Dkw · 1963–1966

DKW F102

The DKW F102 is a passenger car that was produced from August 1963 to 1966 by the German manufacturer Auto Union. Superseding the Auto Union 1000, it was the last model branded as a DKW by the manufacturer and also one of the last West German production cars equipped with a two-stroke engine, the last being the Goggomobil.

Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Predecessor: Auto Union 1000 · Successor: Audi F103

All Dkw F102 data: UK builds, safety, recalls, model years →

General

The last European built Auto Union 1000 and 1000S models were produced in July 1963 and the DKW F102 was presented as a replacement model in September 1963. The F102 was initially available as a two-door sedan from March 1964 with four door cars joining them on the production line in January 1965. While the design of its predecessor, the Auto Union 1000, essentially came from the late 1930s, the F102 was a newly designed vehicle with a unibody and - in keeping with contemporary taste - with large glass surfaces and little chrome. The new price of the two-door sedan was DM 7,200. The vehicle has a front suspension on double wishbones with torsion bars. The rigid rear axle hangs on trailing arms and is sprung by a transverse torsion bar. If the compression is uneven, the axle beam twists and acts as a stabilizer. A Panhard rod is used for lateral location. Since the axle takes up a lot of space, the fuel tank is housed behind it in the floor of the boot, whilst the spare wheel is located behind the rear seat back. Like its predecessors, the F102 was equipped with what was then a state-of-the-art two-stroke straight-three engine. The two-stroke mixture was generated by the new "fresh oil system" developed jointly with Bosch, which automatically mixes the lubricant with the gasoline from a separate oil tank in the engine compartment, which simplified refueling and reduced oil consumption. The driver could fill up with pure gasoline with no added oil. Release and problems. While the DKW Junior was still the most successful small car in West Germany at the time, customers started to find the two-stroke engine to be inconvenient and generally outdated. This led to F102 not achieving the sales figures that the company had hoped for and caused Auto Union serious economic problem

Müller-Andernach V6

The engineer Hans Müller in Andernach (1902–1968) developed a six-cylinder V-two-stroke engine in the early 1960s, which, according to his own description, worked like two three-cylinder engines on a common crankshaft and was initially planned as a boat engine with different cubic capacities up to 1.6 liters. As a car engine, it had a displacement of 1288 cc with a bore of 62.5 mm and a stroke of 70 mm. The power was specified with 80 PS (59 kW) at 3800 rpm; the maximum torque was 15.4 kilogram force-metres (151 N⋅m). For test drives with the six-cylinder engine built by Heinkel, the F102 was converted to radial tires of size 165–14; consumption was 9.5 liters of regular petrol per 100 kilometers. However, the engine was not taken into series production. It was then planned that the Bayreuth Motor Company, founded in 1966, would build it independently of Auto Union to replace the three-cylinder engine, but this turned out to be uneconomical. Probably only a few demonstration cars were built. At 83 kg, the V6 engine was hardly heavier than the standard R3 engine. The additional power of around 20 hp compared to the three-cylinder engine was hardly noticeable at top speed. A total of around 100 engines were built, which after the takeover of DKW were also installed in the DKW F12 or used as boat engines in individual cases.

Sections adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); text is shortened. Read the full article for the complete history and citations.

Specifications

name: DKW F102
Manufacturer: Auto Union GmbH
Production: 1963–1966, 53,053 produced
Assembly: Ingolstadt, West Germany
Predecessor: Auto Union 1000
Successor: Audi F103
Class: Large family car (D)
Body style: 2-door saloon, 4-door saloon
Engine: 1175 cc straight-3 , two-stroke
Transmission: 4-speed manual, all-synchromesh
Layout: FF layout
Length: 4280 mm
Width: 1618 mm
Height: 1449 mm
Kerb weight: 910 kg -, 945 kg
Wheelbase: 2499 mm

Specification summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Measured facts from Wikidata (CC0). Check the linked sources for citations.

More photos

Sources

Wikidata — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1154407CC0 1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DKW_F102CC BY-SA 4.0 · Text © Wikipedia contributors; revision 1363185426 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MHV_DKW_F102_01.jpgPublic domain · Photo: MartinHansV · retrieved 2026-10-01
Car Model Index — https://models.autoculturesociety.com/Compiled record. Sources that do not permit reuse are not copied; this index is credited instead.