Across the Atlantic in an Opel!
We have already mentioned that the front grille of the first series of the Opel Olympia (13237) was adorned with a beautiful yellow plaque featuring a discus thrower inspired by Myron’s 5th-century BC sculpture. It is worth noting yet another detail that defined Opel’s aspirations for many years.
The Silver Cigar
In the very first versions of the Olympia, a certain slender ornament appeared at the top of the front hood. When asked what it reminds them of, the uninitiated usually guess correctly that it looks like some kind of silver projectile or cigar. And these associations are entirely accurate, because large flying cigars was precisely the term used to describe airships. Airships floated in the air on the same principle as balloons, with the difference that they had a rudder and their own propulsion, which allowed them to move independently of the surrounding air masses. The undeniable pioneers of this type of aerostat were the Germans, led by the aviation engineer Ferdinand von Zeppelin. The company he founded, Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH, monopolized the global airship market. The first Zeppelin completed its 18-minute flight on July 2, 1900.
A romance with modernity
At the beginning of the 20th century, gigantic flying cigars were regarded as symbols of major technological progress—above all because of their unprecedented range. A Zeppelin could cover as much as 16,000 km without the need to land. In 1934, Opel—drawing on Zeppelin’s technological achievements and wanting to emphasize its own aspirations to be a pioneer in the automotive industry—began using a symbolic Zeppelin both in its logo and in the form of the ornament decorating its cars. They even released a line of bicycles produced at the Rüsselsheim plant called Zeppelin. The Opel Olympia was the first mass-produced German car with a unibody construction, a breakthrough that opened an entirely new chapter in automotive history. In this way, the silver ornament symbolizing an airship adorned subsequent models from Hesse for many years. But this was not the end of Opel’s romance with the Zeppelin.
A historic flight across the Atlantic
In 1936, Opel’s press director—what today we would probably call the head of marketing—Carl T. Wiskott, was looking for a way to make a spectacular debut for the Olympia in Brazil. Wiskott came up with the idea that there was no better way to deliver an Opel to South America than by Zeppelin. Just a few days after beginning his tenure, an Olympia was loaded into the cargo hold of the LZ 129 Hindenburg.
This was a special car: it was the 500,000th vehicle to leave the Rüsselsheim plant since its founding in 1899. The enormous airship, named after the President of the Weimar Republic, Paul von Hindenburg, measured 245 meters in length and 41 meters in height. Its four diesel engines, each producing 1,200 hp, allowed the giant to reach a speed of 130 km/h.
Preparations
To make the entire operation possible, a special system of frames and cables was constructed, allowing the 850-kilogram car to be suspended inside the airship’s hull. In addition to the car, the Hindenburg carried 37 passengers and 54 crew members. Among the passengers was a journalist from the Brazilian newspaper O GLOBO, who reported on the journey in real time via telegrams, and Alfred Tritschler—a well-known German photographer who worked in partnership with Paul Wolff.
On March 31, 1936, the Zeppelin took off from Friedrichshafen, the headquarters of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH. Opel’s PR department proudly announced that transporting a car aboard the Hindenburg was a milestone in the history of travel. Indeed, it was the first time in history that a car was transported by air across the Atlantic—a practice that would eventually become standard for travelers around the world.
Welcome to Brazil!
Covering nearly 11,000 km took the Hindenburg just under four days. In Rio de Janeiro—specifically at São José Airport in the Santa Cruz district, where the Zeppelin was to celebrate the opening of a new hangar—the airship arrived on the morning of Saturday, April 4, 1936. Guests from Germany were personally welcomed by the Minister of Transport and representatives of the Brazilian government. The minister, accompanied by his family and escorted by four Harley-Davidson motorcycle police officers, then took a ride in the Olympia to the center of Rio de Janeiro. The car was parked on the main thoroughfare, Avenida Rio Branco, where Opel’s showroom, Theodor Wille & Cia. Ltda., was located at number 79.
The most expensive Olympia in the world
The car was then displayed in the showroom window, accompanied by the Brazilian and German flags, as well as a plaque reading: “Here is the little Olympia that crossed the sky over the North Atlantic in the belly of the new Zeppelin.”
On April 9, 1936, the Olympia likely made another journey to the Palácio Rio Negro in Petrópolis, where it was presented to the President of Brazil, Getúlio Vargas. On this occasion, O GLOBO reported that while the car’s production cost 16,000 reais, transporting it had cost 52,000 reais.
A lucky lottery ticket
After the presentation, the car returned to Theodor Wille’s showroom. It attracted a great deal of attention, especially since the newspaper O GLOBO repeatedly highlighted the uniqueness of this particular model. This generated a queue of interested buyers willing to purchase it. At the end of September 1936, a draw was held among those who had expressed interest in buying the car. On September 30, 1936, José Adonias de Araujo became the new owner of the Olympia.
Without a trace
What happened to the 500,000th Opel? The further history of this car is unknown—it disappeared somewhere in Brazil. However, we do know what happened to the Hindenburg. On May 6, 1937, the LZ 129 airship caught fire while mooring at Lakehurst Airport in New Jersey. Of the 97 people on board, 13 passengers and 22 crew members lost their lives. This incident marked the end of the popularity and widespread use of airships in aviation.
The Zeppelin company still exists today, offering tourist and advertising flights with the new technology Zeppelin. Opel also stood the test of time, although in the early 1960s, when airships were no longer widely recognized or associated with technological progress, the Rüsselsheim company discontinued the use of this symbol in its logo.
