Soletta 750
The Soletta 750 is the first ever Swiss-built concept car. It was also the first car both designed and built in Switzerland in the post-World War II (WWII) period. The Soletta 750 debuted in 1956. Only one was ever made, primarily to demonstrate a new type of automobile suspension system. History Willy Ernst Salzmann was an engineer and graduate of the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH Zurich — Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich). While still a student he designed a sophisticated three-wheel vehicle. After graduating he ran his own engineering design company, the Ingenieurbureau für Fahrzeugbau (Engineering Office for Vehicle Construction), based in Solothurn, Switzerland. He made a name for himself and his company by designing equipment for Ford and Ferguson tractors. Salzmann designed a new type of rear automobile suspension system called the Zweigelenk-Elastikachse Salzmann (Salzmann two-joint elastic axle). Key features of the suspension were a fixed or semi-fixed differential with swing axle half-shafts and coil springs, with the half-shafts connected by a transverse member slung under the differential and attached to the shafts with rubber springs. Salzmann wanted to display his new suspension at the Geneva Motor Show but was told that the main hall was reserved