Zündapp is a historical German brand of mopeds, motorcycles, lawn mowers, sewing machines and outboard engines.

The company “Zünder-Apparatebau- Gesellschaft mbH” was established on 17 September 1917 by Fritz Neumeyer, together with the brothers Thiel and FriedrichKrupp A.G. (the leading steel producers at the time). The name ‘Zündapp’ is a contraction of the first part of the company name “Zünder-Apparatebau-Gesellschaft mbH-Nürnberg.” The German word ‘zünder’ denotes a grenade detonator: the company was also a munitions factory during WWI.

Originally, in 1917, the name of the company was “Zündapp Gesellschaft für den Bau von Spezialmaschinen GmbH. This changed into “Zündapp-Werke GmbH” in 1939. The company also had places of business in Nuremberg and Munich.

Zündapp produced many different models with numbers that run into the millions, many of which are still in daily use.

In the 70s and 80s of the previous century, however, the European market for light motorcycles was increasingly dominated by the Japanese motor industry. Finally, in 1984, after several decades of highly successful motorcycle and moped production, Zündapp had to file its petition in bankruptcy, Dieter Neumeyer, grandson of the founder and director since 1971, had to sell the Zündapp company to the Chinese company “Tianjin Zündapp” in 1984. All production equipment, design drawings and final engines went to China. Tianjin Zündapp then produced some light Zündapp motorcycles for a few years.

Zündapps were also built by Famel in Portugal for several years and the same goes for Enfield in India. Moreover, The Spanish EFS used Zündapps in their EFS models and the Italian Laverda used the 125cc Zündapp engine in their LZ1 model.

The Zündapp brand experiences a massive revival nowadays: the youngsters of the 60s, 70s and 80s are middle-aged now and buy the remaining used Zündapps in no small measure and even build new machines themselves with parts they can find and buy in any out-of- the-way place,

These enthusiasts use their Zündapps for pleasure, alone or in a club; some are not even daunted by long distance trips abroad. There are many classic moped clubs in The Netherlands and in other countries which organize tours and old-timer rallies.

The International Zündapp Rally took place in Sigmaringen in southern Germany from 25 to 28 May 2017 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Zündapp. Even now, June 2019, Zündapp models can still be seen in traffic. There is a danger lurking for us, classic moped enthusiast; the environmental issues and the bans imposed on Mopeds. As a national Zündapp club, the Zündapp Veteranen Club tries to limit the damage through cooperation with Fehac and to get Zündapp models registered in the Mobile Heritage Register. Membership of the ZVC is very useful, and here again cooperation pays off. See also: https://www.zundappveteranenclub.nl/2019/02/21/zundapp-als-mobiel-erfgoed-1/

This independent app is a tribute from a Dutch Zündapp enthusiast to all Zündapp employees involved from 1917 until 1984.