(first posted 11/26/2018) Büssing was an illustrious German manufacturer of high-quality trucks, tractors, buses and engines. The company was founded in 1903 as Heinrich Büssing, Spezialfabrik für Motorlastwagen, Motoromnibusse und Motoren. There you go, the man’s business was all in the name. A specialty of the Büssing-house was the production of vehicles with an Unterflurmotor, this Commodore was one of them.
The truck’s horizontal engine is literally placed under the floor, on the right side of the chassis. It’s an 11 liter 6-cylinder with a maximum power output of 192 DIN-hp. That was not just a coincidental power rating, as the then maximum GVM for a big rig in Germany was 32 metric tons and the legal norm for an engine’s minimum power output was 6 DIN-hp per metric ton vehicle weight; 192 divided by 32 equals 6.
Worth mentioning are the Unterflur’s advantages from a driver’s point of view: no noise, heat and smell from the engine and no big cover between the seats, intruding way into the cab. Over the years, those typical cabover problems have been solved, most certainly in the segment of heavy, long distance trucks and tractors.
This is a Commodore with a day cab, naturally it was also offered with a sleeper cab. The 4×2 straight truck is rated at a maximum GVM of 16 metric tons, hence the number 16 in its model designation.
In the early seventies, Büssing was fully taken over by truck and bus manufacturer MAN. The new owner kept on offering the Unterflurmotor-layout for many years.
The Büssing is towing a matching 1952 Kässbohrer drawbar trailer. The combination’s set-up, a flatbed with dropsides and a canopy, was once highly common throughout the continent. The tarps were secured with cords and straps through numerous small rings, horizontally and vertically. This type of truck beds has been largely replaced by the so called curtainsiders.
Zooming in on another illustrious company name, the Karl Kässbohrer Fahrzeugwerke GmbH, manufacturer of trailers, semi-trailers, buses and coaches.
Well of course Büssing also built massive conventionals, just like the other German truck makers. We’ll have a look at this one and a few other Teutonic Autobahn-brutes soon.
Related (Kässbohrer) reading:
Geeze, what a pretty truck! I understand why we can’t today have things that look like this, but I still wish we could.
Cool! That sideways engine configuration fascinates me. I am certainly no engineer, but with modern fuel injection setups, it would seem that this kind of setup could be used a lot more often than it has been. Although it would be a problematic arrangement for a V-type engine, I would think that an I-4 on its side (or close to it) could have some packaging efficiencies or serviceability improvements.
Of course there is the Subaru boxer.
VW came extremely close to replacing the Beetle with a Porsche concept that had a flat four under the rear seat, driving the rear wheels, the EA266.
Accessibility to the engine and other issues killed it in favor of the FWD Golf. Good thing.
Along with the Toyota Previa mentioned below, the 1980’s BMW K100 motorcycle had an I-4 engine laid on its side as well, followed a year later by the K75 triple of the same design. Very interesting, I really wanted one but never got there…
“Cool! That sideways engine configuration fascinates me. I am certainly no engineer, but with modern fuel injection setups, it would seem that this kind of setup could be used a lot more often than it has been.”
It’s basically just half of a horizontally-opposed (boxer) engine, and Subaru makes plenty of those.
What a great looking truck, and a great example of the Bussing.
The underfloor engine reminds me of several pre-war English single deck buses.
And the fifties Albion Claymore truck.
This configuration was also tried in the U.S. by Freightliner and Peterbilt in the 1950’s. The primary application was a ‘dromedary’ type rig, a long wheelbase tractor with a cargo bed between the cab and 5th. wheel towing a 35′ tandem axle trailer. The tractor had a very short cab about 48″ long to keep the overall length reasonable. The cab was far too short to house a in-line 6 cylinder Cummins diesel, so the engine was mounted horizontally behind the front axle, largely under the tractor’s cargo bed. The configuration was also used in a straight truck-4 wheel trailer combination.
https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/15212-unique-freightliner/
The picture of the White-Freightliner truck + trailer reminds me of our special rigs for hauling voluminous goods, as widely used in the eighties.
Like this MAN with an Unterflurmotor, look at the ultra-short day cab with a topsleeper.
Perhaps the ultimate effort to shorten truck length was the late ’70s Strick cab-under experimental truck. Interesting idea but fraught with potential problems, like…
Horrible forward and side visibility
Inability to see overhead traffic lights
Mud, snow, and slush packing in the open wedge in front of the windshield
This must have been frightening to drive. Needless to say the concept went no further.
…and since the subject is Büssing, they had this in the mid-sixties…
From the top, it looks like what we at UPS called a “jockey wagon” a yard vehicle used to spot trailers at load doors. Other operators may have had names for such vehicles. (I never drove a jockey wagon, but worked over the years with guys who had that duty as a regular assignment.
Some modern coaches have a driving position almost exactly like that, which I think I would find off putting.
It’s an interesting design but I wonder how vulnerable the engine was to damage and soaking.
Büssing started with the Unterflurmotor in the second half of the thirties (both in trucks and buses), MAN kept on offering them way into the eighties.
Underfloor engines were widely used in buses for decades. They sit between the frame rails, so no risk of damage from impact. Water splash? What’s that going to do to a big diesel engine? Nothing.
Interesting truck and unusual manner of mounting the engine.
Didn’t the Toyota Previa minivan have a mid-chassis mounted 4-cylinder laid on the side underneath the floor, too? As I recall it was difficult to get at the engine and a repair nightmare.
Yes.
Yes, open the hood, find the alternator, ps pump, ac compressor, belts, but no engine. HAHA!
Both Cummins and Detroit Diesel were used in the pancake configuration in the Crown Coach. They hung below the frame rails, as they won’t fit between. We had a Detroit bust an oil pan on a submerged rock on a flooded road. Driver shut it down in time to prevent any more damage. Initally Crown was using Hall-Scott gassers before the switch to diesel.
I wonder how a DD worked in an underfloor position. On buses, DDs were mostly rear engines. Occasionally, you’d see a semi-tractor with the sound of a DD 6-71 (used on many transit and cruiser buses) with, I assume a cab-over, or some set-up.
The engine under the floor seems to work pretty good on my Toyota Previa. Luckily the accessories are under its small hood and they put a timing chain not a belt. There is an access panel under the passenger seat for the odd time you have to change the plugs.
Very nice find Johannes – the tip off for me was the lack of a front radiator grille…had to be an underfloor model.
Under floor engines were more common in times of yore, I doubt driver comfort was one of the criteria for such a placement at least not so long ago, That has been prioritised more recently as its been realised sitting in a hot noisy environment that bounces and vibrates becomes dangerous and people simply refuse to do it, Mind you having said that the DAF I drove last night has a leaking exhaust and the grumble at low rpm is quite pleasing as is listening to the turbo whine under load and the whoosh when it dumps boost when shifting or jaking, normally I can barely hear the engine which is how it should be.
Although I haven’t kept up on this, I recall some maximum cube trucks in the 80s used underfloor engines to get the longest possible load floor. To keep length down the sleeper was in the cab roof and the typical set up was a truck trailer combination for things like delivering empty beer cans to breweries or carrying Styrofoam packaging,
That Büssing diesel pancake is so flat and compact it’s no wonder that sold them for decades. A very cool engine and thanks for the article Johannes.
Fascinating! Thanks for the fun read about a truck type with which I have been unfamiliar. Obviously, the engineering was so sound that this engine was used for so many years. It would be fun to drive one of these.
“Büssing was an illustrious German manufacturer of high-quality trucks, tractors, buses and engines. The company was founded in 1903 as Heinrich Büssing, Spezialfabrik für Motorlastwagen, Motoromnibusse und Motoren.”
I think the following is also worth mentioning:
Heinrich Büssing was a latecomer when it came to the production of road vehicles. He only took this up at the age of 60. In doing so, he fulfilled a lifelong dream after having previously been active in business in other areas.
German Wikipedia writes about this:
“In 1869 Büssing founded his first company in Braunschweig, a “Velocipedes factory”. In a small workshop he produced bicycles that he had invented himself. He already employed a few workers. However, the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 destroyed his worldwide business connections. The next company was founded in 1870 in the old workshop. It only brought him economic difficulties and high debts Büssing founded the Max Jüdel & Co railway signal construction company in 1873. The financial backer was the Jewish merchant Max Jüdel from Braunschweig. Thanks to his ingenuity, Germany was able to catch up with the English lead in signal construction The thriving company delivered over 1,000 signal boxes in around 30 years.
In 1903 Büssing experienced a radical professional break. Instead of enjoying retirement at the age of 60, he withdrew from the “Eisenbahnsignal-Bauanstalt” with his shares. With this he founded the “Heinrich Büssing special factory for motor vehicles and motor buses” in Braunschweig.
What also might be of interest for some readers: In Low German (the ancient north German language), the name of the town “Braunschweig” is “Brunswik”.
Addendum: Heinrich Büssing as a young man (Image: Heinrich Büssing Haus)