Getting the 'Ferrari of the east' back on the road

The Melkus, a legend from Dresden in the former East Germany, is being resurrected, says Derek Scally in Berlin

The Melkus, a legend from Dresden in the former East Germany, is being resurrected, says Derek Scally in Berlin

It's never been more difficult to stand out on Ireland's roads. Porsches and Jaguars are figuratively, if not literally, two a penny now, just city runabouts for the country's new rich.

For anyone with €50,000 to spare, a sure-fire way to get attention is to invest in a new Melkus RS 1000, the resurrected 1970s sports car from Dresden, once dubbed the Ferrari of the East.

The road-hugging racer with a drop-nose, wing doors and daring curves was created by sports car enthusiast Heinz Melkus in 1969 but only 101 were made before production was halted a decade later. Now the family firm is producing a limited number before it introduces a brand-new Melkus RS 2000 next year. Melkus lovers have rushed to place their orders.

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"We had no idea the car was so popular around the world," laughed Peter Melkus, son of Heinz who died last year, aged 78. "Many fans have been in touch saying that if the new car is built anything like the old one, then they definitely want one."

The original Melkus was a wonder of engineering and resourcefulness that turns on its head the usual jokes about East Germany's better-known cars, the tiny Trabant and the boxy Wartburg that were available only after a 10-15 year wait.

Melkus family legend has it that Heinz, a driving school instructor and racing car enthusiast, conceived the car in 1968 when, while driving to Yugoslavia in his Wartburg, he was overtaken by a Lotus. He was so struck by its speed and its line that he decided to produce his own.

Easier said than done in the planned economy of East Germany. But Melkus was lucky enough to go looking for permission just as the politburo in Berlin was looking for someone to build an all-socialist sports car to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1969.

The finished product was a sensation and a scandal in the east bloc, with curves clearly derived from decadent capitalist cars of Ferrari, Lotus, Porsche and Maserati.

Because the car had to be 100 per cent East German, Melkus wasn't allowed to use any foreign parts. And so his car is improvisation at its best: a Wartburg 350, 75-horse power, two-stroke engine slipped under Trabant panels that were shaped and moulded by a small team of craftsmen in a garage near his Dresden home. The bonnet was held on the car with chains from bathtub plugs.

The price tag at the time (29,000 Deutschmark) put it well out of the reach of most East Germans, but with just 25 cars produced a year, the competition was immense. Would-be buyers had to prove to the authorities that they would use the Melkus as a racing car in competition and not for the occasional Sunday excursion.

Weighing just 680kg, largely thanks to its fibreglass shell, the Melkus was just one metre high. All of that made up for the somewhat underpowered engine, meaning the car drove like a rocket.

Melkus produced his sports car with increasing difficulty until 1979 when East German economic difficulties made it next to impossible.

"We stopped production simply because we ran out of parts," remembered Peter Melkus. "The Wartburg factory in Eisenach simply didn't give us any more parts. Then we had to buy them on the open market which was very difficult."

With no more cars coming on the market, the Melkus soon developed a cult following. Of the original 101, some 80 are still running. Karl-Heinz Kretzschmar from Dresden bought his 1976 PS Melkus in Ferrari red - number 83 - a decade ago and restored it to its original condition. He says it took him a while to learn the special technique to get in.

"From the outside you sit on the sill of the door, so to speak, then you push your backside in backwards into the seat and then bring in your legs," he explained.

The revived Melkus remains true to the final 1979 model and its creator is remarkably unpretentious about the project.

"We just want to build a car, a cute little street sportscar that's not too expensive and suitable for amateur racing," said Peter Melkus. The first completed new model in gleaming yellow was unveiled at the Dresden Transport Museum in November to nostalgic sighs from many original Melkus owners who travelled to the city for the occasion.

"My father was less than thrilled by the idea of building the old one, but he would have been very happy we are doing a new model," said Mr Melkus.

The specification for the new car, the Melkus 2000, is scant, though images put on the internet have been met with approval by its loyal fan base and the company has secured investment for the project.

"We're still working on the technical details but it will have wing doors, a two-litre engine - so a middle of the road car. Of course for race cars we can soup that up," said Peter Melkus.

In his other life, he runs a BMW dealership in Dresden. But the car-crazy family's past is all over the walls of the showroom, with walls covered in black and white photos and blueprints of the car that was a racing sensation of the socialist world.

For the moment, Melkus and his small team are focused on completing the 15 Melkus 1000s with three cylinder engines by the end of the year.

"It's very time- and labour-consuming work," he said. "We thought it would be easier but it's a lot of work, as everything is done by hand and it takes a lot longer than before. The original men aren't as young as they used to be and the new ones need longer to do the job."

The 15 limited edition cars are already sold out but he says a quick Irish buyer might be in luck. "A few of the candidates look a little doubtful," he said, "so I'm sure we can accommodate another buyer or two."

See melkus-sportwagen.de for more.