Adler Trumpf Classic Cars for Sale

The Adler Trumpf was a small family car that was built as a saloon and a convertible by the Frankfurt based car manufacturer Adler from 1932 onwards. The company manufactured cars and motorcycles from 1900 until 1957, although car production ceased during World War II and was not resumed afterwards.

The birth of the Adler Trumpf 

When Adler began building automobiles, they initially used De Dion two and four cylinder engines ranging from 1032 cc to 9081 cc. From 1902 the company began to manufacture their own engines.  In a similar way to British Leyland in the 1970s, in 1932 Adler launched two similarly sized cars at the same time. One followed the then conventional rear-wheel drive configuration, whilst the other followed the new trend for front-wheel drive. Of the two, the Adler Trumpf was the front-wheel drive vehicle and was the second of these two new cars to enter volume production, at the end of the summer in 1932.  Hans Gustav Röhr was responsible for the innovative design, and the Adler Trumpf was set apart from its sibling (the Adler Primus) by its relatively advanced independent suspension as well as by its front-wheel drive.

Engine variants 

The Adler Trumpf was initially offered with the same 1,504 cc 4 cylinder in-line side valve engine as the Adler Primus, developing 32PS. In the Trumpf, however, the engine was rotated by 180 degrees with the gear box directly behind the front axle. In 1933 a 1,645 cc version of the engine was also offered, developing 38PS. The smaller engine was still available until 1934, when it was replaced entirely by the larger version.

Body variants 

At its launch in 1932, the Adler Trumpf was available as a two door saloon and a two door convertible, manufactured by the steel car body specialists Ambi-Budd of Berlin. From 1933, Ambi-Budd produced a more modern body for the Trumpf featuring a slightly raked windscreen which was available with two or four doors.  In 1936 the Adler Trumpf was replaced directly by the Adler Trumpf 1.7 EV. This model retained the same 1.645 cc engine but the body was now more streamlined and had more rear overhang, combined with a longer wheel base. The saloon bodies still came from Ambi-Budd but were now only available with four doors. Karmann of Osnabrück supplied the stylish convertible bodies for the 1.7 EV.

Commercial success 

Between 1932 and 1936, Adler produced 18,600 Trumpfs, representing a market share of between 3 and 4%. In contrast, Adler only produced 7,003 Adler Trumpf 1.7 EV models in the following two years, and their market share dropped to 2%. Production of the Adler Trumpf ceased in 1938.