IFA F-9
The use of the two-stroke twin-cylinder engine from 400cc to 600
cc was well established in Germany in the 1930s. DKW was part of
the Auto Union group of companies and the DKW and Audi factories
was at that time in the town of Zwickau in the German State of
Saxony. The DKW management decided to produce a new model with a
larger two-stroke engine and to use the knowledge they had
acquired developing the smaller engines they decide to use a
three-cylinder configuration, the result was the DKW F-9 with a
900cc water-cooled two-stroke three-cylinder engine, The engine
was mounted longitudinally ahead of the front axle, with the front
wheel final drive between it and the gearbox behind, in the same
layout as used by Audi to this day. it was at the preproduction
stage in 1939, but before production could commence it was shelved
due to the demands of war material production and was first
produced after the end of the Second World War. The Auto Union
factories in the town of Zwickau was now in East Germany,
The DDR part of the Soviet Block. The work on the F-9 was
put to good use in 1950 when the first cars were produced at the
Audi factory to those designs as the IFA 9. Production was
later moved to the ex-BMW plant at Eisenach also in the DDR. Over
forty-thousand were produced before production ceased in 1956. The
Wartburg 311/312 in production from 1955 to 1966, was based on the
F-9 underpinning with a 900cc later a 992 cc engine and a stylish
new body and was made at the ex-BMW factory at Eisenach and over a
quarter of a million were made. The final Wartburg models
the 353 and Knight with the 993 cc engine were produced from
1966 to 1988 and one and a quarter million were produced. After
losing all their factories in East Germany, The Auto Union
management had re-established themselves in West Germany and by
1950 had begun car production. In 1953 they produced the F-91
Sonderklasse, based on the design of the F 9 with a 896 cc engine,
It was produced until 1959 in various body forms as the F 93, F 94
and the Monza Sports car. This was developed into the DKW Auto
Union 1000 with a 980 cc engine. The DKW Junior was
produced between 1959 to 1965 was completely new smaller car
with a 741 cc engine using the same layout . A larger version of
the Junior the F 12 had a 890 cc engine and was produced from
1963. In the twelve years of producing two-stroke triples DKW had
made over six-hundred thousand under one litre cars. From 1965
their output would have larger four-stroke engines and would be
named Audi.
DKW Junior
In the early 1950s the Saab management decided that an updated
model was required if they were make headway in international
markets. A new chassis with coil spring IFS and a torsion
beam rear axle again with coil springs was designed. To go with
the new chassis and body they wanted a new engine so designed the
first Saab three cylinder 750cc two-stroke engine being similar in
concept to the F-9, but was a totally original design in every
detail. The result was the Saab 93 produced from 1955 to 1960. The
second Saab Three the 95 had a 841cc engine also an estate
body and was made from 1959 to 1968. The last two-stroke engined
model the Saab 96 was restyled 93 with the 841 cc engine and was
in production from 1960 to 1968. Between 1956 and 1968 Saab made
over six hundred thousand three cylinder cars. The last of the
European three cylinder two-stoke engined cars was the Polish
produced FSO Syrena 104. The original Syrena had been produced
with twin-cylinder since 1960 and in 1966 an updated model that
had a three-cylinder two-stroke engine with a capacity of 843 cc
that was also later produced by FSM in Warsaw. Between then they
produced over half a million Syrena by 1983. By then the
two-stroke triple had been adopted by the Japanese motor industry.