What is it? Quiz #470

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The Football World Cup is around the corner and so is the season, in which we push our cars out of the sheds for a first ride, enjoying the warm spring sun. But how to combine these two hobbies? The solution of this problem was solved in the 1930s, when one of the most successful German racing drivers, Karl "Charlie" Kappler invented "Autoball".

After Kappler partially retired in the early 1930s, he still wanted to participate in automotive endurance events. For some reason, trying to score goals with cars sounded like the perfect solution to his problem. The first match was played on the pitch of the FC Frankonia soccer team in Karlsruhe, Germany in 1933. No official rules were recorded, but matches were played in teams of two or four.

The cars were "future classics" such as the Wanderer W10 and the Mercedes-Benz Type 290. Of course, a standard soccer ball was not suitable for such a game, so Kappler worked with Continental to create a special ball that had a diameter of four feet.

In the very first match, Kappler faced off against Opel dealer and gentleman racer Willy Engesser. The tires on Kappler's Mercedes were better suited for the terrain, and he was able to take home the victory. The local press was delighted with the first match, and Kappler would go on to stage three more years until his full retirement in 1935. With the sport's creator and main champion gone, autoball quickly died off. Since then it has disappeared but it has been resurrected several times.

But it is Saturday, and on Saturdays, we don´t only want to teach history lessons but want to delight you with a quiz. On the photograph, you can see a 1929 Autoball-car. It´s neither a Wanderer, nor a Mercedes, but it is a German car and it is named after its founder and chief designer. Like the Autoball game, the factory also closed its doors in 1935. I think these hints are sufficient, aren´t they?

Words and photograph by Hubertus Hansmann.

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