Germany: Zwickau (DKW) East Germany: Zwickau (IFA)
Body and chassis
Class
Small family car (C)
Body style
2-door saloon
2-door cabriolet
2-door sedan delivery
2-door station wagon (IFA)
2-door flatbed truck (IFA)
Layout
FF layout
Powertrain
Engine
600 / 700 cc two stroke straight-2[1]
Transmission
3-speed manual
Dimensions
Wheelbase
2,600 mm (100 in)
Length
3,900 mm (150 in) - 4,000 mm (160 in)
Curb weight
700–900 kg (1,500–2,000 lb) (empty)
Chronology
Predecessor
DKW F7
Successor
DKW F89 IFA F9
The DKW F8 is a compact front-wheel drive two-stroke engined saloon, introduced in 1939.[2] The F8 was slightly shorter than its predecessor despite having a marginally increased wheelbase.[2] The base model, known as the Reichsklasse, was manufactured only till 1940 but the Meisterklasse sedan continued in production until 1942. In addition to the saloons, cabriolet versions were offered.
The "F" in the car's name stood for "Front" which referred to its front wheel drive configuration. Although in retrospect it is almost always identified as the "F8" which distinguishes it from the "F7" which preceded it and from the "F9" which was intended to replace it, the manufacturer's publicity material from 1939 calls it simply the "DKW Front".[3]
After the war the car reappeared in 1949 as the IFA F8, from the Zwickau plant which now operated under Soviet control. The factory and operation was reorganized as a Volkseigener Betrieb (or "People Owned Enterprise") Automobilwerke Zwickau (AWZ). The F8 continued in production at Zwickau until approximately 1955: in addition to the sedan and cabriolet bodies, various additional body types available post war included a delivery van and estate variant.
^Gloor, Roger (2007). Alle Autos der 50er Jahre 1945 - 1960 [All the cars of the 1950s] (in German) (1. ed.). Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag. ISBN 978-3-613-02808-1.
^ abOdin, L.C. World in Motion 1939 - The whole of the year's automobile production. Belvedere Publishing, 2015. ASIN: B00ZLN91ZG.
The DKWF8 is a compact front-wheel drive two-stroke engined saloon, introduced in 1939. The F8 was slightly shorter than its predecessor despite having...
(1934–1935) ≈7,000 units DKW F5 (1935–1937) ≈60,000 units DKW F7 (1937–1938) ≈80,000 units DKWF8 (1939–1942) ≈50,000 units into the war. DKW F9 prototype (1939)...
model. Some 80,000 of these front-wheel drives were sold until the 1939 DKWF8 successor was released. The entry level 'Reichsklasse' saloon now shared...
The DKW F9 was the prototype of a car Auto Union intended to launch as a successor to the DKWF8. The small DKWs were among top selling small cars in Germany...
DKWs were therefore built under contract in a refurbished plant by Rheinmetall-Borsig in Düsseldorf. The F89 shared its underpinnings with the DKWF8...
the F9 derived from the DKWF8 which had been available between 1939 and 1942. The body closely followed the design of the DKW F9, a prototype with which...
Fairchild F8, a 1977 8-bit microprocessor Function key, on a computer keyboard Facebook F8, an annual conference hosted by Facebook DKWF8, compact front-wheel...
two-cylinder 700 cc two-stroke engine of the DKWF8 rated at 20 hp (22 hp after 1952). In 1955 the van received the DKW F9's three cylinder unit with 900 cc,...
East German IFA concern, which had begun building the former DKWF8 (now known as the IFA F8) in mid-1949, after several prototypes were built and displayed...
Karmann. The F 89 were based on the DKWF8 (motor) and the DKW F9 (coachwork) pre-war constructions. In March 1953, the DKW 3=6 'Sonderklasse was launched...
and VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau, which made the IFA F8 (derived from the DKWF8) and the Trabant. East Germany's status as a communist country...
in specifications to the KIM 10, and as such rejected the KdF-Wagen and DKWF8. The Opel Kadett K38 was found to match these requirements. In August 1945...
VW Beetle) and the two-stroke powered, front-wheel-drive, wooden-bodied DKWF8, built by the Auto Union Chemnitz plant in the Soviet occupation zone. The...
Automobilwerke Zwickau (AWZ) between 1955 and 1959. It succeeded the IFA F8 using the same 684 cc two-cylinder, two-stroke engine but with a completely...
was the first in a line of inexpensive light weight DKWs, from the F1 to the F8, which secured DKW's position as the country's most successful manufacturer...
event held in 1946 that had 35 finishers. It was won by Olle Landbu in a DKWF8 Meisterklasse with Per-Frederik Cederbaum second in a Willys Jeep MB and...
g.II Aleksander Mazurek Chevrolet Master Sedan g.V Wojciech Kołaczkowski DKW Meisterklasse g.I 1938 Jan Ripper Fiat 1100 (1937) g.I Stanisław Szwarcsztajn...
and Simson. IFA cars were based on pre-war DKW designs and made in the former Horch factory in Zwickau. The F8 had a two-cylinder 684 cc (41.7 cu in) engine...
While Auto Union customers were enticed to buy cars with names such as DKWF8 and BMW were inviting customers to be seduced by names such as BMW 326,...
and technical solutions employed by the Lloyd 300 and those of the prewar DKWF8 was impossible to miss. From the driver's seat, it was clear that no attempt...
Zwickau restarted assembly of the pre-war models in 1949. These DKW models were renamed to IFA F8 and IFA F9 and were similar to the West German versions. West...
Horch P 240 Cabriolet (1956) Audi Typ C (1913) Audi Zwickau (1930) DKW F7 (1938) IFA F8 (1954) Sachsenring P 240 (1958) Trabant P50 (1957–1962) Trabant 600...
of Panhard's engines, signed a deal with German manufacturer Auto Union-DKW. The 750cc three-cylinder, two-stroke engine, called "3=6", could develop...
1930s into the 1938 F8 model and the F9 that was not put into production because World War II started, 250,000 were made. By this time DKW had become the largest...
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