History
The company was founded in 1858 by Bernhard Stoewer as a precision mechanical repair shop, after the local garrison had hired him to repair a sewing machine. [1] In the same year, production of sewing machines in Stettin began. By the time of their fiftieth anniversary in the year 1908, 75,000 sewing machines and 6,000,000 typewriters had already been produced.
In 1899, the ironworks was taken over by the sons, the Stoewer brothers, Emil (lived 1873 – 1942) and Bernhard (1875 – 1937) founded the firm Gebrüder Stoewer, Fabrik für Motorfahrzeugen and started to produce automobiles. Their first automobile was the Großer Stoewer Motorwagen, with 6.5 PS (4.8 kW) and 17 km/h (11 mph) maximum speed. Stoewer is thus one of the pioneers of automobile construction in Germany.
In March 1906, the company Stoewer announced the cessation of production of chains and pedals for bicycles in order to use the factory hall for the expansion of automobile production. With the freed-up 2000 square meters, they aimed to increase vehicle production from about 100 vehicles in 1905 to about 250 vehicles in 1906. [2]
Factory plant Stoewer with employees
Stoewer Sewing Machine from about 1912
Stoewer Record Typewriter
Stoewer Bicycle Greif
Logo of Stoewer in 1939
In late summer 1907, the company entered into a partnership with the automobile manufacturer Deutsche Motorfahrzeugfabrik GmbH. Stoewer wanted to utilize their newly expanded factory by producing the Autognom. In return, the German Motor Vehicle Factory was to take on exclusive sales of Stoewer vehicles. [3]
In 1908 Stoewers constructed the Stoewer G4. This model was successful for them at the time – 1,070 cars were built. In 1910, Stoewer cars were also built under licence in France, by Mathis of Strasbourg. In 1916, the family-owned company was transformed into a limited company under the name of Stoewer-Werke AG, vormals Gebrüder Stoewer.
In the mid-20s a new class of cars was introduced: the D-Types included D3, D9 and D10 with four-cylinder engines, as well as D5, D6 and D12 with six cylinders. Something special was the 1921 D7 with a proprietary six-cylinder aero engine with 120 PS (88 kW). Of the fifty "D10" made, the only survivor was located in Melbourne, Australia in original condition; it was since brought to Germany.
Stoewer Motordreirad (1899)
Stoewer four-wheeled Motorcycle (1899)
Stoewer electric phaeton (1899)
Stoewer subsidy truck L 4 III (1909-1912)
Stoewer Tractor Type 3 S 17 (1919-1926)
In 1928 the company started to build S8 and G14 models with eight-cylinder engines. At the beginning of the 1930s Stoewers delivered their highlights: G15 Gigant, M12 Marschall and P20 Repräsentant, each with eight-cylinder engines, with 60 to 120 PS (44 to 88 kW) and 130 km/h (81 mph) maximum speed. [4] The production of these cars had to be cancelled after 2,500 vehicles being produced due to worldwide economic troubles. In 1931 Stoewer constructed one of the first cars with front-wheel drive at all, the Stoewer V 5 with 25 PS (18 kW), 80 km/h (50 mph) maximum speed. The model named Greif Junior was built under the licence of Tatra. [5] Its successor V8 Greif was the last car constructed by Stoewer himself; class Arkona and Sedina were the last civilian cars produced by the company.
In 1936 the Stoewer factory developed the 'uniform light off-road car' (le.E.Pkw, leichter geländegängiger Einheits-PKW) for the German army, a versatile four-wheel drive car, the Stoewer R200 [5] initially (until 1940) equipped with four-wheel steering. Due to capacity-limitations, the cars also had to be produced by BMW-Factory Eisenach, as the BMW 325, and by Hanomag in Hanover as the Type 20 B. [5] Together the three manufacturers made a total of ca. 13,000 units; 2,000 examples were built by Stoewer. [6] Stoewer's founders were pushed out in the early 1930s for being to focussed on civilian cars, and control of the company fell to a Nazi-controlled supervisory board. [6] Stoewer AG was one of many German companies that exploited slave labour during World War II, maintaining their own camp for prisoners. [7] After World War II, the Red Army seized the remaining production facilities, dismantled the factory and sent the equipment to the Soviet Union, and the company ceased to exist.
