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Re: M3 vs. Corvette -- I need help???
Scott Blazey wrote:
>Too bad we couldn't time-warp this guy back to East Germany 10 years ago
>where the waiting list for a Trabant was a year and it was every car nut
>dream to someday afford a "real car." That's right, a Wartburg (obsolete
>and very poor Fiat made under license)(and yes, "very poor" and Fiat" is
>redundant.)
Scott, i'm sorry, but the Wartburg was *not* a license built Fiat?
It is true it was East German, and a 'dream car' with a 10-year or so
waiting list. However, it has nothing to do with FIAT. The design was
developed from the IFA F-9, which was the East German version of a
pre-WW2 DKW. The Wartburg was a front-wheel-drive car, with a 3-cylinder
2-stroke engine. (The very last year it was available with a 4-stroke VW
engine?)
Not too exciting, i admit, but from a BMW perspective the history is
very interesting: The Wartburg plant was once the original BMW plant?
It was located in Eisenach, near the Bavarian border. All pre-WW2 BMW's
were built there, starting with the DIXI in the 1920's. BMW built cars
there until 1941, when mr Hitler decided he needed the plant to build
other toys. After WW2, Eisenach ended up in the Soviet Zone. In 1946, the
production of BMW cars (mainly type 321 and 327) was taken up by the
Soviet occupational forces.
In 1949, BMW AG in Munich legally became owner of the BMW logo, but the
Eisenach plant continued to use the BMW roundel. As BMW AG began to
produce 'real' BMW's in the new Munich plant in 1952 (type 501), BMW
were very annoyed that the East Germans still used the BMW logo.
After a lot of law-suits and other legal actions, the East Germans
finally gave up, and renamed the Eisenach built cars to EMW (Eisenach
Motoren Werke) in 1954.
The EMW models 327/2 (cabriolet), 327/3 (coupe) and 340 (a modified 326)
were produced until late 1955.
In 1955, the tooling from the old DKW plant in Zschopau was transferred
to Eisenach, and the production of the IFA F-9 'Wartburg' (essentially a
1939 DKW prototype) began in late 1955. (Wartburg is the name of an old
castle near the plant.) In the 1960's, when a new body design was
introduced, the IFA name was dropped, in favour of Wartburg on its own.
Today, the Eisenach plant is owned by GM/Opel, who build the Astra and
Corsa models there. It's a cruel world.....
Gunnar Elmgren
Stockholm, Sweden
BMW Club Schweden A1436
'71 1600-2 Vollcabrio
'75 2002 tii
'88 735iA (Der Panzerkreuzer, for sale by the way...)
Gunnar Elmgren
AS/400 Software Support, IBM Sweden