Jurisch

Jurisch was the vehicle marque of Carl Jurisch Fahrwerkbau, also reported as Jurisch GmbH, at Altdorf near Nuremberg—more specifically Wappeltshofen in some records. Founder Carl Jurisch (1904–1967) was a motorcycle racer, designer and persistent independent engineer. In 1925 he built a 350 cc four-stroke motorcycle with telescopic fork and shaft drive; around age 23 he developed an advanced compact water-cooled supercharged two-stroke with four pistons. After wartime and postwar repair work, his business became best known for the Jurisch straight-slide rear suspension conversion. Unlike a conventional telescopic arrangement, it separated springing from wheel guidance and placed the spring behind the guide tube above an eccentric axle carrier. The final form offered about 75 mm travel and adjustable chain tension. It could be retrofitted to rigid motorcycle frames and was factory or optional equipment on machines including the Zündapp DB 203 Comfort, Victoria KR 25 Aero and Express Radex 252. Sources credit roughly one million suspension sets supplied to 48 European companies. Jurisch also produced struts, front forks, enclosed chain cases, full-width hub brakes and reportedly continuously variable gearboxes. As motorcycles lost ground to cars, Jurisch pursued a one-person vehicle combining their economy with weather protection. The Motoplan was a reverse trike with two front wheels and one rear wheel, a one-seat body formed from widened Steib S250 sidecar shells, Messerschmitt windshield/front-suspension components, and the Heinkel Kabine's 173 cc four-stroke single, four-speed gearbox and electric starter. Power is variously given as 9.3 or 9.5 hp. It measured about 2,286 mm long and 1,220 mm wide; weight sources disagree between 165 and 173 kg. Instead of a wheel, two vertical steering levers pivoted beneath the seat, and much of the canopy, tail, seat and tank hinged away for access. Exactly three were built. The surviving first prototype, chassis 101, had the sleek low canopy; the second used larger wheels and a taller, less graceful roof; the third was a commercial experiment with a lockable rear cargo box. All belong to one Motoplan family because no separate factory model names are documented. Published dates conflict between 1954, 1956–57, 1957 alone, 1957–59 and an autumn 1959 presentation; chassis 101 is conventionally catalogued as 1957, while the database preserves the full 1954–59 evidence envelope without implying continuous production. No sales resulted. Chassis 101 was sent to the United States for attempted marketing through Joe Berliner's dealership, later lost its identity, was rediscovered in Florida, restored in Canada and authenticated through Jurisch family records. It sold from the Bruce Weiner collection for $103,500 in 2013 and is the only known survivor. Carl Jurisch died in April 1967; the exact legal dissolution date is not published, so 1967 is a conservative endpoint for his eponymous activity rather than proof of continued Motoplan work. Jurisch is distinct from Heinkel and Messerschmitt donor vehicles, motorcycles merely equipped with Jurisch suspension, unrelated Jurisch engineering firms, and any two-wheel racing prototypes predating Carl Jurisch Fahrwerkbau.

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