The pre-Orix Hansa Pompeo Special

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Looking at the nose of the car we thought quickly: a late 30s Georges Irat! But this car has nothing in common with the French marque. If you check the side view of the car (photo 2) you will realise that this is no small car. The wheels seem very german ( DKW perhaps?)... but the real clue are the little vent doors in the bonnet, which are the only esthetic remains from the basis chassis: A late 1930s Hansa. This strange racer was made in Barcelona in the early 1940s due to the lack of new sports cars. By this time Barcelona had a long tradition in the car competition with two important circuits operating: The banked oval Terramar circuit and the urban circuit of Montjuic (where this weekend is hosted a classic car racing event). But as happened everywhere in Europe after the war, there were hardly any new sports cars, and the pilots mainly used old pre-war machines. This time the courageous builder used a pre-war Hansa chassis and deeply modified it, creating this stylish roadster which was raced extensively in many events like the one photographed here. The constructor was an experienced man called Juan Ramírez Pompeo, who later created his own microcar marque under the name "Orix".  

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