The origin of VW tuning – Type 170, part 2

The first version of the type 170 featured a top mounted Roots supercharger, the photo was taken in March 1943.

This blogpost was supposed to be about Sturmboot prototypes type 174/174A, but when asking my source some follow up questions I received some more very interesting information. So until this new information is digested I will wait with the174/174A post, but until then I have some new findings related to type 170 I want to share.

As it turns out, type 170 were built in two versions: One with the Roots supercharger on top of the engine and one were it's axial mounted in line with the crankshaft. The first one is labelled version one and the photo is dated March 1943. The latter does only say type 170 and 1943, with no further details.

The new photo material of Sturmboot prototypes I got show different versions of prototypes and even complete units that appear ready for the sea. This put my statement in earlier blogposts in a new light. Probably no one knows for sure anymore how many prototypes were made.

The second version had an axial mounted Roots supercharger. Could this have been the engine that ended up in Ferry's kdf cabrio? To me it seems like the earlier version above would have been more practical...