 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A pair of Hessmobil 1020 roadsters. Car: L 18.4 cm (without crank), W 7.6 cm, H 9.2 cm. The orange model is early, with a race type driver, spoked wheels and rounded back. The orange color is unusual as most of these were maroon red in color. The wind up mechanism rather than flywheel drive was available in other Hessmobils, but is a rare find. The bright red model 1020 is a later version with chauffeur type driver, solid wheels and flat back. |
||||
| The Hessmobil lives on (partially) after Hess bankruptcy It is apparent that Tipp and Co. acquired parts, tooling, patents, etc., from the Hess bankruptcy of 1934. Tipp made the “Tippmobil Tractor”, “Tippmobil Motor” (shown in the 1937 Tipp catalog) and an unnamed and unmarked vehicle with Hess’s flywheel motor, but with Tipp’s body and styling as shown below. I suspect if this had been a success we would have seen it named the “Tippmobil”. Tippco sedan utilizing Hess’s flywheel motor. Tipp produced many military type tin toys during the mid to late 1930s. This sedan has a printed tinplate uniformed soldier behind the wheel. Tippco sedan motor on left, Hessmobil motor on right. The Tippco sedan was somewhat larger than the Hessmobil, weighing in at not quite 11 ounces (319 grams) versus 8 ounces (227grams) for the Hess product. Tipp obviously tried to compensate for this with a larger flywheel, diameter 1.6875” (4.3 cm), compared to the Hessmobil’s 1.5” (3.8 cm) flywheel. No other Tipp products with flywheel motor have been observed other than this sedan, the Tippmobil Tractor and the Tippmobil Motor. Catalog evidence can only be found for the Tractor and Motor.
|
||||
