DKW Classic Cars for Sale

Founded in 1916, the German car and motorcycle manufacturer DKW is best remembered as one of the four companies which merged in 1932 to form the legendary engineering consortium ‘Auto Union’, and which subsequently became the internationally respected ‘Audi’.

The Origins of DKW

DKW was created by visionary Danish engineer Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen, whose dream was to create a line of steam-driven automobiles. Rasmussen had established himself as a specialist in steam boiler fittings, having set up a small engineering works in Zschopau, Germany in 1907. As World War I raged across Europe, Rasmussen recognised the detrimental impact of widespread petrol shortages, and set to work designing steam-driven cars and trucks, including the ‘Dampf Kraft Wagen’ (or ‘steam powered carriage’) from which DKW derived its moniker.

DKW Diversifies into Motorcycle Manufacture

As the First World War drew to a close, the demand for Rasmussen’s ingenious steam-powered vehicles proved short-lived, so DKW rapidly adapted its business model to the production of more conventional vehicles. Rasmussen began to focus his expertise on the design of two-stroke engines, and DKW commenced production of a range of motorcycles.
A combination of brilliant engineering and shrewd marketing led to unprecedented demand, and by 1928, DKW’s factory had risen to become the world’s leading manufacturer of motorcycles. DKW retained this position throughout the 1930s, right up until the outbreak of the Second World War.

DKW: Racing Ahead of the Competition

In 1931, DKW spotted an opportunity which had been overlooked by many of their competitors. The company began to explore the possibilities of using the split-single engines developed by Ing Zoller to create a formidable racing team. This move proved so successful that DKW went on to dominate motorcycle racing in the lightweight classes throughout the pre-war years. Meanwhile, the automobile wing of DKW’s operation proved to be similarly innovative in car production, pioneering the use of front wheel drive with their mass-market roadster, the DKW F1.

The DKW RT 125: A Design Classic

Perhaps the most iconic of DKW’s motorcycle designs is the 'Reichs Typ 125'. Lightweight, streamlined and affordable, the RT 125 earned the unusual honour of being the most imitated bike of all time, with at least eight rival companies releasing models which owed more than a little to the innovative design. Such was the appeal of this archetypal consumer bike that DKW reissued it in various configurations time and time again between the 1930s and the 1960s, before finally calling it a day in 1966, when the German DKW factory closed its doors for the last time. Its legacy lives on in the form of Audi’s engineering prowess, and DKW's enduring influence over the industry cannot be denied.