Manufactured by Bruno Viertmann at Bielefeld, Beckhausstraße 1, between 1935 and 1944. [1]
The firm built lightweight motorcycles with Sachs 100cc engines and 120cc JLO-powered utility tricycles (Dreiräder). These were "muzzle-loaders" (front-loaders) with two steered wheels at the front and a single driven wheel at rear.
Viertmann's business exploits are well documented in the book Motorräder aus Bielefeld by Johann Kleine Vennekate.
Phönix-Fahrzeugwerke began in Cologne as Phönix Fahrradproduktion, founded in 1931. The Jewish owners were forced to sell the company by the National Socialists in 1935. They fled to the United States to avoid further persecution and in the 1950s the widow of the founder, who had died during the war, took Rixe to court to seek compensation.
Notes.
1. Production dates are a little hazy, GTU giving 1935-1939, AOM gives 1938-1941/42, and 8545 writes that 1944 can be demonstrated "on the basis of the files in the Federal Archives".
2. Several firms used the name Phoenix.
Sources: GTU Oldtimerservice, Axel Oskar Mathieu Archive (AOM), Automobilia 85-45, päpenmöller.com.
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