CarBrandLogos archive · DKW · 1959

DKWJunior

A small two-stroke saloon with tail fins and a very short future.

Photo: Charles01 · CC BY-SA 3.0

The story

A defining chapter in DKW history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the DKW Junior, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

The Junior was Auto Union's attempt to sell below the existing DKW range, aimed at buyers moving up from motorcycles and scooters at the end of the 1950s. It was a two-door saloon on a short wheelbase with front-wheel drive and a two-stroke three-cylinder engine — 741 cc at launch, later 796 cc and 889 cc — driving through a four-speed gearbox, with a cabriolet version alongside.

DKW Junior de Luxe 02 · No machine-readable author provided. ChiemseeMan assumed (based on copyright claims). · Public domain

DKW Junior - The name on the boot slash trunk

Design and engineering

The styling carried modest tail fins and a wraparound rear screen, borrowed from contemporary American fashion and applied at a scale that made the car look cheerful rather than pompous. A new factory at Düsseldorf was built to make it, with later assembly moving to Ingolstadt.

DKW Junior - The name on the boot slash trunk · Charles01 · CC BY-SA 3.0

In production

It sold respectably as the F11 and F12 into 1965, but its engine was already a problem: buyers were turning against two-strokes, with their oil consumption, smoke and noise. Daimler-Benz, which had bought Auto Union, sold the business to Volkswagen, and the replacement models would be four-strokes wearing a different badge.

DKW F12 BW 12-11-06 · Berthold Werner · CC BY-SA 3.0

At a glance