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DKW 3=6
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DKW 3=6
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 ("Special Class") 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" (Großer 3=6). By 1958 the car's successor, the Auto Union 1000 Coupe de Luxe, was being sold and the older car had become, in essence, a ‘run-out’ model; it was known more simply (in the USA and the Netherlands only) as the DKW 900.
The 3=6's notable features included its 896cc two-stroke engine and front-wheel drive layout, along with the sure-footed handling that resulted.
The DKW 3=6 in due course replaced the DKW F89 / Meisterklasse, although the Meisterklasse remained in production until April 1954. In its turn, the 3=6 was succeeded by the more powerful Auto Union 1000, offered already from late 1957 for the 1958 model year.
In recognition of the model's significance, Audi Tradition maintains a 1954 DKW 3=6 Sonderklasse in their fleet, and this is occasionally brought out on historical motoring events.
The DKW 3=6 also enjoyed several famous owners, like the celebrated aviator Elly Beinhorn (who named her 3=6 "Alwine VII"), German boxing legend Max Schmeling (twice heavyweight World Champion) and film star Anita Ekberg (star of La Dolce Vita (1960)).
DKW was one of four companies that had come together in 1932 to form the Auto Union based in Zwickau. The company was effectively refounded in West Germany in 1949, following the loss to the Soviets of its Zwickau assets. Three of the four businesses that had constituted Auto Union before the war seemed unlikely ever to reappear on either side of the Iron Curtain, but starting in 1949 the DKW name was used for the F89 assembled by Auto Union in the west: this was the model replaced by the 3=6.
It was perhaps in recognition that any perceived marketing advantages available from the unconventional namings had been exhausted, that from 1958 the car was sold simply as the DKW 900 (in the USA only), the name being now conventionally based on the car's approximate engine displacement. The successor model, already in production in 1957, also benefited from this less challenging nomenclature.
The F91 was presented as a two-door saloon with front opening doors which presumably facilitated access. A ‘pillarless’ Coupe version, first seen in 1953, was produced from 1954, as well as a Cabriolet, bodied by Osnabrück coach builders Karmann. In addition there was a three-door estate version, called the ‘Universal’, which continued to be offered unchanged until 1956.
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DKW 3=6
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 ("Special Class") 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" (Großer 3=6). By 1958 the car's successor, the Auto Union 1000 Coupe de Luxe, was being sold and the older car had become, in essence, a ‘run-out’ model; it was known more simply (in the USA and the Netherlands only) as the DKW 900.
The 3=6's notable features included its 896cc two-stroke engine and front-wheel drive layout, along with the sure-footed handling that resulted.
The DKW 3=6 in due course replaced the DKW F89 / Meisterklasse, although the Meisterklasse remained in production until April 1954. In its turn, the 3=6 was succeeded by the more powerful Auto Union 1000, offered already from late 1957 for the 1958 model year.
In recognition of the model's significance, Audi Tradition maintains a 1954 DKW 3=6 Sonderklasse in their fleet, and this is occasionally brought out on historical motoring events.
The DKW 3=6 also enjoyed several famous owners, like the celebrated aviator Elly Beinhorn (who named her 3=6 "Alwine VII"), German boxing legend Max Schmeling (twice heavyweight World Champion) and film star Anita Ekberg (star of La Dolce Vita (1960)).
DKW was one of four companies that had come together in 1932 to form the Auto Union based in Zwickau. The company was effectively refounded in West Germany in 1949, following the loss to the Soviets of its Zwickau assets. Three of the four businesses that had constituted Auto Union before the war seemed unlikely ever to reappear on either side of the Iron Curtain, but starting in 1949 the DKW name was used for the F89 assembled by Auto Union in the west: this was the model replaced by the 3=6.
It was perhaps in recognition that any perceived marketing advantages available from the unconventional namings had been exhausted, that from 1958 the car was sold simply as the DKW 900 (in the USA only), the name being now conventionally based on the car's approximate engine displacement. The successor model, already in production in 1957, also benefited from this less challenging nomenclature.
The F91 was presented as a two-door saloon with front opening doors which presumably facilitated access. A ‘pillarless’ Coupe version, first seen in 1953, was produced from 1954, as well as a Cabriolet, bodied by Osnabrück coach builders Karmann. In addition there was a three-door estate version, called the ‘Universal’, which continued to be offered unchanged until 1956.
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