Fritz Von Opel is one of those historical figures you just can’t help but love. Most famous for his Rocket Car, Von Opel was the grandson of Adam Opel, founder of the Opel Automobile Company.
Fritz built his first rocket car in early 1928, it was called “RAK.1” and achieved a top speed of just 75 km/h (47 mph). It proved the concept though and later that same year the RAK.2 was unveiled and topped 230 km/h (143 mph) using 24 solid-fuel rockets, interestingly it was also one of the first cars to use inverted wings to produce aerodynamic downforce.
Fritz moved to the USA after the outbreak of WW2 and went on to father Rikky von Opelwho would become a Formula 1 driver for the Ensign and Brabham teams.
Take a look at the video of the RAK.2 in action below, the commentary is all in German but that kind of adds to the feels of the footage.
Ben has had his work featured on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with millions of readers around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
This is an original, unrestored Holden Monaro GTS, it was Australia’s answer to the onslaught of American muscle cars in the 1960s like the Mustang and the Camaro, and it would arguably become Holden’s most loved…
Moto-Lita is a British company that has built classic steering wheels for many of the world’s most desirable cars, including the legendary AC Cobra. Simon Green started the company back in 1956 after many years…
The Norton F1 was released in 1990 as a road-going version of the Norton RCW588, a superbike that would shock the world by taking a slew of wins including including first place in the…
The Fiat 8V was a revolutionary design that lit up the motoring press when it was first shown to the public at the 1952 Geneva Motor Show. The sleek new Italian GT car featured an…
This is a rare HKS Speedway Special from 1976, it was designed and built for Japanese Auto Racing – a form of motorcycle racing somewhat similar to American flat track racing but held exclusively on…
This is the Boeing 747 Window Fuselage Clock by Plane Industries, each one is made from a section of 747 fuselage that is cut from a retired plane and then put through a lengthy process…
