The Zündapp Janus took the mid-engine formula very literally when it was released in 1957.
Car nerds like you and me marvel over the engineering stroke of genius that is the mid-engine car. After all, the rollcall of iconic supercars through the ages is liberally sprinkled with cars that have their powerplant crammed amidships.
Ever since French carmaker Rene Bonnet stuffed a 1108cc Renault engine into the middle of his Djet coupe in 1962, creating what is now widely regarded as the first production car with a mid-engine layout, the idea of placing the engine behind the front, but ahead of the rear axle, has taken hold.
Since the 1960s, the layout, while not theirs exclusively, has become the domain of high-performance sports and supercar manufacturers, with the list of iconic cars whose beating heart lies in front of the rear axle long and storied.
This, the Zündapp Janus, isn’t one of them.
But, what the Zündapp Janus lacks in supercar terms, it makes up for by being, arguably, the only true mid-engine car ever produced, certainly in the truest sense of the word ‘middle’.
Unlike most mid-engine cars which, admittedly, feature a powerplant in front of the rear axle (thereby true to definition) but very firmly positioned towards the rear, the Zündapp Janus’s 248cc, single-cylinder two-stroke is placed smack bang in the middle of the car.
It’s a story worth telling.
Zündapp started life in Germany in 1917, manufacturing of all things, detonators for the German war effort. By 1920, the Nürnberg-based company expanded into motorcycles and in 1931, the company helped Ferdinand Porsche with the development of what would become the first Volkswagen Beetle prototype.
In the decade after World War II, Zündapp continued to manufacture motorcycles but as German prosperity grew so too did the market for motorcycles decline. Germans in the 1950s, it seemed, wanted cars. And Zündapp didn’t make one.
But that all changed in 1954 when the company licensed the design of Claudius Dornier’s Delta micro car which had failed to get out of the prototype stage. Like what the Janus would become, the Delta featured a centrally-mounted engine between two rows of seats that faced in opposite directions.
But Zündapp refined Dornier’s design, replacing top-mounted butterfly doors with side-hinged doors similar to the setup on another German micro car, the Isetta.
And the Delta’s paltry 197cc single-cylinder engine made way for the 248cc unit – good for 10kW and a top speed of 80km/h – from Zündapp’s Bella 201 scooter. It was mated to a four-speed manual transmission sending drive to the rear wheels.
Not that you could tell which wheels were the rears, thanks to the Janus’ distinctive seating setup which featured bench seats front and rear but positioned with their backs to each other. Only the location of the steering wheel offered any clue to which was the front and which the back of the Janus, a situation compounded further by the availability of an optional fake steering wheel for the back.
The Janus could carry four adults, or even at a pinch with both rows of occupants afford unobstructed views out of their respective front and back windshield. Those seats could be folded flat to form a bed, too.
The unusual seating layout also gave the Janus its name, after the two-faced god of Roman mythology.
Production commenced in 1957, the Janus praised at the time for its excellent ride and handling, thanks to its suspension setup which featured long-travel MacPherson struts all round with independent trailing-arms out front and swing axles at the back.
But it was also expensive, priced at DM3290 (around $AUD880) considerably more than the BMW Isetta at the time, which asked for DM2550 (approx. $AUD682).
After just 18 months in production, Zündapp pulled the pin on Janus production, having sold just under 7000 of the little two-faced micro cars.
It’s believed only around 70 examples survive today, a number that goes some way to explaining high prices at auction. A mint example sold at RM Sothebys (pictured below, photo by RM Sothebys) in 2020 for US$64,960 ($AUD95,682).
While it might not be as fondly remembered as other micro cars of the era, and in particular the BMW Isetta, the Janus has gained a level of immortality in popular culture, with its starring role in the Pixar animated film Cars 2. The movie’s villain, Professor Zündapp, is depicted as a blue Janus.
After its adorable, yet ultimately failed attempt to enter the automotive world, Zündapp continued to make motorcycles and enjoyed immeasurable success in motocross racing, winning, it’s said thousands of races. But with declining sales in the 1970s and into the ’80s, the German company declared bankruptcy in 1984.
Chinese company Xunda Motor C swooped, buying Zündapp’s intellectual properties and continued to produce motorcycles into the 1990s.
The Zündapp name returned Germany in 2017, now under the ownership of Dieter Neumeyer, grandson of the company founder Fritz Ludwig Neumeyer. A manufacturer of e-bicycles, the Zündapp name returned to the fuel tank of a motorbike earlier this year with the unveiling of the ZXA 500 adventure bike.
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