Phänomen Granit 1500A Kfz.70. Military heavy commander car, successor of Horch 108
Robur was a marque of the Volkseigener Betrieb VEB Robur-Werke Zittau of East Germany (GDR). It mainly produced 3-ton trucks. The vehicles were produced in the town of Zittau in what now is South-East Saxony. Until 1946, company produced under the marque Phänomen (English: Phenomenon), and until 1957 under the name VEB Phänomen Zittau.
History
In 1888, Karl Gustav Hiller founded a company for the distribution of a pom-pon machine that he had invented and would receive a patent for in 1894. On a trip to England he obtained an exclusive license to import and build Rover Safety Bicycles. He became shareholder and later owner of the Zittau machine factory “Müller & Preußger”, refined the Rover bicycles and began to distribute them under the name “Phänomen-Rover” in 1894. In 1900 the company began to produce Phänomen motorcycles.
In 1905 the company began the mass production of its three-wheeled Phänomobil. The two-cylinder engine used in motorbikes was used here as well. However, similarities in construction with Berlin-made three-wheeler Cyklonette of Cyklon, led to arguments over patent. Later, a twin-fan-cooled four-cylinder four-stroke engine was used in the vehicles from 1910, production running until 1927.
Phänomen Granit
By request of the Reichspost for a cheap, safe and capable vehicle, the company introduced its 4 RL truck that could carry loads between 0.75 and 1 tons. The basis for this model was the four-cylinder engine used in the Phänomobil. As demand for higher payloads increased, the company brought the Granit 25 (1.5 tons) and Granit 30 (2.5 tons) trucks into production in 1931 and 1936, respectively. With the increasing arms production in Nazi Germany the product portfolio was reduced to the Granit 1500 model (called Granit 27 after the war) with a payload of 1.5 tons.
All Phänomen trucks and tricycles had air-cooled engines, only the four-wheeled passenger cars were equipped with water-cooled engines. In 1930, the company took up production of light motorcycles, using Sachs engines. Until 1945 Phänomen produced 14 different models.
Made in Germany in 1943
Engine: 4 cylinders
Power: 50 HP
Speed: 90 km/h
Weight: 2500 kg
