Heine-Velox

Heine-Velox was an extremely expensive and massive luxury car made by Gustav Heine. Heine Piano Company was originally Bruenn Piano Company before Heine became owner. All were based in San Francisco.

Piano Business

Gustav Otto Ludolf Heine was born near Boizenburg, Germany in 1868, and left for the United States in 1873 with his parents and seven siblings to the Capay Valley. At the age of 16, he moved away from home to San Francisco and went to work for "Bruenn Piano Company". Gustav became a piano tuner, and did not get along well with the owner of the firm. After much conflict, and a scar from dueling Bruenn with tuning hammers, Gustav emerged owner of Bruenn Piano Company. Gustav would change the name of the firm to "Heine Piano Company".

Automobile Interest

In 1903, Heine became interested in automobiles and would have one of the first Ford dealerships in the west coast. The next year, Heine met Colonel E. J. Hall (of the Hall-Scott Motor Company) who designed engines for Heine with hill climbing units. Hall worked for Gustav starting in 1905 as works driver, repairman, chauffeur, salesman, and general partner for two and a half years. Heine built three tourers until the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. Gustav offered federal troops use of his tourer for including transporting supplies, the wounded, and the dead.

Heine left after the earthquake for Milwaukee and would develop a brand new Heine-Velox, which he planned to have built in San Francisco. Later in 1906, the 45 H.P. was produced. Backed by a $5,000 guarantee, the car was advertised as having fewer parts in relation to its size and weight than any other car. Heine's planned production of 50 cars per year never came to fruition. His piano business was doing well, and Heine would halt automobile production in 1908 to pursue other interests.

Revitalised

In 1921, after Heine had purchased "Economy Steel Manufacturing Company", he had a new car designed and built with resources from the acquired company. The 1921 Heine-Velox was advertised as a custom-built luxury car, first shown at a San Francisco auto show had hydraulic brakes on all wheels, and V-12 engines commissioned from "Weidely". It was massive, with a convert|148|in|mm|sing=on wheelbase. The price tag of $17,000-25,000 made it the most expensive American car of the era; a Rolls-Royce sold for less than $10,000, American's highest-price model was US$5250, [Clymer, Floyd. "Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877-1925" (New York: Bonanza Books, 1950), p.91.] the Lozier Big Six limousines and landaulettes US$6,500 (tourers and roadsters were US$5,000), and the Lozier Light Six Metropolian tourer and runabout bottomed at US$3,250. [Clymer, p.111.] By contrast, the high-volume Oldsmobile Runabout was US$650 [Clymer, p.32.] and Western's Gale Model A was US$500. [Clymer, p.51.]

The Heine-Velox V12 had a low-slung appearance, because the body was mounted to the frame from the sides, instead of the top, which also provided more structural rigidity and a low center of gravity. The two headlights, mounted high on the fenders (giving a kind of bug-eyed look), [Clymer, p.198.] contained both high and low beams, operated by a switch. Rather than roll up or down, Heine windows pivoted and could be locked in position. Luggage could be stored in lockable boxes on the running boards, as well as in places on all sides of the car. An easy to spot interior innovation was the tilting of the dashboard to 45 degrees, which was supposed to be more comfortable for the driver and would hide the steering column, as well as positioning of the handbrake and gear selector which was did not require leaning. Heine demonstrated his car to Chevrolet and demanded to see the head engineer. He was pointed in his direction, leaving the car unattended and was stolen. The following year Chevrolet would indeed release a car with pivoting windows. Heine's car had many other innovations, including an oil level automatically maintained by gravity, and a cold-weather start system operated from the dash. The [http://www.blackhawkcollection.com Blackhawk Collection] claims the cars were as powerful as the Duesenbergs of the day.

Post-Automobile

In 1923, the company was dissolved after the Economy Steel Manufacturing Company closed. Gustav moved to southern California and would enjoy playing and composing for the piano, and purchased other cars for his own amusement, until his death in 1959.He did spend his final years at his place in Sunol, CA. The last three cars were lent out to a local dealer for display, but he was never paid for them, and they disappeared.

Known cars built:
*1906: three 45 horsepower, and cars offered in the San Francisco Automobile show 1907 and 1908
*1921 and 1923: a victoria, three sedans, and an unfinished limousine, all V12s. As far as is known, the Victoria, formerly in Harrah's collection, is now in a private collection on the East coast. The three sedans were, and probably still are in the former
Cars of the Stars collection. The last sedan which was given to Heine's sister's family. It eventually became a chicken coop, and then was abandoned. For years it was inaccessible, until recently when it was restored and ended up in the Imperial Collection in Las Vegas.

Further reading

*Clymer, Floyd. "Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877-1925". New York: Bonanza Books, 1950.Tikker, Kevin, "Gustav Heine and his Cars," Automotive History Review, Fall 1982, the authoritative account based on over 50 interviews with persons affliated with the marque, numerous miles driven visiting the surviving vehicles, and going through old city directories and records.

ee also

*List of automobile manufacturers
*List of defunct automobile manufacturers

External links

* [http://www.vtauto.org/magicmotoring.php?ID=34 The Heine-Velox in Hemmings, Motoring Moment]

Notes