1920 Steyr Typ II 12/40

The first production automobile of the Steyr brand
Construction by Hans Ledwinka
Delivered to the Egyptian royal family
Brought to Austria by Horst Brozler in the late 1970s
One of a handful of surviving copies
Perhaps the oldest surviving Steyr in the world
From 1989 to 2021 in the collection Dr. Barnea

What had started with a small sawmill in 1844 had become the largest arms factory in Europe during the First World War. At the height of the war, up to 15,000 workers were employed at Österreichische Waffenfabriks-Gesellschaft in Steyr, founded by Josef Werndl.

Long before the war plunged the continent into disaster, Steyr had already begun to produce bicycles at the end of the 19th century. In the summer of 1896, the company registered the brand name "Waffenrad" ("Weapon Bicycle"), which not by chance referred to its own core products. The rifles produced by ÖWG according to the patent of Ferdinand Mannlicher were of world renown and the bicycles were in no way inferior. Even today, the name is used almost universally in Austria to refer to any old bicycle.

While the war was still raging, people in Steyr began to think about the time after. In the early years of the 20th century, the Danube Monarchy was one of the leading nations in the development of the automobile, and its potential did not go unnoticed by the Steyr authorities, not least because the war in particular revealed a huge demand for vehicles. When the automobile pioneer Hans Ledwinka (1878-1967) was recruited as chief designer for the new project from the Nesselsdorf automobile factory in 1916, it was not yet foreseeable that the war would be lost and that ÖWG would suddenly be deprived of its mainstay.

The Treaty of Saint Germain-en-Laye had banned what was left of the monarchy from producing weapons, which put the ÖWG in a serious bind. Ledwinka not only had to design a first automobile in Steyr, but had to restructure the plant accordingly to get production on track. The turmoil of the world war had delayed all this, but its outcome called for the fastest possible implementation despite the shortage of raw materials.

Ledwinka had not left Nesselsdorf in a hurry. He only moved to Steyr in the course of 1917, when a successor had been found for him. At the same time, he was already working on the design of a new six-cylinder in-line engine that he had in mind for his new employer. Steyr had hoped to start series production as early as 1919, an ambitious goal that ultimately failed. After a delay of a few months, Ledwinka had put the first experimental car, the Type I, on its wheels.

In August, the Österreichische Waffenfabriks-Gesellschaft finally presented its first production car, the Type II, at the Prague Motor Show. Analogous to the tax classes, the Type II also bore the designation 12/40 hp. The name of the hometown was chosen as the brand name, and Steyr was born.

The chassis of the Type II was still very conventionally designed with its ladder frame, and brakes were initially only available on the rear axle, where there were two drums of impressive size. The heart of the car, however, was its ultra-modern engine, an inline six-cylinder with an impressive cubic capacity of 3.317 liters, resulting from a bore of 80 mm and a stroke of 110 mm. The output of 40 hp at 2,400 rpm was less of a sensation than the design itself, with an overhead, gear-driven camshaft that used rocker arms to control the valves, which were positioned at an angle to each other for optimum flow. The valves themselves were screwed in from above as a unit with the valve seats. The cylinders with their integrated heads were cast in one piece from gray cast iron, while the crankcase, in which the crankshaft with four plain bearings and anti-friction bearings sat, was made of aluminum.

Not only the engine, but also the dimensions of the Type II with its 3.75-meter wheelbase made it clear that it was considered to be in the upper class. The Steyr was intended to be a robust, durable automobile, and even in its first year, the company tried to demonstrate its qualities in racing. As early as October 1920, four works cars with shortened chassis were at the start of the Schwabenberg race. From the beginning, ÖWG sought its salvation not only in the small Austrian market, but also took its Steyr out into the wide world. Not only did they show their skills at races, but they were also present at exhibitions all over the continent and built up an impressive international dealer network.

Ledwinka also used the engine of the Type II for the design of the Type III, which was the first truck from Steyr, although it did not come onto the market until 1922. The year before, however, there was already the smaller Steyr Type IV as a cheaper entry-level model, for which Ledwinka had designed a 1.8-liter in-line four-cylinder. However, with only 950 built, it fell far short of expectations, while various sources refer to 2,150 units built of the large Type II.

A cross between the Types II and IV was the Type VI Sport, for which the lightweight chassis of the small car and the engine of the large car were taken, bored up to 5 liters, and with a supercharger the power output was increased many times over.

The Type II was replaced in 1924 by the Type V, which differed from its predecessor only in minor technical details, such as a reserve tank and an improved radiator. Ledwinka had already returned to Nesselsdorf by then. Otto Hieronimus succeeded him, but was killed in a race in Graz in May 1922. He was succeeded by Anton Honsig, who had worked for Steyr as a designer under Ledwinka from a young age and whose Type XII was to become by far the most successful model.

To raise the profile of its own automobiles, ÖWG, which changed its name to Steyr-Werke AG in 1926, also made its products available to various adventurers for expeditions. One particularly illustrious figure was the Hungarian Steyr representative and racing driver Count Ladislaus Eduard Almásy, who toured the Sudan in a Steyr V in 1926 and whose life story later provided the model for "The English Patient". In 1928, Bernhard Budde circumnavigated the entire world in a Steyr V as part of the "Circum mundum Expedition" covering 50,000 kilometers.

Thus, Steyr automobiles achieved world renown in their early years and it is not at all surprising that two of the first Type IIs went to Egypt as early as 1920 to the royal family there. The family had close ties to Austria and also owned a hunt in this country. One Type II was painted red, the other had a dark blue paint job.

After the last ruler was driven into exile, the royal fleet went under the hammer during the Nasser government. Participation was reserved for Egyptian citizens and the two Steyrs found a new home with an architect named Youssef Gamal. Finally, in the late 1970s, an Austrian by choice came into the picture and set out to find the Steyrs, rumors of whose existence were making the rounds in Cairo: Horst Brozler

Horst Brozler (1927-2020) was what used to be called a man of the world. Especially in his second home, Africa, he moved as if he had never been anywhere else. He spent the 1960s professionally in Nigeria, where as director of CCC Coutinho Caro in Lagos he was involved in many construction projects and established close contacts with the local population and politicians. In the 1970s he moved to Cairo for work, often taking the last flight to Vienna before the weekend and the first one back to Egypt on Monday to spend the weekends with his family in his house in Döbling.

Above all, Horst Brozler was a true connoisseur of outstanding automobiles. From the most remote corners of the world he brought the most incredible automotive treasures to Austria to resurrect them here. Some of the rarest and most artistic Alfa Romeo, Hispano Suiza, Delahaye or Austro Daimler he has owned throughout his life, all of which owe their survival to him.

The story about the two Steyrs had kept this man busy for months, during which he followed every little lead in the Egyptian capital. In fact, he found an intermediary who guided him to a garage right in the neighborhood of his hotel. To the owner, Brozler feigned interest in a Cadillac that was parked next to the two Steyrs, only to take pity on the two Steyrs because of the exorbitant price to be expected.

However, the two were still far from being purchased when they were taken out of the country. Eventually, however, the authorities were "convinced" and the dark blue Type II was disassembled to such an extent that it fitted into a custom-made Lufthansa transport crate, which in turn was hoisted into a cargo plane in one night's work to the millimeter. While the crate was to fly via Frankfurt to Vienna, Brozler took the direct flight home to receive the Steyr. Only it did not arrive. The crate did not want to leave the plane during the short time of a refueling stop, so that it and the Steyr first flew criss-cross through Europe. Only when the plane was on the ground for a longer time, the crate could be unloaded and loaded onto a low loader in the direction of Vienna. While the restoration of the dark blue Type II was already in full swing at the end of 1978, Brozler also tried to save the red one, at least what a fire in the garage had left of it in the meantime. The exercise also succeeded, even if it was then only good as a parts donor for the other.

On August 13, 1981, Horst Brozler registered his fully restored Steyr Type II in Vienna. He kept it until 1989, when he sold it to Dr Barnea, a passionate collector. This car with the chassis number 1055 is the 55th built Type II and therefore maybe even the oldest still existing automobile of the Steyr brand. The same number is still on the engine and even 40 years after the restoration the car is ready for use. Not only is it a 102-year-old piece of Austrian automotive history, its life story alone is as incomparable as it gets.


  • The vehicle on the platform of the Dorotheum