Trippel SG 6

The Trippel SG 6 was the most important pre-war and wartime amphibious car designed by Hans Trippel, the German engineer often called the father of amphibious cars. Trippel had turned to amphibians after converting his own racing car in the mid-1930s and building a series of experimental vehicles. Over his lifetime he was credited with more than thirty amphibious designs, ending with the Aqua-Terra of 1989-1990.

Development

The first SG 6, built from 1937 to 1939, had four-wheel drive and Adler mechanical parts. From 1938 to 1943 a widened SG 6 "Pionier" with an Opel engine was built to carry up to 16 pioneer (engineer) troops. The revised SG 6/41 of 1941-1944, also Opel-powered, came in several forms. These included a civilian "Kolonialpionier" with doors and a coupé called the SG-P. Photographs in the archive show open, doorless military cars, versions with doors, a hardtop and a limousine body.

A surviving SG 6/41

A restoration project offered for sale, chassis number 5011/163, illustrates the design. It had a 1938 Opel 2.5-litre engine with its original gearbox, original Trippel instruments, and a complete water propeller system. A turbine-type fan blew air through two radiators. That car's body had been modified, with one door added and the body lengthened at front and rear.

Other Trippel designs in this folder

The archive's chronology of Trippel designs also lists the 1936 Versuchswagen 4 (4WD, Adler) and the Amphi-Ranger family of 1979-1982. These appear here only as small thumbnails.