Auto Union DKW Owners

[D,arcy]

    "yeah right",seriously has anyone had a look at them........

[AutoUnioNZ]

D'Arcy - no I've never seen these two in person, I'm not sure if they are still there now.  I think the yellow one could have made its way to Mapua and used as spares for a concours resto which is underway there (I have the set of yellow doors with me to use on my restoration project).  There are other cars around though - better candidates.  PM me and I could point you in the right direction.

[AutoUnioNZ]

THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF AUTO UNION AFTER WORLD WAR TWO - HOW TWO POWERFUL GROUPS EACH ATTEMPTED TO RESTART AUTO UNION - AND ONLY ONE SUCCEEDED




In previous posts I mentioned the re-establishment of the Post-War Auto Union GmbH - which occurred officially on 3 September 1949 - 10 years to the day after the start of the Second World War.

In an interesting aside - this re-establishment in Ingolstadt, almost did not happen, due to a pivotal figure in the histories of Volkswagen and Auto Union - Baron Claus-Detlof von Oertzen.  In fact, there would have been no post-war Auto Union imports into New Zealand, or Volkswagen imports, if it had not been for the instrumental visits that the Baron and his wife made to New Zealand through the 1950's.

Not only that, but Audi as we know it today would not have existed now - and in a larger sense, Volkswagen too.

The "aside" I am talking of occurred just after World War II very far from both Germany and NZ - in South Africa. This is a twist that no Audi history I've ever read mentions.... We'll read here about William Werner, who we discussed in previous post -  who after having lost his DKW F9 prototype (later sent to Australia) to the British, he then made his way to Holland, immediately post war.... the intrigues of the involvement of MI5....

Baron Claus-Detlof von Oertzen (1894 ? 1991)


To illustrate the point of how close none of the post-war Auto Union success ever came to happening at all (in the sense that two seperate, very influential parties made seperate attempts at re-establishing the company - which could have both failed)  - I've translated a German article from galimoto.co.za for you;

"Since World War II several serious attempts have been made to produce a totally South African car. One of these companies had the intention to build a Borgward factory and manufacturing facility in Johannesburg in the late fifties.

The legendary Apie le Roux, Director General of the Borgward concessionaire in Transvaal, Vanroux Motors - supported by "Mr Gold", the then Finance Minister, Nico Diederichs - had, in 1958, a company with a capital of one million pounds. Other partners in this enterprise were the politician Jan Haak and "Captain" ( "Kappie") Strydom. Carl Borgward GmbH (Bremen) helped to finance this, and the main intention of the company to construct  the very popular "Isabella" car in South Africa.

Nico Diederichs


Carl Borgward


Whilst a "marriage" of some sort could be brought about, by the time the project was swinging into action, Borgward themselves and the Vanroux Motors company were in trouble.  Apparently, the Vanroux Motors company failed to sufficiently convince the government of the necessity of tariff protection for the Isabella project. As the Borgward company was liquidated in 1961, and the Borgward operation was eventually moved to Mexico - the project fell quite flat.

                                        ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

However, the Borgward undertaking from 1960 was not the first attempt at an independent local auto industry, which could go on the international market.  Baron von Oertzen had tried to build a factory in South Africa, of the most popular model of the famous company Auto Union - it was his intention that the DKW, should be built for the African,  and world market.

DKW Meisterklasse cars from Zschopau reached the South African market in July 1933, imported by Haak's garage in Pretoria and Johannesburg. Towards the end of that year, this company also announced the arrival of other vehicles from the Auto Union Stable: the Audi, the Wanderer and the Horch. However, it was the DKW, who conquered the South African market and soon became a bestseller among smaller cars was on the local market.

The car dealer Williams Hunt also acquired the DKW Sole -Franchise and marketed the cars as "the German Volkswagen" for 245 pounds. A trade agreement between South Africa and Germany, after Germany was obliged to buy half of the South African wool harvest, meant that the car price was reduced to 197 pounds and ten shillings. The price remained at that level until the war broke out in 1939.

Baron von Oertzen was the driving force behind the Auto Union AG activity in South Africa - with their postal address as P.O. Box 586, Johannesburg - and he managed to lure the remarkable 16-cylinder racing car to South Africa, where in 1937 participated in the South African Grand Prix. The race cars were driven by Ernst von Delius and Bernd Rosemeyer on January 16. The victory of this race car presupposing an advert in the Cape Times published on Monday, January 18, in which the six liters Auto Union race car next to the standard car, the 700cc DKW passenger car was ready. The buyers were thus made aware that these products were "from the same stable".

The racing success of the Auto Union cars impressed the local public and later in 1937 was the fact that the DKW had become the best selling German car in South Africa, by a large margin. A formal road test of the passenger car also appeared in the Cape Times of July 2 of that year.



During World War II the DKW factory was destroyed. It lay in the Russian sector, the company and what on the site was left of it, was nationalized by the Russians. The DKW brand name was sold to a Swiss company that was going to make the engine parts in Switzerland, whereas the body of future DKWs would be produced in Holland at the Pluvier Motorenfabriek. The cars, which had been so popular before the war, were to be built in the (as proposed pre-war) three-cylinder version - soon also with a streamlined body, which had been developed before the war. Some prototype models with a body made of steel were built in Holland.

Baron von Oertzen returned in 1948, after a stay in China, to South Africa. He kept in touch with his former colleagues, and was informed of the Swiss-Dutch partneship which involved two of his colleagues from Zschopau, Dr. Gerhard M?ller and Dr. Wilhelm Werner, the former chief engineer at Auto Union. He invited them and their Dutch partner, Greeve, to Johannesburg in order to examine with them the possibility of moving the Swiss-Dutch operation to South Africa. Greeve, who had almost insurmountable difficulties with the entry permits for German workers into Holland was extremely happy with the idea to move production to South Africa. The new post-war (installed in 1948) South African government took on many skilled workers from Europe and was very German-friendly.

Leading South African politicians and influential business entrepreneurs, Hendrik van Eck, founder of the South African steel giant Iscor were also German-inclined and friendly.

Noel Gilfillan,  the Auto Union legal adviser before the war, in Johannesburg, acted as spokesman for the group consisting of him, the mining director, H. C. Payne, Von Oertzen, M?ller and Werner. December 1948 he began negotiations with the various government departments, with the aim to oppose pure car assembly operations and  to start a car production industry in earnest.

In a letter (29 December 1948) to the Secretary of State for Trade and Economy in Pretoria, Gilfillan presented the plans of the entrepreneurs in general terms. In the first phase, the company would build an improved version of the pre-war 2-cylinder cars, two prototypes of which had already been made in Holland. In the second phase, which would have gone into operation around 1951, the 3-cylinder model would be introduced. The preparation of the six-cylinder, four-wheel drive-2?-ton trucks, which were developed shortly before the outbreak of war, would also be considered. .

The intention of the letter to the Secretary of State was to obtain permission to transfer funds to Switzerland and to the Netherlands to buy the DKW trademark and the import of machinery and presses for car manufacturing. Baron von Oertzen was willing to spend 25,000 pounds for the purpose; then a small fortune.

The Ministry received this favourably and a meeting of the DKW-entrepreneurs and Eric Louw, the trade and industry minister, was agreed upon in March 1949. At the meeting the Minister was presented with a letter of nine pages. In that document, the government was asked to allow a certain outflow of capital as well as the entry of skilled workers and those assisting in obtaining permission to leave their country of origin. The South African Government was also asked to support the request of the contractor on the question of financial assistance through the parastatal Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). President of IDC was Hendrik van Eck, a personal friend of the Von Oertzens.

Although Gilfillan and his colleagues had not yet officially approached the IDC until June 1949 for the purpose of financial assistance, the IDC already had a list of key personnel, which would be required for starting the proposed operation in South Africa. In a letter dated July 7, 1949, the IDC asked the government, to investigate the careers (or backgrounds) of the twelve Germans involved - starting at the top with Von Oertzen - using "official channels".

This letter triggered the government machine and a flood of letters went back and forth between the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Foreign Office in Pretoria, the South African economy Attach? in Frankfurt, the Board of Trade and Industry in Pretoria and the IDC.

In a confidential letter (08/31/1949) South African consulate in Frankfurt to the Secretary of State for Trade and Economy in Pretoria, it was alleged that "it is quite difficult to obtain the required information" (about the backgrounds of the twelve persons). And the letter continued: "Apart from the fact that you wish that the matter will remain confidential (in Frankfurt it will remain confidential) however, because the local occupying powers in Germany would eventually learn the intentions of South Africa, it could the mean that serious obstacles are placed in your way. Therefore, it is hardly possible to obtain the information directly from official sources, where it is available readily. This delays the search. However, it is already some progress has been made and it is hoped that with the cooperation of the Consul it will be possible to you give an in-detail report in the near future. "

It is clear that the South African Consul had good relations with his English colleagues, because at this point the British Secret Service (MI5) came to the rescue.

After trying for months to get more information about the twelve people in the Documentation Centre of the Allied occupation forces in Berlin - where information on the time was kept 1932-1945 - the consulate secretary, Mr Smit, wrote in a confidential message to Pretoria (6 January 1950): "efforts to learn the whereabouts of the above persons by the Auto Union and other German sources were almost entirely unsuccessful. Finally, kindly helped the British Secret Service and after several months they provided the following information with the caveat that they could not vouch for the complete accuracy of the information ".

The CVs of six people, including From Oertzen, followed. Of the other six  MI5 reported that they existed, and should still be in the Russian zone. The British Secret Service also argued that they needed the full names and dates of birth of such persons to check whether they had ever been associated with National Socialism (the Nazi party) or similar institutions.

The use of MI5 came too late; Smit said in his letter that the Russians had already begun with the production of spare parts DKW in Zschopau, and that a new Auto Union company in Ingolstadt was founded, which would make commercial vehicles. Plans for the manufacture of a new generation three-cylinder DKW passenger cars in Dusseldorf at the time were already well advanced. The opposition group (to re-establish Auto Union car production), led by Dr Richard Bruhn (who had been manufacturing parts for pre-war DKW's and selling these successfully since 1945 in Ingolstadt) had obtained financial assistance from the American "Marshall Plan" and were well on their way.

The re-establishment of Auto Union at Ingolstadt


Given the re-establishment of the Auto Union in West Germany and IFA in  East Germany at Zschopau and Eisenach, the Swiss-Dutch and South African initiatives in 1950, essentially failed.

Von Oertzen turned his attention to Volkswagen without knowing that in little more than ten years, the company to which he had such close ties, should be part of the VW family.

The first Dusseldorf built DKW in South Africa was probably the car which the Swedish consul imported in Pretoria. (This car still exists and is driven regularly by its owner Johan Krige -Ed)

Johan Krige's DKW F89 - the first post war DKW in South Africa;


In March 1955 was the first major shipment of  DKW's arrived in the port of Cape Town. The cars were on display in the showroom of the car dealer Stanley Porter and sold for 700 pounds, 150 pounds more expensive than the VW Beetle.

Production of new post war DKW's at Dusseldorf







The DKW soon became a very popular car again, also in motorsport - on the racetrack and in rallies - well-proven. The South African owners of the very willing cars with the two-stroke engines regretted the change in the holder when the firm of Daimler-Benz went to Volkswagen and no other cars were imported."




Dr. Bruhn and Dr. Werner would meet once again in Auto Union business - but only when Dr. Werner rejoined Auto Union in 1956 and replaced Dr. Bruhn as the Director of Auto Union GmbH.  Dr. Bruhn was awarded West Germany's Grand Cross of Merit in 1953 for his entrepreneurial services to the nation, nine years before his death in 1964.

Today, Dr Bruhn's legacy is one of some controversy - especially due to the 2013 investigations into Audi (Auto Union) involvement in Slave labour during WWII.

Dr. Richard Bruhn - 1886-1964

[AutoUnioNZ]

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU HAVE A DKW THAT IS TOO FAR GONE TO RESTORE.......
AND A MESSERSCHMITT THAT IS BEYOND SAVING? EASY!................

YOU BUILD A FRANKENSCHMITT!



"Here's the story of the Frankenschmitt;

The Dr. Frankenstein in this instance is one Dan Gibson of Texas, who bought the car off eBay over a year ago when it was a rusting hulk of a failed project. The original idea: Take a three-wheel 1956 Messerschmitt KR200 and convert it to front-wheel-drive. The donor heart for the original mad scientist? Why a DKW 3=6 of course, the Auto Union's answer to the VW Beetle, powered by a two-stroke, three-cylinder engine.

Over the past year, Gibson has slowly chipped away at every hurdle that kept the Frankenschmitt off the road, from rust all over the body that's been stretched four feet for its new engine, to a lack of easy parts for his Germanic creation. At one point, frustrated by clutch demons, Gibson gave up and put Frankenschmitt up for sale on Craigslist, but then changed his mind.

By October, the zombie was roaring through the suburbs, a tiny car carrying an impressive amount of hard work. It also fits right in with the rest of his garage, which includes a well-restored Autocar. "

Here is a video of the Frankenschmitt actually on the move;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ie6vW8ro7s

Here is the completed product;



(Text courtesy of Jalopnik.com from 2010)

[AutoUnioNZ]

Optional extras on your Deek...

Back in the late '50's and early '60's not only could you have the chance to smoke, just like your Deek  ;



But, you could have it equipped with a large list of factory optional extras.  In addition to these, there were several aftermarket things available too;

The Factory bits were typically ordered from a catalogue like this;




Here are some of them-

SAXOMAT AUTOMATIC CLUTCH



CHROMED AUXILIARY HORN RING


HERE ARE 3 IN ONE PHOTO - REAR WINDOW SUNSHADE, REAR WINDOW LUGGAGE RACK AND AN OFFSIDE MIRROR


SNOW CHAINS


SOME MORE IN THIS PHOTO - SUN ROOF WITH DRAUGHT EXCLUDER, FRONT FENDER "TELL TALES" AND MUD FLAPS


SKI RACKS


TOW BAR


SEE THE HORN RING AGAIN - BUT CHECK THE PERIOD LUGGAGE RACK BELOW THE DASHBOARD


REVERSING LAMP (THIS HAD TO COME WITH A SWITCH ON THE GEARBOX)


BADGE BAR (THIS CAME FRONT AND REAR)


6 VOLT BOSCH SPOTLAMPS ON SPECIAL OVERRIDERS


RADIO - THIS REQUIRED A SEPARATE POWER SUPPLY, WHICH WAS MOUNTED ABOVE THE PASSENGERS FEET


ANOTHER ONE OF THE FULL-LENGTH SUNROOF


WINDSCREEN SUNSHADE AND HEADLAMP PEAKS

[AutoUnioNZ]

The DKW-Hirondelle



In 1953, Dutch racing driver and engine tuner, Henk van Zalinge built a "HVZ" based on a pre-war Alfa Romeo 6C-2300, with a self-made steel body. Very soon the old Alfa engine was replaced by a 2.5 litre Riley engine.

In 1954 he started to build his first Hirondelle, with a Porsche RSK engine in front of the Opel rear axle in a self-made chassis and with an aluminium body made by Rijnplaat. Originally the gearbox was from an MG TD, but soon this was replaced by an adapted Porsche gearbox.

The choice of the name "Hirondelle" in itself is an interesting thing...In the Saint books by Leslie Charteris, Simon Templar drove a Hirondel (of which the misspelling is actually Hirondelle). The problem that the television producers had when they started to produce the 1960's Saint TV series was that the Hirondel was a fictional car. They decided to go with a contemporary car, and had two hot new sports cars to choose from: the Volvo P1800 or the Jaguar XK-E. Volvo was happy to supply a beautiful white P1800 for the show, leaving Jaguar to regret their decision not to provide a XK-E (something they rectified in the 1970's by giving The Return of The Saint show a white XJ-S)



THE LOGO OF THE MYTHICAL HIRONDEL

Car and Driver editor, Waren Wieth remarked that the Hirondel "makes Mr. Bond's Aston Martin sound like a rental from Hertz" in his "Hymn to a Hirondel."

"The Last Hero

Some who saw the passage of the Saint that night will remember it to the end of their lives; for the Hirondel, as though recognising the hand of a master at its wheel, became almost a living thing. King of the Road its makers called it, but that night the Hirondel was more than a king: it was the incarnation and apotheosis of all cars. For the Saint drove with the devil at his shoulder, and the Hirondel took its mood from his. If this had been a superstitious age, those who saw it would have crossed themselves and sworn that it was no car at all they saw that night but a snarling silver fiend that roared through London on the wings of an unearthly wind."

                                                               ------------------------------------------------------------

So leaving the mythical cars aside - let's head back to the real things;

The second Hirondelle had a DKW engine and self-made chassis and aluminium body. This one was used for the Bl?riot race in 1959 (Henk van Zalinge & Hans Hugenholtz in Paris at Bleriot Rally 22 July 1959).

The third  Hirondelle also had a DKW engine, with an aluminium body by Vermeulen (from Haarlem). This car looked more like a Formula Junior racer. Here it is in anger;



There is a film by the Amsterdam photographer Ed van der Elsken where he drives a (normal) DKW and he visits Henk van Zalinge's workshop to get his engine tuned.









There is a short video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZTvuIHedMw

Henk van Zalinge built 14 Hirondelles, of which one was the FJ-DKW, one with the Porsche engine - most were DKW-engined.  He raced some of these cars himeself, most notably having a win at Zandvoort on 21 May 1956.

Henk van Zalinge died on 5 February 2006 at age 83.



Racing Team Holland visiting Dutch Prince Bernhard. Left to right: Rob Slotemaker , Ben Pon (son of the inventor of the VW Kombi) , Henk van Zalinge and Prince Bernhard (1964)

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"Every subsequent Audi owes the Auto Union 1000 a vast debt"

(Practical Classics magazine)

I couldn't have put it better myself.....



(CLICK FOR LARGER)

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This last weekend, our Brazilian DKW friends celebrated their annual "Blue Cloud" event at Po?os de Caldas, Minas Gerais, Brazil - this is held at the Palace Hotel em Po?os De Caldas .  The first photograph here shows the highlight of the event - the "blue cloud";

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The perfect attachment for your DKW Universal - the 1960 "Fahti" Caravan!



I'm not sure something like this would be allowed today!

If you are travelling by car and caravan, you can save a lot of space by coupling the caravan to your station wagon and use the resulting accordion part for the beds. It was a prototype made in 1960 by the German company Fahti Fahrzeugbau, which was in business from 1957 until 1969. I don't know if the prototype was ever in production, as one drawback is that you needed to remove the rear doors of the towing vehicle.

At least the end result looks somewhat cozy.

The car is a 1959/60 Auto Union F-94U 1000 Universal.  I don't think we want to entertain the inevitable "Farty Caravan" jokes.... ;-)

One joker commented "It's great, except that every time I accelerate or brake I hear an accordion play".

[AutoUnioNZ]

This story from last year, posted on "Fourtitude.com" - some of you may have read about this car before;

The 1954 DKW-Michaux Spider



"For today?s find of the day, we?re turning to Europe where one reader has alerted us to an incredibly unique 1950s era Auto Union ? DKW based sportscar we?re dubbing the Micheaux Spider. It appears to be one of a kind and is currently for sale at The Stolze Collection in the Netherlands.


For the history of the car, we first turned to the dealership that currently has it. They told us they stumbled across the car in Lorient, France and on a visit to Atelier DKW Service. There he met the car?s owner who claimed to be the second owner of the car, having bought it from the original owner. This man offered a brief history of the car.

According to the story, the original owner was the Belgian Auto Union DKW importer at the time, the Simon Michaux Garage located at 49 Rue de Hollande in Brussels. Mr. Michaux owner of the firm had this little spider created as an 18th birthday present for his daughter.


The designer of the car?s bodywork is unknown but there are some obvious inspirations. Audi Tradition noted similarities to the 1954 Lancia B24 Aurelia Spider. To our American eye, there?s a good deal of 1953 C1 Corvette, including the tail design and also the wrap-around windshield.


For mechanicals, the Michaux Spider was based on the chassis of an Auto Union DKW Sonderklasse. However, all of the car?s bodywork and also the interior were hand made. The story goes that a special engine was also installed, though details are limited. We do know that it requires a fuel mix, suggesting it is a 2 stroke.

Though given to his daughter, Simon Michaux was active in racing and soon began to use the car for road rallies.


At some point during the car?s current ownership or perhaps by the second owner, the car was examined by DKW specialist Daniel Preener who confirmed that the engine was specially made for this car. Just how it differs has not been divulged, though further repairs have been done including new brakes, bearings and seal, brake hoses, master cylinder, handbrake mechanism, carburetor overhauled, a new fuel pump and new head gasket including a new 6-volt battery. The car is said to be completely original and complete, including the convertible top with side windows.

Having never seen this car before, we reached out to Audi Tradition before putting together this story. They informed us that the car is a custom built body not by the factory and confirmed that it uses the chassis of a 1954/55 DKW F91 3=6 Sonderklasse."

[AutoUnioNZ]

DKW's great postwar Rally history

Between 1954 and 1964 DKW drivers won more than 100 championship titles, 150 overall victories, 35 team first prizes and 2,500 class victories

[brian]

Looks as though a few of them are not sure which way is up

[AutoUnioNZ]

We've spoken about some famous owners of post war DKW cars - here is another; Max Schmeling;

"Max" Schmeling (28 September 1905 ? 2 February 2005) was a German boxer who was heavyweight champion of the world between 1930 and 1932. His two fights with Joe Louis in 1936 and 1938 are amongst his most famous events.  The 1938 fight became known as "the Battle of the Century"

Max Schmeling owned a 1957 DKW 3=6 F93 Coupe, and by agreement with Auto Union - agreed to pose for this marketing photograph, with his wife, German-Czech actress, Anny Ondra;



Max was an astute businessman - and in the wisest of moves, had invested in Coca Cola, and opened his own bottling plant in the 1950's - which led him to great business success. He managed his Coca Cola business up to his death at age 99.



He was, too, a man of compassion. During the Nazi purge of Jews from Berlin, he personally saved the lives of two Jewish children by hiding them in his apartment. It was not the first time that Schmeling defied the Nazi regime's hatred for Jews. As the story goes, Hitler let it be known through the Reich Ministry of Sports that he was very displeased at Schmeling's relationship with Joe Jacobs, his Jewish fight promoter and wanted it terminated, but Schmeling refused to bow even to Hitler.

He was known as one of the most generous philanthropists in Germany. Schmeling treasured camaraderie and friendship and somehow, each of his ring opponents became his friend. He regularly and quietly gave the down-and-out Joe Louis gifts of money, and the friendship continued after death: Schmeling paid for his erstwhile rival and longtime friend Joe Louis' funeral.

[slowburn]

great post

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Selling the Munga in the USA....

In the USA, the "Munga" name was deemed too unwieldy - and the car was sold as the "Bronco".  As always, click on the picture for a larger version therof:

[AutoUnioNZ]

I have written in these pages, almost exclusively, about post-war Auto Union cars (more specifically the period 1954-64).  I have always felt this to be a particularly neglected part of Auto Union (Audi) history, and that by writing about it, I would bring some of this very interesting history about these great cars to light.

Today, however, I'm going to make a quick foray into a pre-war story - which is still ongoing - this then, is the case of an Auto Union Type C Grand Prix car that has been missing in Africa since 1937, and is still actively being searched for.



This newspaper article appeared earlier this year in South Africa in the "Wheels 24" column of a local paper;

"R100k reward offered for missing race car in SA

2016-01-20

Ferdi de Vos



Cape Town - Somewhere in South Africa an invaluable, irreplaceable piece of motor sport history ? the sixth, and probably last, Type C Auto Union Grand Prix car of 1937 ? may still be hidden away locally.

Well, that?s the rumour? and it has been going around for years.

It seems at least one man still avidly believes it is stashed away in a barn, on a farm, in a storage yard or an old garage somewhere in the country?

R100 000 reward

So convinced, he seems that he has recently taken out an ad in the local weekly paper People?s Post requesting anyone with information on the whereabouts of this exceptional vehicle to come forward.

He is even offering a reward of R100 000 for any clues that could help him find the unique, inimitable race car ? now valued at $12 million (the equivalent of R202-million)?

He?s not just anybody, though.

Have you seen this car? Send us photographs via email or via Facebook and Twitter.

A veritable expert searching

While a local attorney given as reference in the advertisement did not want to divulge any details, local veteran journalist Adrian Pheiffer confirmed he is none other than German automobile historian, vintage cars specialist and Auto Union racing history expert Martin Schroder.

Herr Schroder has since 1973 studied the history of Auto Union GP automobiles, is the co-author of a book on the subject published in 1979 and was instrumental in finding and returning a Type D Auto Union GP car from the erstwhile Soviet Union.

In 2007 he also uncovered a fake Type D that was up for auction through Christie ? which was then promptly withdrawn.

But why after all these years is he still searching for the missing Type C in South Africa?

The ?Silver Bullets? in SA

The monstrous, all-conquering Auto Union Grand Prix cars were built in Zwickau, Germany, between 1933 and 1939.

They dominated the pre-war racing era with V16 engines producing over 350kW, spinning their wheels in all gears on puny cross-ply tyres even at speeds above 160km/h.

The cars were purpose-built to battle for supremacy with rival Mercedes throughout the Thirties, and reached speeds of up to 340km/h with legendary drivers such as Achille Varzi, Hans Stuck, Tazio Nuvolari and Rosemeyer.

Weighing only 850kg the final Type D car used a 3.0-litre 60-degree V12 twin-supercharged mill to deliver nearly 350kW at 7000rpm, while the earlier Type A to Type C cars, even with bigger V16 engines, from 4.4-litre to 6.0-litre in capacity, producing up to 850Nm of torque, weighed even less.

According to Audi only five original Grand Prix cars survive today and the company owns three of them ? the most recent addition (added in 2012) a Type D twin-supercharged V12 model lost behind the Iron Curtain for decades.

The Type C, as the final evolution of the 45-degree V16 engine before being replaced by the V12, was arguably the best of all, and the version brought to South Africa.

It was legendary race promoter Brud Bishop, organiser of the pre-WW2 South African GPs, who got the racers here. He convinced Baron Klaus von Oertzen, the man who later brought Volkswagen to South Africa, that bringing out the Auto Union racers would generate a tremendous sales boost for DKW and German cars in general.

Von Oertzen eventually agreed and the team shipped out to Africa after the 1936 Grand Prix season for some friendly competition with locally piloted Alfa Romeo, Bugatti, ERA and other British cars.

They would participate in the third South African GP in East London on 1 January 1937 and the first Grosvenor GP in Cape Town on 16 January 1937 and then conclude their African tour a fortnight later in Johannesburg around the new Lord Howe circuit.

Legendary German ace

Their headline act was none other than legendary ace Bernd Rosemeyer, the newly crowned 1936 world champion after winning three races (Germany, Switzerland and Italy) as well as two non-championship Grand Prix, supported by Ernst von Delius.

Much hype and media attention surrounded the team?s arrival in December 1936 and the impressive cars were dubbed the ?silver bullets? by a local newspaper.

In keeping with his daredevil image Rosemeyer was flown from Berlin to East London by his new bride Elly Beinhorn, Germany?s most famous aviatrix, in a Messerschmitt BF-108 Taifun ?plane.

The rest of the contingent included the two C-type cars, eight mechanics, a scientist to test for coast carburetion density, a tyre specialist, a timekeeper and manager, and also spares including 500 sparkplugs, 146 tyres of various sizes and 60 wheels.

After the Grosvenor Grand Prix race at Pollsmoor, won by Von Delius with Rosemeyer second, events get murky. After inspecting the Earl Howe circuit in Johannesburg it was decided the cars were unsuitable for the track, and the team pulled out of the event.

Instead, only one car was sent to Johannesburg for a public demonstration, with the second remaining in Cape Town. It is this 1937 V16-engined Type C chassis that Schr?der believes never got back to Germany.

The paper trail stops in Cape Town and no records exist of its passage back to Zwickau."

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The 1955 Circuit of Ireland Rally

The Circuit of Ireland International Rally is an annual rally, which was first held in 1931 making it the third oldest rally in the world. The event is also a round of the Northern Ireland Rally Championship and the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship

Here is wonderful period film of Ian Scott-Watson driving his DKW out of the cargo hold of a Bristol freighter for the rally (this was not the car that Jim Clark first raced in, this car - "5 CMD", was damaged in accident on the 1955 International Scottish Rally, where it rolled);

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-32150727



Interestingly enough - Wikipedia states that the 1955 event was cancelled?  The film appears to contradict this.

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A little known story outside of Argentina ? Fangio and DKW


El Maestro ("The Master"), ? there really isn?t much more that could be said about one the greatest drivers the world has ever known - Juan Manuel Fangio.



To clear the formalities, I?ll quote from Wikipedia ? ?Juan Manuel Fangio D?ramo (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈfanχjo], Italian pronunciation: [ˈfandʒo]; 24 June 1911 ? 17 July 1995), nicknamed El Chueco ("the bowlegged one", also commonly translated as "bandy legged") or El Maestro ("The Master"), was an Argentine racing car driver. He dominated the first decade of Formula One racing, winning the World Drivers' Championship five times.
From childhood, he abandoned his studies to pursue auto mechanics. In 1938, he debuted in Turismo Carretera, competing in a Ford V8. In 1940, he competed with Chevrolet, winning the Grand Prix International Championship and devoted his time to the Argentine Turismo Carretera becoming its champion, a title he successfully defended a year later. Fangio then competed in Europe between 1947 and 1949 where he achieved further success.
He won the World Championship of Drivers five times?a record which stood for 47 years until beaten by Michael Schumacher?with four different teams (Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Maserati), a feat that has not been repeated. A member of the Formula 1 Hall of Fame, he is regarded by many as one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time and holds the highest winning percentage in Formula One ? 46.15% ? winning 24 of 52 Formula One races he entered. Fangio is the only Argentine driver to have won the Argentine Grand Prix, having won it four times in his career?the most of any driver.
After retirement, Fangio presided as the honorary president of Mercedes-Benz Argentina from 1987, a year after the inauguration of his museum, until his death in 1995. In 2011, on the centenary of his birth, Fangio was remembered around the world and various activities were held on the occasion of his birthday?.
After his retirement Fangio poured energy into his Mercedes-Benz concession - Fangio had acquired the Argentine Mercedes concession in the mid 1950?s. He was appointed President of Mercedes-Benz Argentina in 1974, and its Honorary President for Life in 1987.
His company sold Mercedes and DKW cars from the mid-1950?s on;



Below, this photograph from an article on the DKW in the Australian ?Wheels? magazine, shows Fangio?s soft spot for the DKW.



In 1965 Fangio drove a DKW special (a coupe made by shortening a four door model) at a race at the Interlagos race track, nicknamed ?Mickey Mouse? He was enamoured with the car ? but found it difficult to drive ? due to the race-tuned two stroke engine.
(Below, Fangio driving ?Mickey Mouse? in 1965 at Interlagos);



Fangio enlisted the help of a young Augusto Ulderico Cicar? (born May 25, 1937 in Polvaredas, Argentina) an Argentine inventor, engineer and aviation designer to see what could be done to improve the DKW car and modernise its powerplant.
Cicar?, of course, was (and is) a rather interesting fellow. At the age of 11, Cicar? built his first four stroke engine that he used to drive a washing machine. In this same period he converts the engine of a car for the use of propane gas instead of fuel. By age 15 he was constructing motorcycle engines. By 1964 ? he had built and flown his own helicopter (teaching himself to fly it by chaining the helicopter to the ground).
At the request of Juan Manuel Fangio, he designed and built a new four-stroke engine with V4 construction, to be installed in DKW cars, using ? toothed? belts for the first time in Argentina.
This engine was exhaustively tested by Fangio, covering more than 100,000 km, with excellent results. Later he developed, using the same block, a version for international competition, with four valves per cylinder, obtaining a similar power than the European competition engines. This project was abandoned when the DKW company closed down.
The prototype engines survive at the Juan Manuel Fangio Museum at Balcarce (San Jos? de Balcarce).

Today, at age 79 Augusto Cicar?, is still actively involved in aviation design work.

(Below, Fangio and Cicar? with the prototype DKW-Vemag V4 engine)

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The 1966 DKW-Vemag "Carcara" record car



It may not sound like much now - but speeds of over 210 km/h in a car with an engine displacement of less than 1000cc was REALLY something back in the 1960's.  Such a car made its appearance in 1966 in Brazil.  Here is its story;

The father of the Carcar? project was the editor of the magazine Quatro Rodas, Leszek Bilyk, owned by Brazilian publisher Editora Abril. He had great friendship with Jorge Lettry and was one of the instigators to build the car. In exchange for the magazine's logo appearing on the side of the record car, sponsorship was provided by Editora Abril, through the Quatro Rodas magazine.

The beautiful DKW Malzoni and the DKW-Vemag record car built in 1966 in Brazil were linked too - The two persons most closely associated with the early days of Puma are Genaro ("Rino") Malzoni and Jorge Lettry. Rino Malzoni was an Italian immigrant to Brazil who became successful as a lawyer and a sugar cane and cattle farmer. Malzoni liked racing and fast cars, and he set out to build his own racer with the help of Jorge Lettry, who headed the Vemag racing department. It was Lettry who tweaked the small DKW engines to produce upwards of 100 horsepower from 1000 cc's in the racing Malzonis. By all accounts, these cars did quite well against their larger displacement rivals.

Now followed eight months of secret work at the DKW-Vemag factory - which was already in the process of closing because the DKW-Vemag was bought by Volkswagen in 1965 and its car line, was to be discontinued in Brazil in 1967.

Eventually eight months of work culminated on that June morning in Rio-Santos, where the driver chosen to break the record, M?rio C?sar de Camargo Filho was called to step up.  Only, he refused!

He felt, apparently, the car was unsafe to drive - in part he disliked the steering wheel. Naturally, this questioned driveability of the car created friction between "Marino", who was the "Number One" Competition driver for Team Vemag and Jorge Lettry, who at the last minute, called another driver, Norman Casari, who eventually accepted the challenge, but not before having the steering wheel replaced to a large diameter wheel.



Thus it came to be that, on 29 June 1966, the DKW-Vemag "Caracara" record car recorded 212,903 km/h over the measured mile.

It was 8:30 in the morning of the 29th of June 1966, Norman Casari took over the wheel of the "Caracara". The first run was made in 16.785 seconds at an average of 214,477 km/h. Twenty minutes later, Casari returned against the wind, with a speed of 211,329 km h. The average of the two runs-212,903 km / h - was established as the first  Brazilian and Latin-American record of absolute speed for a car of engine displacement of a 1000cc.  That record remains unbroken today in South America. The world record was broken in 2012 by the Kiwi "Project '64" team, setting a record of 146.595 mph (235.922 km/h) at the SCTA Speed Week at Bonneville Salt Flats. This was subsequently increased to 254 km/h in August 2016.

As a record for a naturally aspirated vehicle - the DKW-Vemag Caracara still holds the record as the fastest naturally aspirated car in the 1000cc class in the world (to my knowledge - anybody who could correct this, please do) .

Technical Details of the "Carcar?" or "Caracara" or "Carcara" (various spellings have been used)

Single-seat, chassis truss type Formula Junior.
Motor central-rear DKW, 3 cylinder in line, two-stroke
Displacement: 1089 cm 3 .
Bore and stroke: 78 x 76 mm.
Power: 104 bhp DIN.
Torque: 13 mkgf.
Carburetion: Solex 44 PHH, double carburetor and cut double, forming three bodies.
Disc brakes on the front wheels and the rear drum.
Independent suspension on all 4 wheels, superposed arms, coil springs and hydraulic shock absorbers
aluminum body molded by hand.
Tires: Rear, Pirelli Cinturato 165-15; front, Spalla di Sicurezza 5.60-15 .

[D,arcy]

   A brilliant collection of articles which would go together as a great book. Keep up the excellent work, I,m looking
forward to more of the same. Thanks.

D,arcy