The story
Fifty motorcycles, and then it stops
The Van Veen OCR 1000 was meant to be the most exceptional motorcycle in the world, and it became that by accident. The rotary engine came from Comotor, a joint venture of Citroën and NSU. When both parents dropped the Wankel project after the 1973 oil crisis, the factory in Duderstadt had only just opened its doors. It closed again before it had properly begun. Thirty-eight motorcycles had been built.
The remaining parts, the moulds and the drawings survived. They are in Wommels now, on shelves, in plastic containers, down to the letters that spell Van Veen on the tank. Twelve Comotor engines are left. Ten of them will become complete motorcycles, which brings the total ever built to fifty. The first of the new series is officially number 41.
Everything here is finite. When the last engine is in a frame, that is the end of it, and the only work left is keeping the fifty running.
- 38
- built before the factory closed
- 10
- in this final series
- 50
- that will ever exist
An engine nobody finished
The rotary engine was a Comotor unit, built by a joint venture of Citroën and NSU and meant for cars. Technical trouble and the 1973 oil crisis ended the Wankel project for both parents. Citroën went to Peugeot, NSU to Audi, and no more than fifty Comotor engines were ever delivered to Van Veen. The factory in Duderstadt had only just opened. It closed again before the first production year was out.
What was left
What survived the closure was the stock: engines, parts, the moulds, the drawings, down to the individual letters that spell Van Veen on the tank, kept in a plastic bag. The drawings have since been digitised. Twelve Comotor engines remain, and because a reserve of spares is held back, ten of them will become motorcycles. That is the whole of it. There is no eleventh.
Building them
The frames are new, made to the original specification by Nico Bakker. Most parts are stripped, recoated and cleaned, and the paintwork is done again. The engine of number 41 was built up and taken apart three times before it was right, and new seals were developed so that it would not leak. Both versions can be built, with the full Schurgers fairing and without.
And then keeping them running
A motorcycle like this is only worth building if it can be ridden, and it can only be ridden if someone can still service it. The spares reserve exists for that, and it covers the earlier motorcycles as much as the new ones. Every new one comes with two years of guarantee. When the last engine is in a frame, that is the work that is left.
Interested in one of the ten?
Write or call. You will speak to the people who build the motorcycle.
Contact
The workshop is in Wommels, in the north of the Netherlands. Visits by appointment.
- 0515 332876 The workshop: By appointment
- De Lange Baan 2, 8731 DZ Wommels Directions on Google Maps