Wanderer (company)

Last updated
Wanderer
Industry Bicycles, Automobiles
Founded1896 by Johann Baptist Winklhofer und Richard Adolf Jaenicke
Defunct1945
Fatemerged into Auto Union (car division only)
Headquarters Saxony, Germany
Parent Auto Union   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Wanderer was a German manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles, automobiles, vans and other machinery. Established as Winklhofer & Jaenicke in 1896 by Johann Baptist Winklhofer and Richard Adolf Jaenicke, the company used the Wanderer brand name from 1911, making civilian automobiles until 1941 and military vehicles until 1945.

Contents

Wanderer was last active as a financial holding company without its own business operations and went bankrupt in July 2010. The brand was then acquired by Cologne-based manufacturer Zweirad Einkaufs Genossenschaft (ZEG). [1]

History to 1945

Wanderer W 23 Cabriolet 1938 Wanderer W23 Cabriolet 1938.jpg
Wanderer W 23 Cabriolet 1938
Wanderer W 24 1937 Wanderer W24.jpg
Wanderer W 24 1937
Wanderer W 24 1939 Wanderer W24 1939.jpg
Wanderer W 24 1939
Wanderer W25K (1936-1938) Wanderer-w25k.jpg
Wanderer W25K (1936–1938)
Wanderer W51S Wanderer W51S.JPG
Wanderer W51S
Continental typewriter from Wanderer, currently at the MEK MEK II-332.jpg
Continental typewriter from Wanderer, currently at the MEK

Winklhofer & Jaenicke was established in 1896 in Chemnitz. It built motorcycles from 1902 and automobiles from 1903. The Wanderer brand was chosen in 1911 for overseas exports and was soon adopted for domestic sales.

The first two- or three-seater models used four-cylinder 1145 cc and 1220 cc engines. The 1220 cc model lasted until 1925. The first six-cylinder model appeared in 1928. By 1926, when Wanderer introduced a successful Typ 10, the company was making 25 vehicles a day; parts were made at the old plant in Chemnitz and assembled at the 1927 built new site in Siegmar, delivered by rail right to the assembly line. Motorcycle production continued in Chemnitz alone.

During the Great Depression, in 1929, the company owner, Dresdner Bank, sold the motorcycle business to František Janeček, and in 1932 divested the rest of Wanderer. The car division with its Siegmar factory became part of Auto Union together with Horch, Audi and DKW. In this quartet, Horch was positioned as the luxury brand, DKW and Slaby-Beringer built cheap two-stroke cars, and Audi and Wanderer competed in the Middle class and Upper Middle class segments the same way GM's Buick and Oldsmobile divisions were used, technologically advanced small cars (the heaviest, 6-cylinder Wanderers reached 1.5 tons dry weight). Wanderers of the Nazi period acquired a trademark radiator design, shaped as a heraldic shield.

The next model W17 7/35 PS was propelled by a new 1692 cc OHV four-cylinder engine developed by Ferdinand Porsche. In 1933 the new Audi Front was equipped with the Wanderer W22 engine, a 1950 cc OHV six-cylinder, also a Porsche design. The top model from 1936 to 1939 was the W50, propelled by a 2257 cc six-cylinder engine. From 1937 on there were also sporting fours (W24 and W25) and another six-cylinder model of 2632 cc (W23), propelled by new Flathead engines constructed by Auto Union itself. Wanderer cars were always admired for their high quality and sporting character.

During World War II, all civilian production was replaced in 1941 with licence-built military vehicles, such as Steyr 1500A light truck. A subcamp of Flossenbürg concentration camp, KZ Siegmar-Schonau, was operated during the war to provide slave labour for the Wanderer vehicle plants. [2] From 1943 on the Auto Union Siegmar plant produced Maybach HL230 V12 engines, used in many heavy tanks of the German Wehrmacht.

The Wanderer Siegmar plant (now Chemnitz) of Auto Union was destroyed in early 1945, closing this chapter in the history of automobiles. Post-war efforts to restore East German auto industry concentrated on Auto Union facilities in Zwickau and Zschopau: Wanderer car production never recovered, with Auto Union relocating to Ingolstadt, West Germany, where the company was rebuilt based using the DKW and, ultimately, the Audi brand.

History after 1945

Following the end of World War II, a referendum on 30 June 1946 saw the expropriation of war and Nazi criminals by the occupying Soviet forces. This resulted in both the Wanderer works company and Auto Union enterprises being partially dismantled and their assets taken as reparations to the Soviet Union by 1948. This gave way to the rearrangement of state-owned enterprises (VEB):

Automobile models

TypeYearsEngine typeDisplacementEngine powerTop speed
W1 (5/12 PS) "Puppchen" 1912–1913 straight-4 1147 cc 12  PS
(8.8  kW ; 12  hp )
70 km/h
(43 mph)
W2 (5/15 PS) "Puppchen" 1913–1914straight-41222 cc15 PS
(11 kW; 15 hp)
70 km/h
(43 mph)
W3 (5/15 PS) "Puppchen" 1914–1919straight-41286 cc15 PS
(11 kW; 15 hp)
70 km/h
(43 mph)
W4 (5/15 PS) "Puppchen" 1919–1924straight-41306 cc17 PS
(13 kW; 17 hp)
78 km/h
(48 mph)
W6 (6/18 PS) 1921–1923straight-41551 cc18 PS
(13 kW; 18 hp)
80 km/h
(50 mph)
W9 (6/24 PS) 1923–1925straight-41551 cc24 PS
(18 kW; 24 hp)
85 km/h
(53 mph)
W8 (5/20 PS) “Puppchen” 1925–1926straight-41306 cc20 PS
(15 kW; 20 hp)
78 km/h
(48 mph)
W10/I (6/30 PS) 1926–1928straight-41551 cc30 PS
(22 kW; 30 hp)
85 km/h
(53 mph)
W10/II (8/40 PS) 1927–1929straight-41940 cc40 PS
(29 kW; 39 hp)
95 km/h
(59 mph)
W11 (10/50 PS) 1928–1930 straight-6 2540 cc50 PS
(37 kW; 49 hp)
90 km/h
(56 mph)
W10/IV (6/30 PS) 1930–1932straight-41563 cc30 PS
(22 kW; 30 hp)
85 km/h
(53 mph)
W11 (10/50 PS) 1930–1933straight-62540 cc50 PS
(37 kW; 49 hp)
97 km/h
(60 mph)
W14 (12/65 PS) 1931–1932straight-62970–2995 cc65 PS
(48 kW; 64 hp)
105 km/h
(65 mph)
W15 (6/30 PS) 1932straight-41563 cc30 PS
(22 kW; 30 hp)
85 km/h
(53 mph)
W17 (7/35 PS) 1932–1933straight-61690 cc35 PS
(26 kW; 35 hp)
90 km/h
(56 mph)
W20 (8/40 PS) 1932–1933straight-61950 cc40 PS
(29 kW; 39 hp)
95 km/h
(59 mph)
W21 / W235 / W35 1933–1936straight-61690 cc35 PS
(26 kW; 35 hp)
95 km/h
(59 mph)
Wanderer W23S 1937–1939straight-62651 cc62 PS
(46 kW; 61 hp)
90 km/h
(56 mph)
W22 / W240 / W40 1933–1938straight-61950 cc40 PS
(29 kW; 39 hp)
100 km/h
(62 mph)
W245 / W250 1935straight-62257 cc50 PS
(37 kW; 49 hp)
100 km/h
(62 mph) - 105 km/h
(65 mph)
W45 / W50 / Spezial W51 1936–1938straight-62257 cc55 PS
(40 kW; 54 hp)
100 km/h
(62 mph) - 105 km/h
(65 mph)
W25K 1936–1938straight-61950 cc85 PS
(63 kW; 84 hp)
145 km/h
(90 mph)
W52 1937straight-62651 cc62 PS
(46 kW; 61 hp)
115 km/h
(71 mph)
W24 1937–1940straight-41767 cc42 PS
(31 kW; 41 hp)
105 km/h
(65 mph)
W26 1937–1940straight-62651 cc62 PS
(46 kW; 61 hp)
115 km/h
(71 mph)
W23 1937–1941straight-62651 cc62 PS
(46 kW; 61 hp)
105 km/h
(65 mph)

See also

References

  1. "ZEG Zweirad-Einkaufs-Genossenschaft eG". www.zeg.de. Retrieved 2022-08-29.
  2. "Appendix F: Concentration Camps: Endlösung – The Final Solution". Christine O’Keeffe Tartan History. Tartanplace.com. Retrieved 2010-10-02.
  3. "Historisches Chemnitz". www.historisches-chemnitz.de. Retrieved 2023-08-17.