DKW, at the heart of Audi

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In Spain, the DKW brand is quite unknown, except for the most seasoned readers who will associate this name with a few backfire (due to their two-stroke engine) vans from the 1950s and early 1960s, or some old motorcycles from the Civil War. And yet it stands in the roots of a current prestigious car company

DKW may be the acronym for “Dampf-Kratwagen” (steam car), “Des Knaben Wunsch” (A Young Man’s Dream) or “Das Kleine Wunder” (Little Wonder). This triple reaction has its explanation.

Rasmussen had studied engineering in Mittweida and Zwickau before settling in Chemnitz in 1904 and together with a partner the company “Rasmussen-Ertz. In October 1906 Rasmussen buys a textile company in Zschopau and lands in the nearby Dischau valley, where he runs the company. moved a few months later.On April 13, 1907, he registered the company with himself as sole owner in the Commercial Register.

The activity of the company is described as the manufacture of machines, metal products and their accessories. In concrete terms, these are valves for steam boilers, but also ignition devices and machines for peeling and cleaning vegetables.

By 1909, the company offered steam recovery systems, textile cleaning equipment, oil centrifuges, boiler primers and steam plant systems. All this points to a degree of specialization in steam technology.

In 1916, Rasmussen works on a steam car project to make up for fuel shortages. To do this, he hires the services of an engineer named Mathiessen, with extensive experience designing steam vehicles in the United States, before World War I. Mathiessen would first design a truck and then a passenger car.

But the works would not be successful because the amount of water that could be carried in the vehicles was quickly used up. So they stop this project at the end of the war.

“Des Knaben Wunsch” is the name attributed to a small toy motorcycle he invented in 1919. And as for “Das Kleine Wunder”, it refers to a two-stroke engine intended for bicycles and paving the way for the manufacture of a real motorcycle in the year 1924.

And this motorcycle is a real success: in less than five years, DKW has become the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world, which is no surprise for its success in the competition.

But the car remains a pending issue for Rasmussen. In 1928, for example, he presented the P15, a rear-wheel drive car powered by a two-stroke motorcycle. And that same year, he bought a small brand in a difficult economic situation. It’s called Audi…

And in 1931, he released the F1 (the “F” for Frontantrieb), a front-wheel drive, as the name implies. So three years before Citroën launched its Traction, DKW was already producing a mass-produced car with a front-wheel drive engine, an architecture that would be a constant in all its models until 1966, when the brand disappeared. By the way, these engines will be two-stroke until then.

But let’s go back. In 1932, the financial crisis ends with several brands. Those who want to survive must regroup. Thus Auto Unión was born, bringing together Horch, Wanderer, DKW and Audi and assigning a segment to each brand: for DKW, that of small cars and motorcycles.

In the mid-thirties, four thousand eight hundred cars left the chain every month. But the war drums can already be heard and in 1939 production will be geared to military vehicles.

In 1945, at the end of World War II, the Auto Union headquarters in Chemnitz on the east side remained under Russian control. But the leaders of the group are in the west and are trying to relaunch the DKW brand in Ingolstadt.

In war-torn Bavaria, production initially concentrated on spare parts for cars still on the road. But little by little the idea of ​​​​creating a new car took shape, first a truck, but then a sedan, the emblematic F89 P Meisterklasse. The problem is that the original factory in the Soviet zone is still operating. In the Democratic Republic of Germany, for example, the IFA F9 is being built, naturally inspired by the F89 P. The IFA will later become the MZ, aimed at the production of motorcycles.

Speaking of inspiration, the DKW two-stroke engine (largely the work of engineer Adolf Schnürle) will serve as the starting point for several post-war brands: Saab, Trabant or even Yamaha.

In 1953, the Sonderklasse premiered a three-cylinder two-stroke. It’s called “3=6” because it wants to convey the idea that it delivers performance equivalent to that of a four-stroke six-cylinder. Although somewhat optimistic, the truth is that this 900cc with 34 horsepower made the Sonderklasse outperform the Volkswagen Beetle of the time. The Sonderklasse was very attractive in terms of looks, mechanics and behavior, but the price of 6,000 marks in Konrad Adenauer’s Germany was quite high for most buyers.

In 1956 DKW invents the famous Munga. As the full name indicated, Mehrzweck Universal Geländewagen mit Allradantrieb” or 4×4 multi-use off-road vehicle, it was a 4×4, with of course a two-stroke engine, designed for the military. It is a resounding success, because when production stops in 1968, there are no fewer than 46,000 copies of the chain.

The Marshall Plan and the labor capacity of the population made possible the economic miracle that led the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in the late 1950s and early 1960s to become the great global power we know.

In 1959 Mercedes takes control of DKW. More practical and cheaper than previous models, the Junior F10 fascinates families, while the 1000 SP coupe is very attractive with its Ford Thunderbird inspired line. 1962 will be DKW’s best sales year since the end of the war thanks to the Junior F10.

In 1965 Mercedes makes the decision to sell its DKW shares to Volkswagen, with a project under study, the F 102. But VW does not like two-stroke engines at all and wants a four-stroke. In addition, considering that the DKW brand is associated with these engines, he decides to rename the project to Audi 60 (for 60 hp), which suits the Wolfsburg company, which is not yet a large group and focuses on the production of Beetles. In this way, the DKW brand disappears from the commercial scene while launching the history of the current Audi, the one that saved Rasmussen, the father of the DKW, in his time.

Source: La Verdad

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