Kettenkrad question

[Mat Holloway]

I have been reading the website that a link was provided to on the r75 question and in this article it mentions that 18,000 kettenkrads were produced post war!
Can anyone post pictures of a post war kettenkrad please as i would like to see any differences.
What were the main differences if any?
Also who were they made for military or civilian use?
cheers
mat

[PanzerJohn]

Where did they all go? At up to £30k a pop now, there must be few farmers in Europe unknowingly sitting on a nice earner.

[Bob Carter]

Your numbers are way off, postwar units number less than 800 - with the most notable difference being that they lack a fender just above the tracks running the full length of the sides. There are french produced vineyard tractors based on a ketten krad frame but these lack the motorcycle stle front wheel and are reversed - to try and turn one of these into a kettenkrad would be a nightmare. This production information is from Andreas Melhorn's excellant kettenkrad website which I will add a link in the following post.


How many Kettenkrads were produced?

<BIG>A difficult question. Who knows, how many original German documents were lost at the end of WW2 knows, how difficult it is to get really exact data. Here is the best production record I could get:

<CENTER><TABLE cellPadding=2 width="80%" bgColor=#00ffff border=2><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle width="40%">Year</TD><TD width="60%">Kettenkrads produced:</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle width="40%">1940</TD><TD width="60%">142</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle width="40%">1941</TD><TD width="60%">419</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle width="40%">1942</TD><TD width="60%">967</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle width="40%">1943</TD><TD width="60%">NSU: 2440
STOEWER: around 100</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle width="40%">1944</TD><TD width="60%">NSU: 3315
STOEWER: 1130</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle width="40%">1945</TD><TD width="60%">NSU: 288
STOEWER: around 100</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle width="40%">

Total:

</TD><TD width="60%">NSU: 7571
STOEWER: around 1300
Total: 8871</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER>

This means the wartime production. Note that most Kettenkrads were produced in 1944, when many towns and factories in Germany were already in ruins. Most Kettenkrads were produced by NSU at Neckarsulm, around 1300 were produced by STOEWER at Stettin. SIMCA never started the production of complete vehicles.
After the end of WW2 the production continued and NSU built around 550 more Kettenkrads from 1945 to 1949 for use as farm tractors and in forest and vineyards.
This is the most exact production record you can find anywhere. If you know more, please let me know!
© Andreas Mehlhorn 2001-2006
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[Bob Carter]

Here is the link to Andreas Melhorns kettenkrad site,

http://www.kettenkrad.de/index_e.htm

[Mat Holloway]

I have included a link to the site mentioned and the phrase below, maybe he made a typo error!

"Here's a kettenkrad that belongs to the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany. The interesting thing about kettenkrads is that there were about 18,000 made after the war. A true war-time kettenkrad can be a trick to find."

http://www.beemergarage.com/R75onl07.html

[Bob Carter]

Here is a pic of a Babiole tractor produced postwar, some have flat roadwheels that were produced when the originals ran out - again this tractor runs in reverse as a kettenkrad would, you can see the track tensioners pointing out of the lower portion of the photo.

kett b.gif

[Mat Holloway]

thanks for the photo bob looks like they should be fairly easy to tell apart

[Bob Carter]

That's a post war tub on that kettenkrad - note the flat sides above the tracks compared to the fender that runs the entire length as shown below


MVC-016F.JPG

[Mat Holloway]

I learn something everyday
Thanks for showing the difference is clear to see! The more i see kettenkrads the more i want one.

[Bob Carter]

I've had several toys and have entertained owning a Hetzer, but in the end the Kettenkrad is the perfect vehicle - you don't need to rent a large expensive truck to haul it, you can drive it by yourself, and since the motor was used extensively postwar parts are available.

[Mat Holloway]

My dream is to own some german armour!
When i reach that goal i will probably get that lonely empty feeling, wont alst long though
How ever much are hetzers going for now?
mat

[Bob Carter]

You have to find one for sale first, last prices I heard were 2 units in Switzerland. Unrestored $100,000. and restored running $350,000. and then for us in the U.S. we now have to deal with the ATF to bring one into the country - I haven't heard but maybe Al Queada tried to sneak a 60 year old tank into the country - which is funny because they restict importing armour into the country yet do nothing to regulate the armour already here , (yet)

[Mat Holloway]

yeah you have to watch those terrorists
Stupid rules but i suppose you would not want some loon driving around in a tank blowing stuff up, people are just weird nowadays!

[paul a]

There are still 1 or 2 hetzers for sale on the continent the difficult thing about kettenkrads is most post war ones are now restored and posing as ww2 examples I have seen several of them in europe and here in the uk at one time a dealer/collector in Germany was making a good living restoring WWII and post war Kettenkrads doing a mix and match job losing and altering frame numbers so you would be amazed how many post war vehicles are now posing as WWII ones and some of the owners haven't a clue

[Mat Holloway]

its a little scarey to think that someone paying out £20,000+ may buy a post war kettenkrad thinking its a real one!
Any other things to look for other than the side fenders?
cheers
mat