Coys Auction
Fine Motorcars & The Jaguar Legend
Blenheim Palace
Woodstock
Oxfordshire OX20 1PX
Saturday 18th July 2009
Registration Number: M57 156 Chassis Number: 579350
In 1916, the Danish engineer Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen founded a factory in Saxony, Germany, to produce steam fittings. In the same year, he attempted to produce a steam-driven car, called the DKW. Although unsuccessful, he made a two-stroke toy engine in 1919, called Des Knaben Wunsch — "the boy’s desire”. He also put a slightly modified version of this engine into a motorcycle and called it Das Kleine Wunder — "the little marvel”. This was the real beginning of the DKW brand: by the 1930s, DKW was the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer.
In 1932, DKW merged with Audi, Horch and Wanderer, to form the Auto Union. Auto Union came under Daimler-Benz ownership in 1957, and was finally purchased by the Volkswagen Group in 1964. The last DKW car was the F102 which ceased production in 1966; after this the bra