The 1928 Opel Rocket-Powered Motorcycle

When you are the grandson of a famous German carmaker like Adam Opel, people are more likely to go along with your crazy ideas.  So it was with Fritz von Opel when he decided that it would be a good idea to start mounting solid fuel rockets to things to vehicles them go faster.  His Grandfather had put him in charge of testing and publicity for Opel and obviously gave him plenty of leeway when it came to the publicity part.  Between 1928 and 1929, Fritz built three rocket propelled cars, 2 rocket propelled gliders, a couple rocket powered train cars and one rocket propelled motorcycle nicknamed Monster.

To build Monster, Fritz started with a 500cc MotoClub SS model.  This is often listed as a Neander since Opel just rebranded their machines after buying out the company.  The MotoClub was powered by a OHV single cylinder engine which produced 22 hp .  To give it a little more umph, Fritz added six Sander rockets, three per side.  These rockets added an additional 66lbs of thrust and were ignited by a foot pedal.  They were basically large versions of those solid fuel rockets you played with as a kid, launching cardboard rockets onto your neighbor's roof.

Once the motorcycle was complete, Fritz set is eye on setting a new motorcycle land speed record.  The current record was 124.5 miles per hour and Fritz calculated that the Monster could reach a speed of 132 miles per hour if the motorcycle was traveling 75 miles per hour when the rockets were ignited.

Surprisingly, Fritz never got his chance as the German authorities not only forbade Fritz to make the attempt but also outlawed rocket powered motorcycles in general.  In the end, Monster made a few exhibition runs and Fritz went back to strapping rockets on larger vehicles.  It is unknown if Monster still exists, although a replica was built in 2003 (with simulated rockets).