MATCHLESS GERMAN

Horex was Germany’s leading manufacturer for almost 50 years either side of World War II, and was in many ways comparable to Britain’s older Matchless marque in terms of product and marketplace positioning, as well as in its road racing involvement.

But curiously, the company is little known outside Germany, despite its products being exported to as many as 65 different countries during the 1950s (though not including the U.K.). That’s despite its wide range of models having an undeniably British air about them in terms of design, and even styling.

Horex beginnings

Located in Bad Homburg, north of Frankfurt, Horex wasfounded in 1923 by Fritz Kleeman, 22, whose father Friedrich owned the Rex glassware company, a manufacturer of preservative jars based there, and was also the main shareholder in the nearby engine manufacturer Motorenfabrik Oberursel. This firm had formerly supplied engines to power the Fokker fighter aircraft used by Germany’s air squadrons in World War I, including the famous Dr.I triplane in which the “Red Baron” Manfred von Richthofen gained his final 19 victories out of a total of 80, and in which he was killed on April 21, 1918. Postwar, Oberursel developed a range of proprietary engines under the Columbus name, and Fritz Kleeman, an aspiring motorcycle racer, built a bike using a 250cc OHV Columbus engine with a 3-speed hand-change gearbox and a tubular steel frame made by the Stein company. To name it, he conflated Homburg and Rex to create the Horex brand name, and put the result into production to help satisfy the growing demand for personal transportation in postwar Germany.

The model’s sales success was such that, in 1925 Horex and Columbus merged, and