DKW - Automobiles Made Between 1928 and 1942

Automobiles Made Between 1928 and 1942

DKW cars were made from 1928 until 1966, apart from an interruption caused by war. DKWs always used two-stroke engines, reflecting the company's position by the end of the 1920s as the world's largest producer of motorbikes. The first DKW passenger car, the small and rather crude Typ P emerged on 7 May 1928, and the model continued to be built at the company's Spandau (Berlin) plant first as a roadster and later as a stylish of basic sports car until 1931.

More significant was a series of inexpensive cars built 300 km (185 miles) to the south at Zwickau in the plant acquired by the company's owner in 1928 when he had become the majority share holder in Audi Werke AG. These cars, bearing model names F1 through F8 (F for Front) were built between 1931 and 1942 (with successor models reappearing after the end of the war in 1945). They were the first volume production cars in Europe to incorporate front wheel drive, and were powered by transversely mounted two-cylinder two stroke engines. Displacement was 584cc or 692 cc: claimed maximum power was initially 15 PS, and from 1931 a choice between 18 or 20 hp (15 kW). These models also featured an innovation with a generator that doubled up as a self-starter, which was mounted directly on the crankshaft. This was known as a Dynastart. The small front wheel drive DKWs from Zwickau notched up approximately 218,000 units produced between 1931 and 1942. Most cars were sold on the home market and over 85% of DKWs produced in the 1930s were the little F series cars: DKW reached second place in the German sales charts by 1934 and stayed there, accounting for 189,369 of the cars sold between 1931 and 1938, equivalent to more than 16% of the passenger cars sold during that eight year period.

Between 1929 and 1940 DKW also produced a less well remembered but technically intriguing series of rear-wheel drive cars called (among other names) Schwebeklasse and Sonderklasse with two-stroke V4 engines. Engine displacement was 1,000 cc, later 1,100 cc. These engines had two extra cylinders for forced induction, so they really appeared like V6 engines but without spark plugs on the front cylinder pair.

In 1939, they made a prototype with the first three-cylinder engine. The engine had a displacement of 900 cc and produced 30 hp (22 kW). With a streamlined body, the car could run at 115 km/h (71 mph). This prototype was to be put into production only after World War II, first as an Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau (IFA) F9 (later to become Wartburg) in Zwickau, East Germany, and shortly afterwards in DKW-form from Düsseldorf as the 3=6 or F91.

DKW engines were used by Saab as a model for the Saab two-stroke used in their new Saab 92 automobile manufacturing venture, in 1947.