HELIOS / GERMANY

 

HELIOS / COLOGNE / GERMANY ( 1923- 1926 )

On July 30, 1923, HELIOS AUTOMOBILBAU AG was founded in Cologne-Ehrenfeld to manufacture a vehicle based on the manufacturing system commonly used in the American automotive industry. The brand name HELIOS refers to the sun god in Greek mythology. The company initially produced a small car with 2/8 HP. Distribution was handled by the GDA (Gemeinschaft Deutscher Automobilfabriken = Association of German Automobile Manufacturers) to round out its product range at the lower end. At the beginning of 1926, HELIOS went bankrupt and was taken over in May 1926 by Delfosse Motorenfabrik, which unsuccessfully offered an improved HELIOS small car with a 4/20 hp engine.

This time, I'll start by showing the emblem as it was found. It lay in the ground for around 80 years before being discovered by a metal detectorist:

emblem as found before the cleanup

 

It's amazing how well the emblem has survived 80 years in the soil.

 

Size	6.5cm
Year	1924 - 1926
Estimate

 

 

backside without makers mark

 

 

 

As described in the introduction, the car was distributed by GDA and promoted in this 1924 advertisement . I have created a small exhibition of the emblems used.

 

However, it is evident that the vehicle was also sold by a CITROEN dealer in Düsseldorf, as can be seen in this period photo

 

 

With a little imagination, you can even identify the emblem.

 

 

There was also a commercial vehicle version.

 

 

This draft shows how simple the vehicle's design was.

 

 

bottom left: the HELIOS

 

 

1926 advertisement from Delfosse Motorenfabrik after they took over HELIOS

For more emblems from the GDA please click here for NAG or BRENNABOR or HANSA or HANSA LLOYD or HAWA.

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