1923 Audi Typ K Paul Jaray Gläser

As Speed did not matter!

Imagine that a car would drive almost 35 km/h faster than the original vehicle just due to changes in its car body design. In our time, this would be a sure selling point, but in 1923 it was apparently not worth mentioning.

This is documented when Audi presented its mid-size passenger car, the Type K – correctly referred to as the Audi 14/50 hp Type K to the public for the first time at the 1921 Berlin Motor Show. Visually, the car was kept in keeping with the times. This meant that straight lines dominated the design. The mighty radiator grille with its two large headlights on both sides resisted the wind just as much as the rectangular windscreen.

In 1923, the pioneer of aerodynamics in vehicle construction, Paul Jaray, took hands on the Audi K and shaped a new car body according to his studies. In the zeitgeist of the early 1920s, the body of the Jaray-Audi showed no resemblance at all to its commercially available counterpart. From this point of view, there is still understanding today when Audi’s management reacted very cautiously to the streamlined, futuristic car. The managers must have been sure that such a revolutionary look could not be sold in large-scale production. Even the increase in the top speed from the standard 95 km/h to a remarkable 130 km/h would probably not have convinced any buyer- speed was not a real selling point at that time!