Heinkel Tourist 175 cc (1960).
The Heinkel Tourist is a motor scooter that was made by Heinkel Flugzeugwerke from 1953 to 1965. More than 100,000 were manufactured and sold.
The Tourist was sold as an upscale scooter. It was more expensive than a Vespa or a Lambretta, and was generally heavier, more comfortable, and more stable. It was available with a speedometer, a steering lock, a clock, a luggage carrier, and a spare wheel. It was referred to in England as “The Rolls-Royce of Scooters” and was advertised by a dealer in Massachusetts as “The Cadillac of Scooters”.
The Tourist had a tubular steel frame to which pressed steel body panels were mounted. The engine of the Tourist was mounted in the frame and drove the rear wheel by a chain enclosed in the swingarm. Thus sheltered, the chain ran in a sealed oil bath, extending its life and preventing any oil from contacting either scooter or rider. The engines used in Heinkel Tourists were 4-stroke while most other scooters of the time, including the Heinkel 150 light scooter from the 1960s, had 2-stroke engines.
Heinkel’s first prototype scooter was built in 1949. Production of the Tourist began in 1953.
The Tourist was manufactured in five series: the 101 A0 (1953–1954), the 102 A1 (1954–1955), the 103 A0 (1955–1957), the 103 A1 (1957–1960), and the 103 A2 (1960–1965).
Moto Bassella museum, Catalonia, Pyrenees, Spain
