DKW 3=6
| DKW Sonderklasse DKW 3=6 DKW F91/F93/F94 |
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|---|---|
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| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Auto Union GmbH |
| Production | March 1953 - 1959 |
| Assembly | Düsseldorf, West Germany |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Compact / Small family car (C) |
| Body style | 2 or 4-door saloon 2-door coupé & cabriolet 3-door 'Universal' estate |
| Layout | FF layout |
| Related | IFA F9 |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | 896 cc two stroke straight-3 |
| Transmission | 3 or 4 speed manual |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 2,350 mm (93 in) (2-door) 2,450 mm (96 in) (4-door) |
| Length | 4,170 mm (164 in) 4,325 mm (170.3 in) |
| Curb weight | 870 kg (1,920 lb)- 970 kg (2,140 lb) (empty) |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | DKW F89 |
| Successor | Auto Union 1000 |
The DKW 3=6 was 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 was also named as the DKW Sonderklasse and, following the factory project number, as the DKW F91. From 1958, by which year the car’s successor was already being sold and the earlier version had therefore become, in essence, a ‘run-out’ model, it was badged more simply as the DKW 900.
Apart from complications involving its naming, the 3=6’s notable features included its two-stroke engine and front-wheel drive layout along with the sure-footed handing that resulted.
In a market segment increasingly dominated by the Volkswagen Beetle, the Auto Union contender also boasted class leading interior space, especially after the arrival of the four-door version, which featured a modestly extended wheelbase.
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 1957.
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.
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Wikipedia