The last surviving Beckmann: a forgotten Edwardian emerges in Norway

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Otto Beckmann & Cie built cars in Breslau, in the German Empire, from 1900 to 1926, Georgano informs us. He started using his own engines from 1904, and very soon had a range spanning two-, four- and six-cylinder models. With a quarter of a century of production to its name, one would think there must be a fair number of Beckmanns which have made it into preservation. Not so—Breslau is situated on territory which was historically contested between various kingdoms, and has since 1945 been located with the present political boundaries of Poland, although in Beckmann's day it fell within the German Reich. Because of its location, Beckmann had little impact in western Europe and sold mainly in the eastern German Empire and other eastern European countries, where the winters are harsh and efforts to preserve historic vehicles were relatively late to gain traction.

What this means is that there is only one known survivor, a 1911 21/45 PS, which has just emerged from a much-needed restoration by Rune Aschim of Norway, who has been in correspondence throughout the time with Otto Beckmann's descendants. The very early years of the car have some question marks around them, but Rune tells us all he knows: "We know little about the car from 1911 in Germany, until it was equipped with a Frankonia body and wings in 1920 and exported to Sweden. Originally, it would have had a Roi-des-Belges body from the factory in Breslau. In Sweden, the car was in use for only five years, but it must have been used a lot, as all the mechanical parts were worn out.

"I bought the chassis from Viklit Graae Jørgensen in Denmark in 2006. I had planned to build a new body in the 1911 style, but I was so lucky to find the remnants of similar car on Andøya, an island in northern Norway. There, the front half of the body had been converted to a sofa. There, I also got the steering wheel, horn, and so on. The engine was restored in Sweden and Åke Lindell in Sweden made new springs and restored the chassis. The wood for the body was from Norway, and the metal panels, hood and wings were made in Sweden. The upholstery was done by Polish craftsmen. The great-grandson of Paul Beckmann, Christian Börner, has written a book about the factory. He has confirmed that my car is the only surivor and has helped with a lot of information."

Rune has achieved a tremendous feat in bringing this unique, and very good-looking, Edwardian back from the dead. In the coming weeks and months, we hope his research efforts will shed some light on those years of the car's history which are, for now, unknown, although Christian has some ideas as to how Rune's car arrived in Sweden. When new, it would have been sold probably as a seven-seater double phaeton for the lofty sum of 15,000 Marks. The owner would have been forced to abandon the car during the Great War, and it may have been requisitioned by the German Army. Following Germany's defeat, it had to recoup has much of its losses as possible by selling its products to foreign markets. Many ex-army cars would have been overhauled and sold on; indeed, some 22,000 motor vehicles were exported from Germany in 1920, and it's likely that this Beckmann was one of them, spruced up with the new body by Frankonia. By December, 1920, it was registered to a wholesaler named Axel Edlund in the municipality of Robertsfors.

We would be interested to know more about the Frankonia coachworks, because we are not familiar with it, but we wonder if it was connected with the Frankonia domed one-piece mudguards, which were advertised in The Autocar in 1912, and available through Barimar Ltd. of 10, Poland Street, London W. Currently, there is a pair of Frankonia side lamps for sale, again with Viklit Graae Jorgenson.

The 21/45 PS model used a 5.3-litre T-head engine with dual ignition. It looks a very capable touring car, so we hope Rune will get plenty of enjoyment from it at Scandinavia's veteran and vintage rallies.

Words: Zack Stiling
Photographs: Rune Aschim

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