DKW F1

The DKW F1 was a small car produced by DKW (part of the Auto Union) between 1931 and 1932. It was launched at the Berlin Motor Show in February 1931.

The F1 was the first of a line of front wheel drive DKWs assembled at the manufacturer’s Zwickau plant, while the larger rear wheel drive DKWs continued to be built in the Berlin district of Spandau.

Origins

In October 1930 the company’s Danish born chief, Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen, mandated his development team at the Zwickau plant to design a small car that could be powered by a DKW motorbike engine and built at the plant. Rasmussen also specified front wheel drive, independent suspension and a chassis with a very low centre of gravity. The car should be popular and cheap.

Development and launch

After just six weeks the team designed a 2 + 1 seater roadster which weighed 450 kg with the 25 litre fuel tank full, and which offered exceptional driving qualities. In addition to undertaking the design work, the team had already prepared three test vehicles. This would be the car which appeared at the Berlin Motor Show in February 1931 with an open topped steel body and a 494 cc two-cylinder two-stroke engine. By the time, later in the same year, that cars were available for sale the design had acquired a stronger drive shaft mechanism and a timber frame body coated in imitation leather. Light weight and low cost remained priorities. The car cost approximately 1700 RM.

DKW

DKW (Dampf-Kraft-Wagen, English: steam-driven car) is a defunct German car and motorcycle marque. The company and brand is one of the predecessor entities to the modern day Audi company.

In 1916, Danish engineer Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen founded a factory in Zschopau, Saxony, Germany, to produce steam fittings. That year he attempted to produce a steam-driven car, called the DKW. Although unsuccessful, he made a two-stroke toy engine in 1919, called Des Knaben Wunsch – "the boy's desire". He put a slightly modified version of this engine into a motorcycle and called it Das Kleine Wunder– "the little marvel". This was the beginning of the DKW brand: by the 1930s, DKW was the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer.

In 1932, DKW merged with Audi, Horch and Wanderer to form Auto Union. After World War II, DKW moved to West Germany, with the original factory becoming MZ. Auto Union came under Daimler-Benz ownership in 1957 and was purchased by the Volkswagen Group in 1964. The last German-built DKW car was the F102, which ceased production in 1966. Its successor, the four-stroke F103, was marketed under the Audi brand, another Auto Union marque.

DKW 3=6

The DKW 3=6 was a compact front-wheel drive saloon manufactured by Auto Union GmbH. The car was launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show in March 1953 and sold until 1959. It was also named as the DKW Sonderklasse and, following the factory project number, as the DKW F91. From 1958, by which year the car’s successor was already being sold and the earlier version had therefore become, in essence, a ‘run-out’ model, it was badged more simply as the DKW 900.

Apart from complications involving its naming, the 3=6’s notable features included its two-stroke engine and front-wheel drive layout along with the sure-footed handing that resulted.

In a market segment increasingly dominated by the Volkswagen Beetle, the Auto Union contender also boasted class leading interior space, especially after the arrival of the four-door version, which featured a modestly extended wheelbase.

The DKW 3=6 in due course replaced the DKW F89 / Meisterklasse, although the Meisterklasse remained in production until April 1954. In its turn, the 3=6 was succeeded by the more powerful Auto Union 1000, offered already from 1957.

DKW Junior

The DKW Junior was a small front wheel drive saloon manufactured by Auto Union AG. The car received a positive reaction when first exhibited, initially badged as the DKW 600, at the Frankfurt Motor Show in March 1957. The ‘Junior’ name was given to the (by now) DKW 750 in 1959 when the car went into volume production, but failed to survive an upgrade in January 1963, after which the car was known as the DKW F12. In addition to the saloon, a pretty ‘F12 Roadster’ (cabriolet version) was produced in limited numbers.

The car was known for its two-stroke engine. A number of European auto-makers produced two-stroke powered cars in the 1950s, but by the time the DKW Junior came along, the market was beginning to resist two-stroke powered cars as the industry increasingly standardised on four-stroke four-cylinder units which accordingly were becoming cheaper to produce. Two-stroke-engined cars were perceived by some as rough and noisy by comparison.

The DKW line-up

In terms of its size and pricing, the DKW Junior slotted into the range just below the Auto Union 1000, which itself underwent an upgrade and a name change (from DKW to Auto Union) in 1957. The Junior was therefore from its introduction until August 1963 the only DKW branded car.