DKW F89L Schnellaster for Sale

A very rare 1950 DKW F89L Schnellaster is up for sale in Maffra, Victoria. The Schnellaster, or "rapid delivery van", was DKW's first automobile built at their new Ingolstadt headquarters after the end of the Second World War. Production commenced in 1949 and ran almost unchanged until DKW production was wound up in 1965. This is the 1950 model featuring the original pre-war 688cc, 20 horsepower, two cylinder two stroke engine. The Schnellaster was oddly modern looking for its time and was effectively the progenitor of our modern transit van.

DKWs were always rare in Australia. This was one of fifteen vans shipped to Victoria in 1950. Ten, including this one, were purchased by Carpet Care as part of the fleet deal and were operated until 1952. They were then sold off and dispersed around regional Victoria. The van spent the rest of its active life in rural Gippsland before being abandoned. It was salvaged and fully restored by Ross Noble seven years ago and for the past few years it has been on display at the Maffra Motor Museum http://www.gippslandvehiclecollection.org.au/

Please note the colour phase is a little off on these pictures because they are from a scan from a Word doc, not JPEGs. The real colour looks much better.

Sadly Ross passed away some time ago and the van is now up for sale. It is fully restored and in excellent overall condition, although, having not been driven for some time it is in need of a tune up and general engine maintenance. Asking price is $13,000. This is an almost once in a lifetime opportunity to get your hands on a quite unique and rare vehicle.



For details, contact Brad Noble on bradnoble@bigpond.com

A brochure for the new Schnellaster with the 'big' DKW 3=6 900cc engine. What the engine may lack in size it makes up for in reliability. It will run forever.



Truth be told I'd have liked to have bought it myself (it's on my list!!!) but current circumstances prevent me. I know I'll come to regret it later...

May 2011 Update

Another DKW Schnellaster has been put on the market. This one was recently on display at the Sydney Bus Museum until it was sold in 2009. This is the 3=6 model with the bigger engine. It isn't restored however so needs a bit of work. It's posted for sale on UK ebay, although its located in Melbourne.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1958-Auto-Union-DKW-Van-/190534850675?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item2c5cc31873

There's a write up of both machines at this website too -

http://garageofawesome.com.au/rants/43-gleaned-category/47-dkw-auto-union-van.html