rosemeyer must have loved it, giving it the pet name Manuela. Some of its finest details include the chrome trim on wings and sides plus the tiny rear window, hinged at the top. Also note the B.R.D.C. badge bottom right on the radiator. Does anyone recognise the badge on the left?

Unfortunately, Manuela herself does not survive, or so it is believed. Legend has it that the coupé disappeared without a trace during the 1939-45 war. Rosemeyer, having been promoted to Hauptsturmführer (a mid-level paramilitary rank equivalent to a captain) due to his achievements on the racing tracks, didn’t live to experience that dark period. He’d died behind the wheel in 1938 trying to break a world speed record. Manuela had hardly been driven. However, at least one replica had already been made before Audi, whose history is intertwined with Horch and Auto Union, decided more recently it could build one itself and, so today you can find a Manuela replica in the Audi Museum.

Incidentally, Rosemeyer wasn’t the only German racing ace of the day driving such a lavish vehicle. Erdmann & Rossi-bodied Horches were seemingly a favourite among a certain clientèle. The list of owners is intriguing, to say the least. Reichssportführer Hans von Tschammer und Osten drove an Erdmann & Rossi Horch 951 in Sedan-Cabriolet form; Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring had a Horch 853 Sport-Roadster bodied by E&R while Generalmajor Erwin Rommel used a Horch 951 Sedan-Cabriolet also with E&R body. Korpsführer Adolf Hühnlein had a Horch four-seater Sport Phaeton by the Berlin-based coachbuilder. Do any of these cars survive?

Words: Jeroen Booij
Pictures: Audi Media

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