King of the Hill: Storming the Alps in an Unrestored Austro Daimler

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The ADM models which gave Austro Daimler perhaps its finest hour, with victory in the 1930 European Hill Climb Championship, originated in the mind of Ferdinand Porsche, but he never got the satisfaction of their success, because he left the company in 1923 to join the German Daimler in Stuttgart.

Karl Rabe further developed the ADMs and in 1926 the ADM III appeared, with Porsche’s 2540cc engine enlarged to 2994cc. The Sport model produced 115bhp and could exceed 100mph. Hans Stuck bought one to hill-climb, and so did a 53-year-old mining engineer named Karl Imhof. There would be no missing Imhof as he showed off his purchase round Salzburg. It thundered and bellowed with every application of the throttle, and its fabric-covered plywood body was patriotically finished in the red and white of the Austrian flag.

By 1929, he had started hill-climbing, which he would do until 1932. He made a point of contesting the Gaisberg race, his local event, and was present at its inaugural meeting in 1929 alongside some of Germany and Austria’s top drivers. In his short career, he notched up a few class wins, before the ADM’s history suddenly went quiet. It resurfaced with a Swiss collector in the 1960s and ever since has been preserved. Better yet, just a few months ago it was recommissioned.

Among an estimated seven surviving ADM IIIs, Imhof’s 1927 car is indisputably the most original. Zack Stiling discovers its past in the April issue of The Automobile, on sale now.

Words by Zack Stiling
Photographs by Rob Cooper

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