The DKW F9 was the prototype of a car Auto Union intended to launch as a successor to the DKW F8.
DKW F9 prototyperear view
The small DKWs were among top selling small cars in Germany in the 1930s, and regular model updates were part of the company's strategy for maintaining commercial success in this growing market sector. With its all steel body designed by Guenther Mickwausch the F9 would have represented a significantly greater step forward than the F8 had done: it appears that the F9 was already under development in 1937, two years before launch of its F8 predecessor. Several prototypes were built during the 1939-1942 period.
A Cd factor of 0.42 was claimed for the new design and the look of the car was significantly smoother than the 1930s DKW designs.[1] For the first time, a three cylinder engine was specified, implying useful performance advantages. In other respects, DKW traditions were respected. The engine was still a two stroke unit, and the driven wheels were still the front wheels. The chassis was still of box frame construction.
Had the war not intervened it is believed that the F9 would have replaced the F8 in 1940. In the event, production of the F8 Meisterklasse was prolonged until 1942 when passenger car production at Zwickau came to an end.
However, after the war the car reappeared as the IFA F9 and was offered for sale by the Zwickau plant's new controllers between 1949 and 1956. In the west of Germany Auto Union's successor company started off with two cylinder products that in many ways owed more to the old F8 than to the F9, but with the introduction in 1953 of the DKW F91 the western business, too, offered its own development of this innovative pre-war prototype.
Audi AG is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
DKW was a German car- and motorcycle-marque. DKW was one of the four companies that formed Auto Union in 1932 and thus became an ancestor of the modern-day Audi company.
Auto Union AG, was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony. It is the immediate predecessor of Audi as it is known today.
Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longitudinal engine arrangement generally found in rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive vehicles.
Horch was a car brand manufacturer, founded in Germany by August Horch & Cie at the beginning of the 20th century.
Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau, usually abbreviated as IFA, was a conglomerate and a union of companies for vehicle construction in the former East Germany.
The DKW Schnellaster, also known as the DKW F89 L, was a van produced by DKW from 1949 to 1962. Alongside the DKW F89 passenger car, it was the first vehicle to be manufactured by the new Auto Union conglomerate in Ingolstadt following the re-establishment of the business in West Germany. The model name Schnellaster translates from German to English as Rapid Transporter.
The DKW 3=6 is a compact front-wheel drive saloon manufactured by Auto Union GmbH. The car was launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show in March 1953 and sold until 1959. It carried the name Sonderklasse on the right hand fender of all steel bodied models - this being part of the model name for this range. The first model in the range was named by factory project number, DKW F91, which was replaced by the F93 and F94 models from the 1956 model year. The F93 and F94 models were referred to by Auto Union as the "Big DKW 3=6". From 1958, by which year the car's successor, the Auto Union 1000 Coupe de Luxe, was already being sold and the earlier version had therefore become, in essence, a ‘run-out’ model, it was known more simply as the DKW 900.
The DKW Meisterklasse, also known as the DKW F89, is a compact front-wheel drive saloon manufactured by Auto Union GmbH between 1950 and 1954. It was the first passenger car to be manufactured by the new Auto Union company in West Germany following the re-establishment of the business in the west in 1949.
The IFA F9, subsequently rebadged as the EMW 309, is a compact saloon manufactured under the auspices of the Russian and East German states between 1949 or 1950 and 1956. It was initially built at Zwickau at the plant previously owned by Auto Union. In 1953 production was transferred to the EMW, former BMW manufacturing plant at Eisenach under the name EMW 309 until 1956 where its underpinnings subsequently found their way into the Wartburg 311.
The DKW F8 is a compact front-wheel drive two-stroke engined saloon, introduced in 1939. The F8 was slightly shorter than its predecessor despite having a marginally increased wheelbase. The base model, known as the Reichsklasse, was manufactured only till 1940 but the Meisterklasse sedan continued in production until 1942. In addition to the saloons, cabriolet versions were offered.
From 1931 to 1939, Daimler-Benz AG produced three cars with rear engine as well as a few prototypes. The production numbers remained quite low for each of these models, especially compared to the production of classical front-engine Mercedes cars.
Initially presented early in 1933, the Audi Front UW 220 was Europe’s first car to combine front-wheel drive with a six-cylinder engine. It remained in production for slightly under two years before being replaced by the Audi Front UW 225 featuring a larger 2.25-litre engine. The larger-engined car introduced in 1935 was built till April 1938 and continued to be listed into 1939. Between 1933 and 1938, the Front was the only Audi in volume production.
The DKW Typ P was the first motor car made by DKW. It was a light-weight design with a unit body made of wood and imitation leather. It was powered by a two stroke inline twin engine.
The Audi Type P was a small two-door sedan/saloon car introduced by Audi in 1931. It was discontinued by 1932.
The DKW F1 was a small car produced by DKW between 1931 and 1932. It was launched at the Berlin Motor Show in February 1931.
The DKW F2, firstly marketed as "DKW Meisterkasse", is a front wheel drive economy car, produced from 1932 to 1935 at the company’s Zwickau plant. DKW launched the F2 model at the Berlin Motor Show in April 1932. It shared its 584cc engine and drivetrain with its DKW F1 predecessor, but offered a longer wheelbase and a larger body.
The DKW Typ 4=8 is a small rear-wheel drive two-stroke V4 engined car produced at the company's Spandau plant by DKW. It was launched at the Berlin Motor-show in 1929 as a successor to the DKW Typ P built at the same factory, although the DKW Typ P 4=8 was significantly larger than the Typ P: in terms of market positioning a more direct successor to the DKW Type P was probably the DKW F1 produced in Zwickau from 1931.
The Adler Trumpf Junior is a small family car introduced by the Frankfurt based auto-maker Adler, early in 1934. The Adler Trumpf had by now been available for two years, and the Trumpf Junior was conceived as a similar but smaller car which would broaden the range and claim a share of a growing market which DKW were creating with their F1 model, and its successors, for small inexpensive front wheel drive cars.
The Lloyd 300 was a small car produced by the Borgward Group's Lloyd Motoren Werke GmbH in Bremen between 1950 and 1952.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
