German car engine belonging to a well-known car built before WWII with the intention that each German could own one.

-Later it would be known as the People's Car or Volkswagen.

-Actually KdF meant “Kraft durch Freude” or “The Force thanks to Joy”. More or less.

-The engine design could not be separated from the car, because they were intimately integrated and must be examined together.

-Neither could the Volkswagen be separated from the famous German highways, everything formed a whole, an idea.

-Anyway, as far as the author is concerned, we are going to focus more on the engine.

-It should be resistant, powerful (for the time), economical, low weight, safe and not very sensitive.

-It should be able to carry 4/5 people at 100 km/hr.

-The rest of the qualities should be for the car itself, light and with little resistance to progress, among other qualities.

“KdF engine front-bottom view”

-The engine is clearly air-cooled. The oil sump had enough fins to maintain the right oil temperature in a relatively cold country as Germany.

-The engine with opposed cylinders gave a greater width than the classic engines with cylinders in line. And it increased even more by having the valves on the cylinder head.

-However, it offered an advantage, the whole had a lower center of gravity, which gave stability.

“Side view”

“Engine view with belt and fan”

-The designer was Dr. Porsche with Eng. Dipl. L. Balling as a collaborator.

-In our time we have seen this engine, already evolved, adapted in small planes.

-To do this, they eliminated the fan, the muffler, the mechanical transmission for the car, including the clutch, leaving the flywheel for the electric-starter crown.

-For many examples of aviation adaptation see Volkswagen, and there are also a lot of brands that are based on this same engine.

-Below we show a couple of these cases.

“KdF engine with direct transmission to propeller”

-It does not seem complicated to add the propeller to the crankshaft, nor with a simple belt reducer.

“KdF engine with reduction gear”