Photo: Bonhams
If you’re looking for a versatile vehicle to haul your cannon to the shooting range that is also a motorcycle, look no further than this crazy-cool 1944 German Kettenkrad following to get auctioned this week.
Bonhams is offering this rare German World War 2 military vehicle restored to original specifications between 2011-2015. The Kettenkrad (“ketten” meaning tracks, “krad” meaning Krafttrad which is motorcycle in German) was a type of light transporter considered innovative and superior to what the enemies of the Wehrmacht were using.
According to its description, the Kettenkrad was designed for the German airborne forces as a light multi-terrain towing vehicle that was able to both haul a big gun and be compact enough to fit inside a Junkers Ju 52 aircraft.
You won’t be doing any countersteering on this bad boy, but everything else works as a motorcycle. Well, with the exception of the big tracks at the back and their possibility to brake independently when steering too hard to compensate and not topple over.
The transmission is borrowed from the car world, incorporating a three-speed gearbox and a foot-operated clutch. It is also gifted with high and low ranges for different types of terrain, while the engine is a 1,478cc water-cooled unit from the Opel Olympia, also used by the Wehrmacht.
At the front, you can notice the sophisticated tele-lever kind of suspension BMW Motorrad was also famed for. The vehicle is able to reach a top speed of 50 mph (80 km/h) on asphalt, making it the fastest tracked vehicle of the war.
The Kettenkrad was used on almost every front, but, compared to the Allies’ Jeep, it was produced in a small series of a little over 8,000 units. As with most other German equipment, most of them were destroyed at the end of the war and very few survived.
This is also a reason why its selling price is expected to be around €70.000-€90.000 (about $74.000-$96.000). The unit will be at the Goodwood Members’ Meeting auction on the 19th of March.
According to its description, the Kettenkrad was designed for the German airborne forces as a light multi-terrain towing vehicle that was able to both haul a big gun and be compact enough to fit inside a Junkers Ju 52 aircraft.
You won’t be doing any countersteering on this bad boy, but everything else works as a motorcycle. Well, with the exception of the big tracks at the back and their possibility to brake independently when steering too hard to compensate and not topple over.
The transmission is borrowed from the car world, incorporating a three-speed gearbox and a foot-operated clutch. It is also gifted with high and low ranges for different types of terrain, while the engine is a 1,478cc water-cooled unit from the Opel Olympia, also used by the Wehrmacht.
At the front, you can notice the sophisticated tele-lever kind of suspension BMW Motorrad was also famed for. The vehicle is able to reach a top speed of 50 mph (80 km/h) on asphalt, making it the fastest tracked vehicle of the war.
The Kettenkrad was used on almost every front, but, compared to the Allies’ Jeep, it was produced in a small series of a little over 8,000 units. As with most other German equipment, most of them were destroyed at the end of the war and very few survived.
This is also a reason why its selling price is expected to be around €70.000-€90.000 (about $74.000-$96.000). The unit will be at the Goodwood Members’ Meeting auction on the 19th of March.
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