DKW Crunch Time

The wait for the tie rod ends and gauges seemed interminable but they arrived on 13th April. Over the weekend I installed the gauges and on Monday dropped the car off at Auto Masters Fremantle for them to install the tie rods.

Tuesday 17th April I took the DKW to the vehicle inspection centre at Welshpool. It's first come, first served so its best to get there before they open at 7.30am. I arrived at 8 and there was already a huge queue. By about 8.30 they were turning away cars.

The Deek was inspected just before 12. The inspector was also into vintage cars - he owns a Riley - so we had an interesting discussion about Wartburgs and Messerschmitts. Who knows about the Wartburg in Perth?? I even got to walk under the car when it was on the hoist and look at the underside. It is at least free from rust but you do get a different view of the car from there. Then the inspector took it for spin around the block. I was really worried what he would say but he seemed pretty happy.

Sadly though the Deek did not pass. But all is not lost! The list of defects are pretty straightforward to fix and that is all in hand now. I'll book a re-inspection for Friday and - touch wood! - we'll be on the road in time for the Classic Car Show at Whiteman Park on Sunday 22nd. If we do make it, we'll be parked with the Special Interest Vehicle Association.

Update - the car was reinspected and passed: https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2012/05/dkw-is-licensed.html

We attended the Classic Car Show, which  was a real success. Here is a link to our photos: http://www.heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/classic-car-show-whiteman-park-2012.html

Richard's Garage

On Easter Saturday I caught up with fellow collector Richard for a bit of a chat. Richard has a fine collection of interesting German and British machinery and his handsome Durkopp Diana is often seen around town. It was a nice ride out from Fremantle and the Troll ran really smoothly.

The Durkopp and Troll. Although from different eras - the Durkopp is from the late 50s and the Troll is from the mid 60s - both share many similarities. Like all German scooters, they are much heftier than their Italian counterparts, feature foot gear-changes, fan-cooled two stroke engines and are fine cruising machines.

Like the Troll, the '58 Durkopp has easy access, pop-off panels to allow access to the 250cc engine.

I love the little dancing girl decal.

I had heard a number of rumours that there was another Leader around town and here it is. This is a later B model from 1963. It has a number of different features to my early 58 model. These include a ridge atop the headlamp, additional suspension arm on the front wheel (visible in the picture above), an 'A' embossed on the steering cover, and key-lock ignition. No expense has been spared on this restoration, which includes correct indicators, panniers and the rear bumper bar. These are all extremely hard to find parts.

Richard saved this gorgeous Golden Arrow from the scrap heap in New Zealand, picking it up for $40 many years ago. This is the first Arrow I've seen in the flesh. They are a fine looking sporty bike and it would be great to see this one out on the road.

Three two-stroke twins together. The Ariels are fine bikes but their workmanship doesn't match the precision and quality of their German equivalents.

A DKW 350S.

Germanic perfection - the Maico Taifun (Typhoon). Maico started building two-stroke motorcycles after the Second World War. They produced some extremely interesting machines, such as the Maicomobil and Maicoletta scooter and the split twin Taifun. These brilliant bikes were only built in small numbers between 1953 and 1956. In the 1960s Maico went on to specialise in the off-road bikes, competing successfully with their Japanese rivals until they finally went bankrupt in 1983.

http://berniesbikeshed.wordpress.com/maico-taifun-1956/

The Taifun was powered by a very unusual split twin two-stroke engine in either 350 to 400 ccs capacities. I'll be very interested to see this bike restored (update 2019 - the bike was sold on).


And his microcars - an NSU Prinz and Goggomobil Coupe



The Goggomobil is a Buckle built car with a fibreglass body