Kfz 1 Stoewer Type 40 Field Car. (Replica)

Stoewer Field Car Kfz 1 (Stoewer 40)

Stoewer of Stettin (Now Szczecin, Poland) developed this light off-road, versatile 4×4 Field Car for the Wehrmacht from 1936 until 1940. Thereafter, until 1943, it was, due to operational problems with the 4×4 drive and the military’s constant demand for more vehicles, also produced by both BMW in Eisenach as the BMW 325 and by Hanomag in Hanover a the Type 20 B as a conventional 4×2 drive. In total the trio produced 13.000 Field Cars. The saw service on all fronts until the end of hostilities.
Leichter geländegängiger Pkw.
The light off-road passenger car was built by the BMW-Werk Eisenach under the designation BMW 325, as well as Hanomag (Typ 20 B) and Stoewer (Typ R 180 Spezial). The vehicles were used as troop carriers (Kfz. 1), by repair-and-maintenance squads (Kfz. 2/40), by artillery reconnaissance sonic measurement squads (Kfz. 3) and by troop-level aerial defence (Kfz. 4). Between 14.525[1] and 17.521 units[2] were built. Between 1940 and 1943, only Stoewer continued to build the R 200 Spezial without the four-wheel steering (Typ 40). The cars weighed 1,775 kg empty (1,700 kg without the four-wheel steering). 90% of all military branches rejected the vehicle as “unfit for wartime service” in a 1942 enquiry, while the much simpler, lighter and cheaper Volkswagen Kübelwagen proved to be far superior in basically every respect.