1. Adam Opel was a German entrepreneur who founded the company Adam Opel AG, then a manufacturer of bicycles and sewing machines.
10 Facts About Adam Opel
1. 2.
Adam Opel was born on 9 May 1837 to Wilhelm, a locksmith, and his wife in Russelsheim.
3.
Adam Opel's uncle offered him an unused cow stall in Russelsheim to set up a workshop in which to build his own sewing machine.
4.
Adam Opel attached a new home to his factory and married the daughter of a guest-house and brewery family, Sophie Scheller.
5.
The Adam Opel brothers decided to give up sewing machine production, which by this time was much more commodified, and thus commercially unrewarding, than when they had started in the business.
6.
Adam and Sophie Opel had five sons, who took wholeheartedly to wheels.
7.
Bicycles came into the picture when Adam Opel's curiosity was stirred by a high-wheeled bicycle he saw in Paris.
8.
Adam Opel never lived to see the automobiles built by the company he founded.
9.
Adam Opel's will set up a new organization for the company, in which his widow Sophie held the primary interest and his two eldest sons had lesser shares.
10.
In 1936, Adam Opel sold its bicycle plant to NSU in Neckarsulm.