galrot wrote: ↑Mon May 22, 2023 1:58 pm
BMW "Hurrican". It is said to be based on a Bmw 1800ti from 1964. The work on the car started in 1967, but is said to have finished as late as 1975 (not sure how that fits with it being built at the school though).
The plan for the Hurrican began in 1965, when the Swiss Max Seelaus, at the age of 22, got together with seven fellow students at the Palatinate Master Craftsmen's School in Kaiserslautern to find a final topic for their diploma in the specialist department for bodywork and vehicle construction. A visually attractive and everyday sports coupé on large-series mechanicals was to be created.
When the plans for the small sports coupé matured in 1965, Seelaus contacted BMW and met with open doors. After the discontinuation of the BMW 700, there was a gap in the model range that could have been filled by a handsome sports coupé. Technical director Helmut Werner Bönsch provided the chassis and drive unit of a BMW 1800 in the hope that, if the results were convincing, the company might be able to complete its own model range.
But things turned out differently. In 1967 BMW took over Hans Glas GmbH in Dingolfing and came into possession of the Glas 1300/1700 GT coupé designed by Pietro Frua, from which the BMW 1600 GT coupé quickly emerged. The need for an alternative no longer existed.
Seelaus then hoped to be able to produce the car in series in Switzerland. But these plans also came to nothing.
As part of their diploma thesis, the eight students built a complete car, which, however, had to be presented unpainted so that the inspectors could approve it. The self-supporting body had been drawn over a tubular steel skeleton and was made of sheet steel. Doors, wings and bonnet were formed from aluminium sheet.
About 4,500 hours were spent on the body and because a ready-to-drive car was to be presented, the interior was also completely executed and finally, the noted effort for the unpainted prototype amounted to about 12,000 hours.
On 28 September 1967, Max Seelaus received his diploma and drove the car to Switzerland.
The completion of the car then took place in Switzerland. Among other things, the consequences of a rollover, which Seelaus had produced in the meantime and with which he impressively proved the stability and safety of the vehicle, still had to be eliminated.
In 1975, the car was approved by the Zurich Road Traffic Office, but it was only driven sporadically. The car now belongs to a Swiss collector.
source: zwischengas
Photo of the final finished vehicle from 1976 © Archiv Automobil Revue
- BMW Hurrican (1976).jpeg (407.13 KiB) Viewed 6535 times
the original 1.8-litre engine was replaced by that of a 2000 ti in the seventies © Daniel Reinhard
- BMW Hurrican engine (1976).jpeg (378.06 KiB) Viewed 6535 times
all instruments are grouped around the driver © Daniel Reinhard
- BMW Hurrican cockpit (1976).jpeg (319.45 KiB) Viewed 6535 times
The nameplate identifies Max Seelaus as the manufacturer © Daniel Reinhard
- BMW Hurrican type badge.jpeg (274.91 KiB) Viewed 6535 times
