After the Second World War Auto-Union was forced to relocate to West Germany. After taking stock of their few remaining assets, they managed to re-register and re-capitalise the company and set up in a former aircraft factory outside Dusseldorf. It took some time to restart production but by 1950 DKW released its first post-war car, the F89, which combined the old pre-war F8 chassis and engine and the new F9 prototype body.
The design team at work
Manufacturing a test body from a wooden buck (mould).
Handwelding the bodywork
Bodies in primer
Painting wheel rims in the paint shop - still very much a manual task.
The painted bodies drying
Fitting the chassis
Dropping the bodies onto the chassis. Interestingly we see here two versions of the car being manufactured. The hanging body in the foreground is the new model with a full wrap around windscreen. To the left are the older, split windscreen versions. This suggests the photo was taken around 1953.
Another view of the body being fitted to the chassis
Fitting out the finished cars. These are single windscreen models.
Checking the engine and fueling up
Inspecting the cars ready for the road.
Completed cars in the car park
Photos from the Karman factory. Due to capacity issues, DKW outsourced manufacturer of the cabriolet version of the F89 to Karman Karosseriewerkes until 1953.
A 1953 German review of the new F89
