Fighting the saline menace: the pre-war solution to winter motoring

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No, it’s not a trick! Look closely and you will see the car is not floating in the air, but is in fact on a lift with central pole, just hidden by the hose man standing in front of it. That’s pretty clever.

The photograph was taken in the town of Lübeck, in northern Germany, at an unknown date. We know that the buildings in the background are the town’s historic salt warehouses, which date back to the 16th to 18th centuries, when Lübeck was a major player in the salt trade. As a side note we’d also mention that the premises were used as the lair of Count Orlok much later, when the landmark horror picture Nosferatu was filmed there in 1922. Several of the ground-floor buildings became garages later. They are still there and can now be rented for events and concerts.

Anyway, when we car enthusiasts think of salt, the first thing that comes to mind is the grit used on the roads in winter. We all wince when we have to take our motors onto salty roads, so the picture seems quite appropriate—spray it off on that clever lift!

Now, on the subject of the car, there's little doubt that it's a product of German engineering, but what exactly?

Words: Jeroen Booij
Photograph: Scheerer Photo

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