FEATURED CARS AND MOTORCYCLES

This fun pair of rare pictures was provided courtesy of Jos Mol, our DKW Motorcycle Liason.


The top illustration is one of the many beautifully drawn advertisements for the DKW Sonderklasse of the early 1950's.  Pictured here is an F91 that was introduced in 1953.  It was a development of the F9 advanced prototype (did DKW introduce the "dream car" concept?) and used the 34 hp (25kw) 3 cylinder two stroke engine.  They were offered in a two door saloon (illustrated), a convertible and a three door estate wagon.  They had front wheel drive, a three speed transmission ( a four speed later) and a top speed of about 75 mph (120 kph).  The smooth lines of the Sonderklasse became familiar in West Germany - as did the cloud of blue smoke from the gas and oil mixture that usually followed them.
 

The bottom  photo is a rare picture of a Binder sidecar that attached to the 250 cc DKW motorcycle.  Binder sidecars were specifically fabricated for the 250 and 350 cc DKW motorcycles.  Binder made metal products and the sidecar was just one of their products.  About 800 were produced by special order of DKW.  About 30 are known to still exist.  The photo is a genuine "Werksphoto" from the '50's.  It shows two typical features... the "bonnet" that can be opened to facilitate entry into the cabin and the "radiator grill" reminiscent of the Sonderklasse cars of this era as depicted in the upper picture.  Today, such combinations represent rare cases of motorcycle history.