Looking for something unusual to haul mulch this Spring? How about a 1952 Tempo Hanseat three-wheeler? This German artifact is listed here on eBay, at a price of $17,800. A few days before it showed up on eBay, it was recorded as sold through Hemmings for $14,490. That sale apparently fell through, and now the seller is moving overseas so he’s trying again. Whatever the backstory, this truck was treated to a nut-and-bolt restoration in Germany about eight years ago, and then imported to the US in about 2022. While it can haul about 1650 lbs, I’d be more likely to drive it to the local Cruise-In than load it up with barkdust.
Germany’s post-war economy began to boom after about 1948, but citizens were still short of nearly everything – including cheap transportation. The Tempo was originally conceived as front-load motorcycle – almost a motorized wheelbarrow. In 1939, it was evolved into a more conventional rear-cargo design – while retaining its three wheels. By 1949, the Hanseat arrived, with improvements to boost sales. This truck is powered by a water-cooled, 396 cc in-line two-stroke, good for about 14 hp. The horse and buggy hadn’t faded from the scene completely, so though today we would scoff at any vehicle generating only 14 hp, that was considered pretty good if your other choice was riding Ol’ Dobbin to town.
Power is delivered via chain to the front axle, providing reasonably good torque. The gearbox is a manual. The undercarriage is as nice as the topside.
Suicide doors – well, why not? Rear visibility is minimal out of that postage-stamp of a rear window – and I’m not seeing much in the way of mirrors. The single top-mounted wiper blade was typical for the era. This interior reminds me of a Model A, particularly around the gauge cluster.
The wooden rear bed, very narrow tires, and unique assortment of rear lamps/reflectors/lenses remind us this is no ordinary truck, even aside from its three-wheeled configuration. I don’t have evidence to support this notion, but it looks to me like the bed sides might fold down to make a platform. Other than selling the Hanseat in Europe, the factory also licensed production in India. The Bajaj-Tempo Hanseat was produced at Akurdi, Pune, until 2000 – decades after the last of these rolled off the line in Germany. These vehicles were nearly ubiquitous as people- and cargo-movers in India, their smoky little engines chattering away as they labored along rough roads. Would you want to own this vintage hauler?
This is really neat. I got a good laugh out of Michelles line, “that was considered pretty good if your other choice was riding Ol’ Dobbin to town.” Poor Ol’ Dobbin. This being front wheel drive ( singular form) caught my attention. I never would have guessed that at first glance, not without looking underneath it. The shifter kind of looks like a Citroën 2CV gear shift. I wonder if it operates the same way? I like the Model A style dashboard too. Everything that you need……. Nothing that you don’t. Thank you for yet again Michelle for showing me yet another vehicle I never knew existed, but is really unique.
Besides the rare/unusual (especially the long lost Italian classics!) you’ve a knack for finding and researching stuff some really crazy cool stuff, Michelle to which this is a shining example.
Cool.
Gentlemen, you’re very welcome. The good news is, there’s always weird stuff out there, it never ends. Stay tuned.
Second time posting this, I got kicked off so if its a repeat I apologize. Michelle, I want to second what Nevadahalfrack said. Weird stuff is terrific. I always enjoy your write ups. Please keep ’em coming!!!
The interior shot shows a gear pattern plate that seems to have a vertical neutral path with the gears each a horizontal shift from that.
I had a slightly later Tempo pickup called a Matador. It had 4 wheels, and looked a bit like a VW split window pickup. It was powered by a Heinkel 2 cylinder engine and had front wheel drive. I sold it many years ago to the Lane museum.
Howard… ” what problems ” lol 👍
Anyways when I was parousing this interesting article I read 396… and immediately my mind went to the big block lol. And for a second i thought … what the…
Stan!!!! Its got the 396 CC Big Block in it!!! Yes!!!!! I can just see that front tire go up in smoke!!!Good one Howard, I got a good laugh out of that too!!!
Excellent write-up Michelle. Like Nevadahalfrack says, crazy and cool.
Neat little truck, German engineering YAH VOLT, BUT that single wheel front drive would suck with 1,000lbs in the bed on a dirt or wet road on a hill….
Wheen I was a boy in Germany, Long ago and Faraway as an old Gershwin song goes, these little trucks were ubiquitous.I lived one block from thr very steep Bahnhof Strasse in Bad Nauheim and saw these things regularly delivering beer barrels full of the good stuff to the restaurant up the hill. Amazingly, I never saw the front end raising up due to the excessive weight in the rear. The Tempo was the poor man´s Goliath,,which had a similar layout but was considerably more sophisticated and consequently more costly. In the 1930´s Tempo marketed a passenger car based on the identical drivetrain; this car was a flop, because the make and the 3-wheeled concept was considert too primitive for a car. They also built an interesting military 4-wheel,4-wheel drive and 4-wheel steering car with one 660cc 2-stroke Ilo twin in front and another identical engline one in the rear. The Wehrmacht turned down the proposal but the Swedish army bought about 1100 hundred of them. Tempo was a time-honored manufacturer known for their high quality and reliability..
This would turn some head’s at the home Depot or Ace hardware, kinda wonder how many of these are in the US and how many have been cut in half and turned into a trailer
Europe and eastern countries always had to be rresourceful with their designs. Here’s something that may have been prominent there but never would have caught on amid the prosperity of the US. Even in post depression years.
I guess the chain is flexible enough to drive the front wheel and still steer, but I wonder if torque steer is an issue? At 14 hp maybe not.
I remember these Tempos in use by farmers when I was stationed in Germany in the early 1960s.
Nice write up. I can remember riding in a 3 wheeled contraption when I was a kid in the early 70s. Any sharp turn over 25 mph and a rear wheel would raise and felt like it was gonna flip. This might fair better with the longer stance, as opposed to the car I was in.
Is it any relation of the small Goliath trucks of thenabouts?
“Small Goliath…” ha ha, good juxtaposition there. You know, the Goliath WAS mentioned when I was researching this vehicle… maybe so.
I did a wee bit of looking – and the answer’s no. Tempo became part of Daimler-Benz, whereas Goliath was linked to Borgward, Lloyd and Hansa. See attached wikipedia thingy; at the bottom of the who-made-what chart there’s a link to a 3-wheelers page. Now, there’s a rabbit hole…!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliath_Goli
It’s worth it to take the time to look at the eBay pictures. There is a shot of one of these, “airborne”, going over a hill. I would not want to be driving THAT!
The body sides fold down for side/rear loading/unloading and to accommodate larger-than-bed loads. The engine is on the steering assembly… the whole thing turns when steering.
The way the shift pattern seems to be depicted on the dash plaque, I wonder if the shifter is supposed to stick up, not down. Hmmm
(If I had a buck for every bit of inane trivia I’ve got stored in my skull, I’d be a multi-millionaire)
1600+#s and trying to stop it with that Cushman looking front wheel? I would think you have to allow for which direction you want it to skid or dump over!
As in, “dump to stop?” Eeeek!
never knew these were around europe. Post war all sorta things were done to get the contenent opened again (WWII devistation). Wonder if they were copied (older design) by the SE Asian ones I’m more familiar with (not tuk tuk) that haul one ton loads. https://mahindralastmilemobility.com/zor-grand-pickup
Some 15, 20 ft ones have gas motors (older designs).