Join the PreWarCar Easter Egg hunt...

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For many families, Easter wouldn't be the same without an egg hunt for the children to take part in, and what might seem at first like an odd custom makes perfect sense if we trace it back to its roots. The egg, of course, represents new life and the Resurrection of Christ, but apparently the hunt for them has its origins in post-Reformation Germany—some sources suggest it even owes its existence to Martin Luther himself. The men of Luther's congregation, it is said, would hide eggs for women and children to discover, as Mary Magdalene was the first to discover the Resurrection by finding Christ's empty tomb.

We can, of course, be like children ourselves when it comes to old cars, and there's a different kind of Easter Egg hunt we can participate in. Scanning Georgano the other day, it came to our attention that there was a Swiss car called the Egg, built by Automobilfabrik Egg & Egli of Zürich between 1896 and 1900. Egli was a Swiss banker who provided financial backing. According to Georgano, Rudolf Egg built an experimental three-wheeler in 1893, but it was not until 1896 that production commenced. The first cars were similar to Léon Bollées, but with a sociable seating arrangement, a De Dion-Bouton 3hp engine and belt-drive. Licenses were sold in 1898 to Bachtold of Steckborn and Weber of Uster; Bachtold made just six cars, but Weber built over fifty. The design and manufacturing rights were then sold in 1899 to the Zürcher Patent Motorwagen-Fabrik Rapid, which continued building them under Rapid name.

That did not quite mark the end of the Egg, however. Herr Egg put a four-wheeled design briefly into production which somewhat took after the Benz Velo, and he later produced designs for two other Swiss firms, the short-lived (1905-07) Excelsior (no relation to the much bigger Belgian firm) and the later Moser (1914-1924). In later life, he apparently became a Renault dealer in Zürich.

We can see from the pictured advertisement that Georgano's description of the three-wheelers is accurate, but what about the four-wheeler? The photograph shows what is apparently the only surviving Egg and the oldest surviving Swiss car, dating from 1898. It has been house, we believe since before the millennium, at the Automobile Museum of the Switzerland's Château de Grandson, which is presently closed until 2026 as it undergoes maintenance and restoration. We can see the resemblance to the Benz, although we are not aware of any Velo having a vis-à-vis body. Like the Benz, it has a rear-mounted horizontal engine and belt-drive. Its price when new would have been 12,000 francs.

That's about all we can find out, but are we missing something? Maybe there are more Eggs out there, hidden somewhere and waiting to be hunted down? If you know any more about Switzerland's pioneering marque, be sure to let us know.

If you can't find the car, just enjoy your eggs of the edible variety—Happy Easter!

Photograph: Buch-t on Wikimedia Commons
 

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