fun facts: DKW was founded by a Dane, a Jorgen Skafte Rasmussen. In their first decades, they made all kinds of products, like a toy steam engine for kids (Des Knaben Wunsch), or a refrigerater (Das Kühl Wunder), or a small engine to motorize bicycles (Das Kleine Wunder). The weird math of "3=6" was supposed to imply that a 3 cylinder engine could be as good as a six, but folks knew better, and just called it "3=0".
Dampf Kraft Wagen. 3=6 meant that the engine made as many power strokes per revolution as a four-stroke six. 55 horsepower from one liter wasn't too shabby for the day. Certainly better output than the contemporary Karmann Ghia.
Thank you for this great documentation! My father owned this DKW 1000 SP as a coupe for many years. There were right-hand drive coupes for South Africa! The lion in the horn button is the city coat of arms of the city of Düsseldorf, where I live.The first years of construction with the pointed tail fins (until 1962 / not the roadsters) still had the lion with the anchor in its hands as a horn button! The DKW was built in what is now the Mercedes Sprinter factory in the Derendorf district of Düsseldorf. DKW became Audi again (Mercedes had the rights for Audi and Auto Union). Mercedes took over the DKW plant in Düsseldorf. But there is still a DKW 1000 SP Roadster in England. It's in a hall with a right-hand drive DKW 3=6 and other vintage cars in a poorly maintained hall. It has been repainted gold, but still looks very usable! The TH-camrs “Imstokz” and “The Bearded Explorer” found it and didn’t know what it was. cheers Klaus from Düsseldorf
That freewheel was there to protect the engine from oil starvation on the over-run. Many early two strokes that lacked an oil injection system, had oil pre-mixed with petrol, thus when the throttle was closed not only fuel but the oil supply was cut off as well. Early Saabs had a freewheel for the same reason. They even kept it initially when they moved to four strokes and used it as a selling point. I also remember BSA Bantam owners were told not to close the throttle on a long descent, to prevent engine seizure.
Someone in Washington state owns a DKW Coupé, sounds exactly like this. Love the sound! A glorious rarity. Thank you for featuring this beautiful vehicle!
Lovely little motor - and although insurance necessitated having the owner drive it this time, it's actually interesting to hear firsthand from the owner about the car's quirks and features.
Fabulous car! A Friend of the Family owned one. As a kid, I loved to ride in that fast, tight car. The front-wheel drive choice made all the difference. The handling was fantastic. Thank you for this interesting and inspiring Vídeo.
Arguably the most interesting and stunning car you have featured. I can't believe the quality of the restoration. Just fabulous, and that 3 cylinder 2 stroke sound is thrilling. 🥰✔
Trivia: While those rings are now mostly seen as an Audi badge, they represent the 4 companies that made up the Auto Union: Audi DKW Horch and Wanderer. The radiator was also located on the back on other DKW of this time, this is not a specialty of the 1000SP. The dragon on the steering wheel is the Coat of Arms of Ingolstadt (same as VW had the Wolfsburg CoA on the steering wheel).
Today, those four rings are the driver's scores for situational awareness, traffic flow comprehension, attention to things other than phone, and adjusting speed properly.
I'm amazed at your ability to often find these rare and very special cars that we couldn't think you come up with next. I'd say this car is somewhat comparable in concept to the VW Karmann-Ghia you drove recently, save for the fact that it has everything up front, whereas the VW is RWD with a rear engine. But both of them are exotic-looking, stylish cars with humble underpinnings and a very specific, not too smooth engine sound. Thunderbird-styling was quite influential in the late 1950s, as is also showcased by the Sunbeam alpine. Thanks for this upload!
So it was “Furious Riding” this time… ;-) My goodness, what a gem. I’m acquainted with this model, probably thanks to Classic And Sportscar magazine, but had never seen or heard one in action. And I didn’t realize they were so tiny. So beautiful and so fascinating! Thanks for this one, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The little brother of Mercedes-Benz 300SL and 190SL roadsters (DKW was a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler-Benz at the time of the launch of this car).
What a great car! Great review! Love these old 2 stroke powered cars, very reminiscent of the early SAAB 2 strokes, what a great sound they make. This must have been an early forerunner to the modern Audi sports hatches of today like the TT(except this has more character!) Thanks for that Matt and the owner of the car.
So reminiscent that SAAB bought the patents for the car from DKW and made their own copy, called the SAAB. You could interchange the motors and other parts of the car. Just the body was changed to make it more streamlined.
That exhaust note is very familiar after living in Hungary and suffering two-stroke Wartburgs, with similar spec engines. By the time they stopped being made with these in the early 1990s they were VERY outdated and, of course, smelly.
I went with the school to (West) Berlin, and because it was 1970, they had opened the Berlin Wall, and we could go for a day trip round East Berlin. We went to the Deutsches Theatre ( German Theatre). BUT, because I had hayfever, the oily two stroke TRABANT cars and the pollution they caused, made my eyes water, and sore! Also, I expect, because people used coal for their heating, the Germans had BROWN coal, which I believe caused MORE pollution than the BLACK coal we had at home.
@@itekani I think they were banned from the roads in Hungary a few years ago and other countries probably did likewise, so most have probably been scrapped. It's good if a few remain for history but, as transport, they were disgusting.
Absolutely fascinating video, Matt. It definitely has the look of a 55 Thunderbird, but as you say, the designers made it look right. Not an easy thing to pull off. A beautiful wee beastie.
Fantastic. Wish you could buy these new today. I'd have one! We had a 2-stroke Saab in our family for a while when I was a lad. I loved that car. Two-strokes have so much character.
@@jimmyj1969 every East-German car had two-stroke DKW-derived engines because of material shortage, with only seven moving parts the engine was extremely simple. But Trabant is the most famous example I think, also stood for the failure of the Eastern Bloc.
When he was talking about the six-cylinder version being basically two of the three-cylinders glued together I immediately thought of the Saab Monster, a Saab 93 with effectively two three-cylinder engines. Purely experimental car from the late 50s, never made it to production for probably obvious reasons!
@@volvo480 Well, "failure" is a relative term. As East-block countries didn't consider private vehicles as a priority, they tried to make them as cheap & simple as possible (as VW did with the Bettle, Citroen with 2C, Renault with 4L etc). Their failure on this sector lied on their relative conservatism: instead of making an affordable, simple, cheap but smart car (like the 2CV for instance), they tried to imitate western models in a non-succesful way (despite having the engineers & the designers to create good cars by their own).
What a pretty little car. A man driving such a cute little motor back in the 60s must have been nigh on irresistible! Even in this day and age I reckon the driver will be popular.
Got to love a DKW, and this is as rare as they come! They are quite high geared and make for quite good cruising speeds for such old cars. See if you can find a Munga to try next. :)
The gear shift pattern is quite normal for the column shifts used in the USA….except 4 speed varieties were quite rare. my first vehicle had it and boy they wore out quickly!
My dad had a DKW in mid 60's. Went like the clappers on the straight but ran outa steam on the hills. We always said the car made the noise thus.... humm ding ding ding.. humm ding ding LOL Regards from South Africa
Okay, I'm sold. I'm off to the nearest Auto Union shop. That two-stroke exhaust note is unlike anything you hear from the Hellcats and Mustangs and Camaros that plague the streets all night in my city. That shifter is not unlike the pattern in fifties/early sixties Peugeot 403 and 404 models. Three-on-the-tree with an extra dogleg shift for fourth. Perfect proportions, not a bad line or awkward surface on the car, outside or inside.
I have a dkw/auto union handbook by Keith ayling....it was published in USA in 1961 and I got it years ago second hand....it gives technical details and an owner's guide,Dkw was sold in USA in the late 50s early 60s by Mercedes dealers.
Filmed in my home town on Goring seafront in Worthing! What an interesting car this is too, that little engine doesn’t sound too dissimilar from modern 3 cylinders, and it sounds like it picks up like it has a little turbo too!
We got to produce DKW-Auto Unions here in Argentina in the 60s. We got sedans, estates, vans and a coupe designed by italian coach builder Fissore. The story says that when Mercedes Benz took over they replaced the 3 cylinders 2 strokes engine for a 4 cyilinder 4 strokes one, and they didn't have room for the radiator, so they moved it to the left. An arrangement the VAG group kept for ages
Now this is something extraordinary. The little Thunderbird was an adolescent dream in 1979. I only ever saw pictures. That and the NSU Spider sitting in the Science Museum were two favourites I sort of understood I'd never get hold of.
PS I just looked and there are more about than I imagined. I think Practical Classics / Exchange & Mart didn't have too many for sale when I was looking..
In Holland, we jokingly nicknamed these "Duitse KinderWagen", which means German Pram. The real, forgotten abbreviation is Dampf Kraft Wagen, which means steam power car, a big hint as to the age and heritage of the company.
I remember some some also called it, more affectionately: 'Das Kleine Wunder', the 'little wonder'. DKW/ Auto Union made a number of pretty two-stroke cars in the '50s and '60s. When I was growing up in Ireland at that time, one saw a lot of '3=6' saloons, even an occasional SP1000 coupé. The perfection of the styling shows even more markedly in the coupé, compared with this soft-top. In a photo with nothing familiar near to give a sense of scale, it's almost impossible to judge the tin-top's true size.
Awesome car, pleasant surprise, never knew, great review and she is a stunner! Thank you for bringing us the unusal, fun cars. Also, classics with patina, no objections either :)
My uncle had a car with freewheel system on it, but NOT a two-stroke. It was a "great aunt" ROVER. (The P4 model. If you don't know what they look like, you can see it on the internet!)
Wartburg of East Germany in fact produced cars very similar to this as they branched off the pre-war DKW tree as it were when the country was split up. Its really funny to see the shifter pattern and the noise being basically identical.
I've only known this model since as far back as 17.09.1986 when I first bought the book the A-Z of Cars 1945-70, written by the late Michael Sedgwick & Mark Gillies, it cost £14.95 from what was our local WHSmith store. I had no idea that car existed until I first came across that book.
The radiator behind the engine was a regular feature of all DKW passenger cars. Putting the engine ahead of the front axle alllowed for more room in the interior but no room for a radiator in front of the motor. The East German offshoot of the DKW, the Wartburg, kept the same radiator behind the 2 stroke motor layout almost until the end of production. Plunking a 4 stroke Volswagen engine into the last Wartburgs in 1988 couldn't save the company, however. The other famous 2 stroke East German car was the Trabi but it was air cooled, so no radiator.
Old three cylinder two stroke SAAB as well as my V4 engined 1968 SAAB Sonett had the same freewheeling transmission, although on my Sonett there was a level on the firewall I could set to freewheel or NO freewheel. Got a bit exciting sometimes if you forgot you had changed it to freewheeling ...:)
Beautiful design but sounds like my old Suzuki ER250 trial motorcycle I had when a teenager, never seen one of these and probably never will but a great find Matt 👌🏻.
Very nice. Thank you. I remember these cars from when they were new. The 4 ring badge goes back to before WW II. Auto Union was the merger of DKW, Audi, Horch and Wanderer. After this war only DKW survived at first. Later on the larger and more expensive cars were labeled Auto Union, the smaller ones DKW. This car is not a DKW but an Auto Union 1000 SP. They were well built, quite sporty cars in their day. In the early 60s 2 stroke engines were getting out of fashion, a pity I really liked and like them. So Auto Union/DKW was doing quite badly. Mercedes-Benz developed a new engine, the so called Mitteldruck motor. Auto Union just introduced a new model, a quite modern saloon called the F102. It was heavily handicapped by its 2 stroke engine. Mercedes had the majority of Auto Union shares in the late 50s. This new engine found its way in the Auto Union F102 and the Audi 60 was born. M-B did not expect to much of it and sold it to VW. VW bought it primarily for extending production capacity. However the Audi guys the developed, in secret, the first Audi 100 and the rest is, as they say, history... Although it would still take a few decades and the late Ferdinand Piech to establish Audi as the premium make we know now.
The DKW did not survive! It was newly founded by former managers like Carl Hahn , Richard Bruhn in 1948 in western part of Germany. Mercedes planned in the early fifties to introduce a midsize car with around 1100 to 1300 cc comparable to the Goliath Hansa made by Borgward. Then came Le Mans disaster 1955….! As German Multimillionaire Friedrich Flick informed Deutsche that he wanted to sell his very big share of DKW in 1958, Mercedes bought the company by giving DB shares to Mr. Flick. Introducing Engineer Ludwig Kraus to Ingolstadt to transform the company to fourstroke cars. But the old engineers whined. It was nearly impossible because DKW had bought a prototype engine from Engineering Bureau Müller at Andernach a 1,5 Liter 6 cylinder two stroke engine with 80 bhp making a Monza as fast as a Porsche 356 B Super….
Just an observation, looks like that belt on the front of the engine is loose. First look at the car cause me to think Thunderbird. Beautiful car and beautifully restored, my compliments to the owner. Real conversation starter and as you say not everyone has one
The four rings were not an Audi badge, it was the symbol for the Auto Union (1932) which was formed by the union of DKW, Audi, Horch and Wanderer. I remember seeing this car in South Africa!
No tea shelf but a wonderfull nice car . 2 stroke always make differnet noise and they need revs to run nice. Think it was the engine from the DKW Meisterklasse the limousine.
Oh wow The shift pattern of my '66 Peugeot 404 The sound of my '63 850 SAAB 96 And the dashboard and lighter of my family's '59 Borgward Thanks for the great review.
What a delightful, delicate little thing - such a characterful, yet well engineered and "together" machine - which just goes to show that, unlike, the Italians, there is no need to sacrifice all the sensible things (like reliability) for flair. The enthusiasm is always great in these programs although I was somewhat perplexed at the level of genuine surprise at the sound of it? Perhaps the recording - or the rendering of it through the speakers of my mobile phone - caused me to miss something but all I could hear was the standard 2-stroke popping, crackling buzz - with an exhaust note all but identical to that of a thousand scooters: somewhat unusual for a car, for sure (unless you are a resident of the former East Germany in which case the hoarse hairdryer noise is entirely familiar) but otherwise unremarkable. Sorry, I may have been missing something or perhaps simply have a completely different viewpoint on these things. Either way, very interesting and entertaining!
I'm guessing that the engine is the same as the Wartburg Knight, someone I worked with in the 1970's owned a Knight, which was a very reliable car, the only pain was changing the 3 sets of contact breaker point at the front of the crankshaft. Car towed his caravan ok.
You are right. The East Germans had a talent to "borrow" technology from the western cousins and make it last 100 years. I still have the AKA toaster and hair fan, that work 40 years.
@@timonsolus Actually that´s german racionality for you. They knew that they want be able to produce enough (because of socialist planing, budget restritions etc.) so they aimed that what they produce, that it last for a long time. On the end of the day, as a east german citizen, you had to wait 13 years for your car. Probably the Soviets had a similar way of thinking.
@@kd23se4 Not quite. They didn't "borrow" from the west in this case. Before the war the area now considered eastern Germany (then it was "middle" Germany) was the automotive heartland of the German Reich. AutoUnion (DKW, Horch, Audi) was there, but also all of BMW's car production (PreWar BMW cars were made in Eisenach, at the later Wartburg factory. The factory in Munich was for motorbikes). The location at Ingolstadt was only established after the war by former AutoUnion workers and management who fled from the soviet zone. At first to make replacement parts for the existing DKW cars (the Wehrmacht didn't confiscate 2 stroke cars during WW2, so there were many DKW left in civil ownership, and spare parts became rare as they couldn't be sourced form the soviet zone). So the GDR engines - well depending on your point of view - they are either the original and the west German ones are copies, or as I would see it, they are twins, separated shortly after birth.
That washer bottle should have a black cap 😂. Very unusual car looks beautiful I think a nice 1.8 Turbo BAM engine would be preferable but it’s not a daily obviously so respect to it’s individuality & originality. Nice one Matt👍.
Definitely first model T Bird or Ford Consul/Zephyr/Zodiac Mk II look about it. As for an engine, My Granddad had a Wartburg for a while (which is apparently related being a DKW Based drivetrain), sounds very similar, we all loved it, He loved it, sounded like a motorcycle, Nan hated it and he had to get rid of it.
A late pal {dead pal, not late due to slowness!} owned a Wartburg Knight. I wonder if the engine in this car was licenced to them and perhaps to Saab also, or if all had their own version of two stroke triple. The sound when going along is also reminiscent of a Suzuki GT750 bike I had in 1976. The air cooled two stroke triples I owned at other times, not so much. More ring-a-ding without the water jacket.
I read somewhere, (about 50 years ago) after WW2 some auditors going through the DKW factory found the engine from an English Scott motorcycle in a storeroom, Scott was an early producer of quality twin-cylinder water-cooled two-stroke engines, the implication was that DKW had possibly used some of Scott's design features.
Loads of RHD DKW/AU models available in South Africa, where they go for a tiny fraction of the used prices in the EU. Parts available from DKW Hesse (reasonably priced) and Audi Heritage (avoid). A trabant engine is basically the same thing with a similar stink. I can't imagine anyone can stand to tailgate it though!
The handbrake is similar to the Standard Vanguard in design but not in detail. Obviously it is opposite hand for a LHD car. The release lever on the Vanguard is forward of the hand grip, and probably easier to use, being like a bicycle brake lever in operation.
LR 63. Personally, I will be awkward, and disagree about it looking like anything else at all! But I am seduced by its looks! HOWEVER, there IS certainly something similar to the Sunbeam Alpine/Tiger! The amount of space inside!
Beautiful video, You should tighten or replace the V-belt to the oil pump, it is too loose, if it jumps down you will have engine problems, you can see at 3.36 - 4.08. I have two 1000 SP myself. Greetings, Oldiesschraubaer
What a beautiful car and a fantastic review no teashelvery other than the floor! Closest I’ve ever driven to that was Dad’s Saab 2 stroke with free wheeling hubs and column shift loved it! Where was the scenic drive it looked familiar and coastal? Keep up this superb content on this channel well done 👍
I saw a black 1000SP cabrio at a show in Cranleigh about 5 or 6 years ago, so I think there's another one out there. I just checked the reg from the photo I found, and it's now a Triumph Stag, so no idea what happened there.
@@furiousdriving I found reference to it in an old RegTransfers magazine actually featuring the owner of this car. Said the black one was also his car, and it is now living in Ft Lauderdale.
As DKW made the 2 stroke lumps for the Saab 93 95 and 96, the tunes are VERY familiar! I would like to see and hear the V6 2 stroke lump you speak of, Matt. too. The one I know of was put together for by the Rally Division of Saab for Erik Carlsson and his rally exploits as an experiment - it survives but who knows where!
Forgot to add it was dubbed 'The Monster'. Two twin stroke engines mounted alongside each other - transversely! I am assured that the example lives at the Saab Museum, Trollhattan.
What an absolute beauty!.
Also, that thing is staggeringly immaculate.
What a find Matt, thanks for bringing it to us.
fun facts: DKW was founded by a Dane, a Jorgen Skafte Rasmussen. In their first decades, they made all kinds of products, like a toy steam engine for kids (Des Knaben Wunsch), or a refrigerater (Das Kühl Wunder), or a small engine to motorize bicycles (Das Kleine Wunder). The weird math of "3=6" was supposed to imply that a 3 cylinder engine could be as good as a six, but folks knew better, and just called it "3=0".
3 = 6 comes from the fact that a 3 cylinder 2 stroke has the same number of power strokes at a certain rpm as a 6 cylinder 4 stroke.
@@Xyleksoll and so might make similar horsepower but pitiful torque…..or at least put torque at an utterly unusable rpm range.
True information about DKW: th-cam.com/video/AKDWRtAvftw/w-d-xo.html
Dampf Kraft Wagen.
3=6 meant that the engine made as many power strokes per revolution as a four-stroke six. 55 horsepower from one liter wasn't too shabby for the day. Certainly better output than the contemporary Karmann Ghia.
@@jonnycando If you ever took off from a stoplight in first gear, you would appreciate the torque it did have, we called it jackrabbit start.
Thank you for this great documentation!
My father owned this DKW 1000 SP as a coupe for many years. There were right-hand drive coupes for South Africa! The lion in the horn button is the city coat of arms of the city of Düsseldorf, where I live.The first years of construction with the pointed tail fins (until 1962 / not the roadsters) still had the lion with the anchor in its hands as a horn button! The DKW was built in what is now the Mercedes Sprinter factory in the Derendorf district of Düsseldorf. DKW became Audi again (Mercedes had the rights for Audi and Auto Union). Mercedes took over the DKW plant in Düsseldorf.
But there is still a DKW 1000 SP Roadster in England. It's in a hall with a right-hand drive DKW 3=6 and other vintage cars in a poorly maintained hall. It has been repainted gold, but still looks very usable! The TH-camrs “Imstokz” and “The Bearded Explorer” found it and didn’t know what it was.
cheers
Klaus from Düsseldorf
That freewheel was there to protect the engine from oil starvation on the over-run. Many early two strokes that lacked an oil injection system, had oil pre-mixed with petrol, thus when the throttle was closed not only fuel but the oil supply was cut off as well. Early Saabs had a freewheel for the same reason. They even kept it initially when they moved to four strokes and used it as a selling point. I also remember BSA Bantam owners were told not to close the throttle on a long descent, to prevent engine seizure.
That is absolute stunning - brilliant proportions ! And the condition, amazing!
Someone in Washington state owns a DKW Coupé, sounds exactly like this. Love the sound!
A glorious rarity. Thank you for featuring this beautiful vehicle!
Wow that is beautiful it looks like a little thunderbird.
Josh I thought the same thing.
Actually that's no coincïdence. It was deliberately modeled after the T-bird.
Only ever seen photos of these, what an utterly gorgeous example!
Lovely little motor - and although insurance necessitated having the owner drive it this time, it's actually interesting to hear firsthand from the owner about the car's quirks and features.
What a glorious surprise, and a great video. I so adore the pre-audi styling, always have. The quirks just add to the adorableness.
The standard of upkeep on this vehicle is beyond extraordinary! Top review of a fascinating car.
Specially when you note that the oil injection was prone to failure and ruined many engines.
Such a mechanically interesting and attractively elegant car. Thank you very much for bringing us this beautiful example.
Fabulous car!
A Friend of the Family owned one.
As a kid, I loved to ride in that fast, tight car.
The front-wheel drive choice made all the difference. The handling was fantastic.
Thank you for this interesting and inspiring Vídeo.
It looks beautifully elegant!
Arguably the most interesting and stunning car you have featured. I can't believe the quality of the restoration. Just fabulous, and that 3 cylinder 2 stroke sound is thrilling. 🥰✔
Trivia: While those rings are now mostly seen as an Audi badge, they represent the 4 companies that made up the Auto Union: Audi DKW Horch and Wanderer.
The radiator was also located on the back on other DKW of this time, this is not a specialty of the 1000SP.
The dragon on the steering wheel is the Coat of Arms of Ingolstadt (same as VW had the Wolfsburg CoA on the steering wheel).
Thanks for that interesting info. I thought that was an Audi badge on the rear, I never knew it's origins. Beautiful looking car though to be sure.
We posted the four ring explanation at the same time!
Today, those four rings are the driver's scores for situational awareness, traffic flow comprehension, attention to things other than phone, and adjusting speed properly.
On the F102 they put the radiator to the side of the motor. But those are of course a bit newer design.
What a great and interesting little car, nice to hear the owner talk about too.
I'm amazed at your ability to often find these rare and very special cars that we couldn't think you come up with next. I'd say this car is somewhat comparable in concept to the VW Karmann-Ghia you drove recently, save for the fact that it has everything up front, whereas the VW is RWD with a rear engine. But both of them are exotic-looking, stylish cars with humble underpinnings and a very specific, not too smooth engine sound. Thunderbird-styling was quite influential in the late 1950s, as is also showcased by the Sunbeam alpine. Thanks for this upload!
So it was “Furious Riding” this time… ;-)
My goodness, what a gem. I’m acquainted with this model, probably thanks to Classic And Sportscar magazine, but had never seen or heard one in action. And I didn’t realize they were so tiny. So beautiful and so fascinating! Thanks for this one, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The little brother of Mercedes-Benz 300SL and 190SL roadsters (DKW was a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler-Benz at the time of the launch of this car).
What a great car! Great review!
Love these old 2 stroke powered cars, very reminiscent of the early SAAB 2 strokes, what a great sound they make.
This must have been an early forerunner to the modern Audi sports hatches of today like the TT(except this has more character!)
Thanks for that Matt and the owner of the car.
So reminiscent that SAAB bought the patents for the car from DKW and made their own copy, called the SAAB. You could interchange the motors and other parts of the car. Just the body was changed to make it more streamlined.
That exhaust note is very familiar after living in Hungary and suffering two-stroke Wartburgs, with similar spec engines. By the time they stopped being made with these in the early 1990s they were VERY outdated and, of course, smelly.
I went with the school to (West) Berlin, and because it was 1970, they had opened the Berlin Wall, and we could go for a day trip round East Berlin. We went to the Deutsches Theatre ( German Theatre). BUT, because I had hayfever, the oily two stroke TRABANT cars and the pollution they caused, made my eyes water, and sore! Also, I expect, because people used coal for their heating, the Germans had BROWN coal, which I believe caused MORE pollution than the BLACK coal we had at home.
Those were only two-cylinder engines, or did they have some three-cylinder as well?
@@itekani The Wartburg had a 993cc 3 cylinder motor. It wasn't so bad on launch in 1965 but looked shockingly bad by the 1980s.
@@davidjames2910 Oh, cool. Are there many of those still around?
@@itekani I think they were banned from the roads in Hungary a few years ago and other countries probably did likewise, so most have probably been scrapped.
It's good if a few remain for history but, as transport, they were disgusting.
Absolutely fascinating video, Matt. It definitely has the look of a 55 Thunderbird, but as you say, the designers made it look right. Not an easy thing to pull off. A beautiful wee beastie.
One of my new favourites
Really takes me back, knew a lad with a DKW in the early 70s. Do love a two stroke!
One of the most beautiful looking convertibles
Fantastic. Wish you could buy these new today. I'd have one! We had a 2-stroke Saab in our family for a while when I was a lad. I loved that car. Two-strokes have so much character.
Nice video! Now we need a two stroke Saab video!
Early Saab, until the 96 switched to Taunus V4, had DKW-derived two-stroke engines and of course the East-German Trabant until 1990.
All East-German cars had the 2-stroke engines (Trabant, Wartburg, even the Barkas vans).
@@jimmyj1969 every East-German car had two-stroke DKW-derived engines because of material shortage, with only seven moving parts the engine was extremely simple. But Trabant is the most famous example I think, also stood for the failure of the Eastern Bloc.
When he was talking about the six-cylinder version being basically two of the three-cylinders glued together I immediately thought of the Saab Monster, a Saab 93 with effectively two three-cylinder engines. Purely experimental car from the late 50s, never made it to production for probably obvious reasons!
So did a lot of Trojan cars and vans before they took over UK production of the BMW bubble car, rebranded as a Trojan.
@@volvo480 Well, "failure" is a relative term. As East-block countries didn't consider private vehicles as a priority, they tried to make them as cheap & simple as possible (as VW did with the Bettle, Citroen with 2C, Renault with 4L etc). Their failure on this sector lied on their relative conservatism: instead of making an affordable, simple, cheap but smart car (like the 2CV for instance), they tried to imitate western models in a non-succesful way (despite having the engineers & the designers to create good cars by their own).
I saw one exactly like this in the Audi Museum in Ingolstadt. Lovely looking thing.
One of the most beautiful cars of all time ! I want, I WANT ! I want! I want, ..........okay, STOP!!
Theo Since, that whst the owner of this car says in this film - he saw the same car in the Ingolstadt museum.
Beautiful car and great restoration
What a pretty little car. A man driving such a cute little motor back in the 60s must have been nigh on irresistible! Even in this day and age I reckon the driver will be popular.
Got to love a DKW, and this is as rare as they come! They are quite high geared and make for quite good cruising speeds for such old cars. See if you can find a Munga to try next. :)
There's a video of a fellow blasting a DKW sedan along at seventy plus MPH on I-5,passing traffic including a Mustang. Sounds incredible!
The gear shift pattern is quite normal for the column shifts used in the USA….except 4 speed varieties were quite rare. my first vehicle had it and boy they wore out quickly!
When I lived in Austria in the 60 s I use to see these cars all over.
Love the sound of the engine. Can't beat 2 stroke sound
My dad had a DKW in mid 60's. Went like the clappers on the straight but ran outa steam on the hills. We always said the car made the noise thus.... humm ding ding ding.. humm ding ding LOL
Regards from South Africa
Wow...beautiful car. That engine is immaculate, beautifully restored. Great one Matt.
Okay, I'm sold. I'm off to the nearest Auto Union shop.
That two-stroke exhaust note is unlike anything you hear from the Hellcats and Mustangs and Camaros that plague the streets all night in my city.
That shifter is not unlike the pattern in fifties/early sixties Peugeot 403 and 404 models. Three-on-the-tree with an extra dogleg shift for fourth.
Perfect proportions, not a bad line or awkward surface on the car, outside or inside.
Thanks´ Matt. That´s a lovely piece of mini Americana there; all beit of the European variety. What a wonderful Little car.
You don't need to go fast in such a cool looking car. Very nice mate .👍👍
Great find Matt.
Lovely car! The technical stuff is very similar to the East German Wartburg, which is no surprise seeing their shared history of course
Do the FSO syrena and saab all share a common ancestry?
A fantastic and beautiful car!
A car that's got my name on it or at least my initials, what a great looking car.
What a wonderful car and such a great engine. Thank you very much for bringing this convertible 2 stroke
I have a dkw/auto union handbook by Keith ayling....it was published in USA in 1961 and I got it years ago second hand....it gives technical details and an owner's guide,Dkw was sold in USA in the late 50s early 60s by Mercedes dealers.
Filmed in my home town on Goring seafront in Worthing!
What an interesting car this is too, that little engine doesn’t sound too dissimilar from modern 3 cylinders, and it sounds like it picks up like it has a little turbo too!
We got to produce DKW-Auto Unions here in Argentina in the 60s. We got sedans, estates, vans and a coupe designed by italian coach builder Fissore.
The story says that when Mercedes Benz took over they replaced the 3 cylinders 2 strokes engine for a 4 cyilinder 4 strokes one, and they didn't have room for the radiator, so they moved it to the left. An arrangement the VAG group kept for ages
Now this is something extraordinary. The little Thunderbird was an adolescent dream in 1979. I only ever saw pictures. That and the NSU Spider sitting in the Science Museum were two favourites I sort of understood I'd never get hold of.
PS I just looked and there are more about than I imagined. I think Practical Classics / Exchange & Mart didn't have too many for sale when I was looking..
In Holland, we jokingly nicknamed these "Duitse KinderWagen", which means German Pram. The real, forgotten abbreviation is Dampf Kraft Wagen, which means steam power car, a big hint as to the age and heritage of the company.
I remember some some also called it, more affectionately: 'Das Kleine Wunder', the 'little wonder'. DKW/ Auto Union made a number of pretty two-stroke cars in the '50s and '60s. When I was growing up in Ireland at that time, one saw a lot of '3=6' saloons, even an occasional SP1000 coupé. The perfection of the styling shows even more markedly in the coupé, compared with this soft-top. In a photo with nothing familiar near to give a sense of scale, it's almost impossible to judge the tin-top's true size.
Awesome car, pleasant surprise, never knew, great review and she is a stunner! Thank you for bringing us the unusal, fun cars. Also, classics with patina, no objections either :)
What a beautiful car Brilliant video Matt 👍
What a lovely car! Who inew? I drove a Saab 96 two stroke with freewheel. It feels completely alien. Great video. Thanks Matt.
My uncle had a car with freewheel system on it, but NOT a two-stroke. It was a "great aunt" ROVER. (The P4 model. If you don't know what they look like, you can see it on the internet!)
@@nygelmiller5293 I remember the P4 very well. A good freind sold me his P6 so he could get himself a P4.
WONDERFUL VIDEO - VERY PROFESSIONAL & INTERESTING - WELL DONE MATT
Nice wheels!! My mom had - I think, I was very young in the mid-sixties - a 1957 DKW sedan. Orange. I'm pretty sure it had a similar engine.
Well done Matt, you have excelled yourself with this one.
Very cool and unique motor! Thanks for sharing!
Belongs in a Top Ten Most Beautiful Cars list
A wonderful car. The styling is like a mini Ford Thunderbird.
Wartburg of East Germany in fact produced cars very similar to this as they branched off the pre-war DKW tree as it were when the country was split up. Its really funny to see the shifter pattern and the noise being basically identical.
It's a total mindf*ck seeing something that looks so much like a first-generation Thunderbird be so utterly different from one.
such an unusual car - sounds like a 2 stroke scooter when revved
I've only known this model since as far back as 17.09.1986 when I first bought the book the A-Z of Cars 1945-70, written by the late Michael Sedgwick & Mark Gillies, it cost £14.95 from what was our local WHSmith store. I had no idea that car existed until I first came across that book.
The radiator behind the engine was a regular feature of all DKW passenger cars. Putting the engine ahead of the front axle alllowed for more room in the interior but no room for a radiator in front of the motor. The East German offshoot of the DKW, the Wartburg, kept the same radiator behind the 2 stroke motor layout almost until the end of production. Plunking a 4 stroke Volswagen engine into the last Wartburgs in 1988 couldn't save the company, however. The other famous 2 stroke East German car was the Trabi but it was air cooled, so no radiator.
Old three cylinder two stroke SAAB as well as my V4 engined 1968 SAAB Sonett had the same freewheeling transmission, although on my Sonett there was a level on the firewall I could set to freewheel or NO freewheel. Got a bit exciting sometimes if you forgot you had changed it to freewheeling ...:)
LEVER - auto correct my ....
What a looker. Very cool 🤓
Looks and sounds fantastic.
Beautiful design but sounds like my old Suzuki ER250 trial motorcycle I had when a teenager, never seen one of these and probably never will but a great find Matt 👌🏻.
Very nice. Thank you. I remember these cars from when they were new. The 4 ring badge goes back to before WW II. Auto Union was the merger of DKW, Audi, Horch and Wanderer. After this war only DKW survived at first. Later on the larger and more expensive cars were labeled Auto Union, the smaller ones DKW. This car is not a DKW but an Auto Union 1000 SP. They were well built, quite sporty cars in their day. In the early 60s 2 stroke engines were getting out of fashion, a pity I really liked and like them. So Auto Union/DKW was doing quite badly. Mercedes-Benz developed a new engine, the so called Mitteldruck motor. Auto Union just introduced a new model, a quite modern saloon called the F102. It was heavily handicapped by its 2 stroke engine. Mercedes had the majority of Auto Union shares in the late 50s. This new engine found its way in the Auto Union F102 and the Audi 60 was born. M-B did not expect to much of it and sold it to VW. VW bought it primarily for extending production capacity. However the Audi guys the developed, in secret, the first Audi 100 and the rest is, as they say, history... Although it would still take a few decades and the late Ferdinand Piech to establish Audi as the premium make we know now.
The DKW did not survive! It was newly founded by former managers like Carl Hahn , Richard Bruhn in 1948 in western part of Germany.
Mercedes planned in the early fifties to introduce a midsize car with around 1100 to 1300 cc comparable to the Goliath Hansa made by Borgward. Then came Le Mans disaster 1955….!
As German Multimillionaire Friedrich Flick informed Deutsche that he wanted to sell his very big share of DKW in 1958, Mercedes bought the company by giving DB shares to Mr. Flick.
Introducing Engineer Ludwig Kraus to Ingolstadt to transform the company to fourstroke cars. But the old engineers whined. It was nearly impossible because DKW had bought a prototype engine from Engineering Bureau Müller at Andernach a 1,5 Liter 6 cylinder two stroke engine with 80 bhp making a Monza as fast as a Porsche 356 B Super….
Just an observation, looks like that belt on the front of the engine is loose. First look at the car cause me to think Thunderbird. Beautiful car and beautifully restored, my compliments to the owner. Real conversation starter and as you say not everyone has one
The four rings were not an Audi badge, it was the symbol for the Auto Union (1932) which was formed by the union of DKW, Audi, Horch and Wanderer.
I remember seeing this car in South Africa!
Now that looks very beautfiul
No tea shelf but a wonderfull nice car . 2 stroke always make differnet noise and they need revs to run nice. Think it was the engine from the DKW Meisterklasse the limousine.
Oh wow
The shift pattern of my '66 Peugeot 404
The sound of my '63 850 SAAB 96
And the dashboard and lighter of my family's '59 Borgward
Thanks for the great review.
Wow, that's quite an interesting lineup you have there! Is the Borgward still around? My brother in law has a Hansa in molecules in his barn. :-P
@@itekanino, sold in 66 for the Peugeot
Beautiful this DKW!👍
When your 50's Thunderbird is shrunk in the wash
What a delightful, delicate little thing - such a characterful, yet well engineered and "together" machine - which just goes to show that, unlike, the Italians, there is no need to sacrifice all the sensible things (like reliability) for flair.
The enthusiasm is always great in these programs although I was somewhat perplexed at the level of genuine surprise at the sound of it? Perhaps the recording - or the rendering of it through the speakers of my mobile phone - caused me to miss something but all I could hear was the standard 2-stroke popping, crackling buzz - with an exhaust note all but identical to that of a thousand scooters: somewhat unusual for a car, for sure (unless you are a resident of the former East Germany in which case the hoarse hairdryer noise is entirely familiar) but otherwise unremarkable. Sorry, I may have been missing something or perhaps simply have a completely different viewpoint on these things. Either way, very interesting and entertaining!
I'm guessing that the engine is the same as the Wartburg Knight, someone I worked with in the 1970's owned a Knight, which was a very reliable car, the only pain was changing the 3 sets of contact breaker point at the front of the crankshaft. Car towed his caravan ok.
You are right. The East Germans had a talent to "borrow" technology from the western cousins and make it last 100 years. I still have the AKA toaster and hair fan, that work 40 years.
@@kd23se4 INCREDIBLE!
@@kd23se4 : I guess that's a combination of Russian and German design philosophy? Russian simplicity, German build quality?
@@timonsolus Actually that´s german racionality for you. They knew that they want be able to produce enough (because of socialist planing, budget restritions etc.) so they aimed that what they produce, that it last for a long time. On the end of the day, as a east german citizen, you had to wait 13 years for your car. Probably the Soviets had a similar way of thinking.
@@kd23se4 Not quite. They didn't "borrow" from the west in this case.
Before the war the area now considered eastern Germany (then it was "middle" Germany) was the automotive heartland of the German Reich. AutoUnion (DKW, Horch, Audi) was there, but also all of BMW's car production (PreWar BMW cars were made in Eisenach, at the later Wartburg factory. The factory in Munich was for motorbikes).
The location at Ingolstadt was only established after the war by former AutoUnion workers and management who fled from the soviet zone.
At first to make replacement parts for the existing DKW cars (the Wehrmacht didn't confiscate 2 stroke cars during WW2, so there were many DKW left in civil ownership, and spare parts became rare as they couldn't be sourced form the soviet zone). So the GDR engines - well depending on your point of view - they are either the original and the west German ones are copies, or as I would see it, they are twins, separated shortly after birth.
Why didn't we get to look around the boot area and stylish rear end?
They almost NEVER show you the boot! Why not? Come on Matt, then your programmes will be perfect!
@@nygelmiller5293 what channel have you been watching? Matt always sticks the boot in.
Haha. I'm Canadian 🇨🇦. You're climbing in the right (left) side for us N.Americans etc
How do you not crash (kidding!)
That washer bottle should have a black cap 😂. Very unusual car looks beautiful I think a nice 1.8 Turbo BAM engine would be preferable but it’s not a daily obviously so respect to it’s individuality & originality. Nice one Matt👍.
Wriong bottle - Scrap it! I dont think one of those would fit in the cabin, never mind under the bonnet!
Quite remarkable power from 2 stroke. Keep in mind the first Ford Kent 1500 made 60 HP from 1.5 litres.
Having seen a few Ford Thunderbird videos recently I reckon this car looks great!
Definitely first model T Bird or Ford Consul/Zephyr/Zodiac Mk II look about it.
As for an engine, My Granddad had a Wartburg for a while (which is apparently related being a DKW Based drivetrain), sounds very similar, we all loved it, He loved it, sounded like a motorcycle, Nan hated it and he had to get rid of it.
that is easily the prettiest car i've seen in a while ( but i may have a problem with red leather or vinyl interiors )
888 John mac WHY?
A late pal {dead pal, not late due to slowness!} owned a Wartburg Knight. I wonder if the engine in this car was licenced to them and perhaps to Saab also, or if all had their own version of two stroke triple. The sound when going along is also reminiscent of a Suzuki GT750 bike I had in 1976. The air cooled two stroke triples I owned at other times, not so much. More ring-a-ding without the water jacket.
I read somewhere, (about 50 years ago) after WW2 some auditors going through the DKW factory found the engine from an English Scott motorcycle in a storeroom, Scott was an early producer of quality twin-cylinder water-cooled two-stroke engines, the implication was that DKW had possibly used some of Scott's design features.
That is indeed a pretty car. Now, the way a 2 stroke car sounds as it proceeds along needs a name - is it perhaps fartling down the road?
🤣💨
You could eat your dinner of it, beautiful ,really great to see pre audi products in that condition 👌
Loads of RHD DKW/AU models available in South Africa, where they go for a tiny fraction of the used prices in the EU. Parts available from DKW Hesse (reasonably priced) and Audi Heritage (avoid). A trabant engine is basically the same thing with a similar stink. I can't imagine anyone can stand to tailgate it though!
The handbrake is similar to the Standard Vanguard in design but not in detail. Obviously it is opposite hand for a LHD car. The release lever on the Vanguard is forward of the hand grip, and probably easier to use, being like a bicycle brake lever in operation.
I love the smell of 2 stroke in the morning...
In full throttle the engine screams furiously, but when idling it sounds like a Trabant.
Never heard if this! Looks a bit like a Sunbeam Alpine/Tiger
LR 63. Personally, I will be awkward, and disagree about it looking like anything else at all! But I am seduced by its looks! HOWEVER, there IS certainly something similar to the Sunbeam Alpine/Tiger! The amount of space inside!
Beautiful video,
You should tighten or replace the V-belt to the oil pump, it is too loose, if it jumps down you will have engine problems, you can see at 3.36 - 4.08.
I have two 1000 SP myself.
Greetings, Oldiesschraubaer
Awesome v log looks like a mash up between Mercedes, vw & porsche what a quirky car
It looks beautiful but sounds like an approaching gang on stolen mopeds.
What a beautiful car and a fantastic review no teashelvery other than the floor!
Closest I’ve ever driven to that was Dad’s Saab 2 stroke with free wheeling hubs and column shift loved it!
Where was the scenic drive it looked familiar and coastal?
Keep up this superb content on this channel well done 👍
I had a two stroke bond mini most underrated .
I saw a black 1000SP cabrio at a show in Cranleigh about 5 or 6 years ago, so I think there's another one out there. I just checked the reg from the photo I found, and it's now a Triumph Stag, so no idea what happened there.
Maybe exported, or only imported for a short time. Theres a black one in the USA
@@furiousdriving I found reference to it in an old RegTransfers magazine actually featuring the owner of this car. Said the black one was also his car, and it is now living in Ft Lauderdale.
@@bri77uk1 ah, I knew he had a black one once, wasnt sure if it was a hard top
As DKW made the 2 stroke lumps for the Saab 93 95 and 96, the tunes are VERY familiar!
I would like to see and hear the V6 2 stroke lump you speak of, Matt. too.
The one I know of was put together for by the Rally Division of Saab for Erik Carlsson and his rally exploits as an experiment - it survives but who knows where!
Forgot to add it was dubbed 'The Monster'. Two twin stroke engines mounted alongside each other - transversely! I am assured that the example lives at the Saab Museum, Trollhattan.