Audi Type SS
title: "Audi Type SS" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1920s-cars", "audi-vehicles", "cars-introduced-in-1929", "cars-discontinued-in-1932"] topic_path: "general/1920s-cars" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi_Type_SS" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox automobile"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Audi Type SS |
| aka | Audi Zwickau |
| Audi 20 / 100 | |
| image | Audi typ SS -Zwickau-.jpg |
| manufacturer | Audi |
| production | 1929–1932 |
| assembly | Zwickau, Germany |
| predecessor | Audi Type M |
| successor | Audi Type R |
| engine | 5130 cc 8-cylinder |
| (design Rickenbacker) | |
| layout | FR layout |
| wheelbase | 3500 mm |
| length | 4965 mm |
| width | 1780 mm |
| height | 1870 mm |
| class | Obere Mittelklasse |
| sp | uk |
| :: |
|name = Audi Type SS |aka = Audi Zwickau Audi 20 / 100 |image = Audi typ SS -Zwickau-.jpg |manufacturer = Audi |production = 1929–1932 |assembly = Zwickau, Germany |predecessor = Audi Type M |successor = Audi Type R |engine = 5130 cc 8-cylinder (design Rickenbacker) |layout = FR layout |wheelbase = 3500 mm |length = 4965 mm |width = 1780 mm |height = 1870 mm |class = Obere Mittelklasse |platform = |related = |sp = uk
The Audi Type SS was a large, eight-cylinder-powered sedan/saloon car introduced by Audi in 1929 in succession to the Type R "Imperator".
Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen, the Danish-born entrepreneurial industrialist who had purchased Audi-Werke in 1928, had previously, in 1927, purchased the manufacturing plant of the bankrupt Detroit-based Rickenbacker business and shipped it home to Germany. He installed it in a factory he owned just outside Zschopau, near to Audi's own Zwickau plant. The plan was to build large, relatively inexpensive US-style "Rasmussen engines" for sales to other German auto-makers. The plan failed in that Rasmussen failed to secure any orders for the engines, so he instead produced a couple of models of his own which used them. The Audi Type SS (Zwickau) was one of these.
The 5,130 cc straight 8 engine developed a maximum output 100 PS at 3,000 rpm, which was relayed using a four-speed transmission through to the rear wheels and converted into a claimed top speed of 110 km/h (68 mph).
The car had two leaf-sprung solid axles and hydraulically controlled brakes which operated on all four wheels. The usual body configurations were available, including a four-door cabriolet and, with a manufacturer's recommended price of 12,950 Marks, a "Pullman-Limousine".
Approximately 400 Audi Zwickaus were produced between 1929 and 1932, which for this size of car was a reasonable tally.
Specifications
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| Track Front/Rear | 1440 mm / 1480 mm |
|---|---|
| :: |
Sources
- Oswald, Werner: Deutsche Autos 1920-1945, Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart, 10. Auflage (1996),
References
- [[#Oswald. Oswald]], p. 42
- [[#Oswald. Oswald]], p. 45
- [[#Oswald. Oswald]], pp. 44 & 45
- [[#Oswald. Oswald]], pp. 42–43
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