Description
Author: Rod Ward, Softbound, 30 Pages, ISBN: 9781854821112, - First Edition, 2015
We all know that the four rings on the modern Audi badge came from the four companies (Horch, Audi, Wanderer and DKW) which comprised the prewar Auto Union.
Two of those firms were founded by the automotive pioneer August Horch, but the driving force behind the grouping together in 1926 of the four Saxon companies as the Auto Union was a Dane, Jorgen Skafte Rasmussen, with a bit of pressure from his bankers.
Wanderer had previously employed Austrian engineer Ferdinand Porsche to design their cars, so when he conceived a new and revolutionary rear-engined racing car in the 1930s it was built by Auto Union, with the support of the
Nazi regime.
After the Second World War the Auto Union factories found themselves in the Russian zone. Some production continued there, but the marque names remained in West Germany, where Auto Union was revived in Dusseldorf. DION cars returned to production after the war, and the Audi name was revived.
Under the control of Volkswagen, then of Mercedes-Benz, and finally of Volkswagen again, the Audi brand gained in popularity until it reached a pre-eminent position in the 21st century. All of this is described in this publication, plus the story of NSU, which was combined with Audi by VW, and whose Neckarsulm plant built Audis in the 21st century.
The author owned two examples of the Audi 100LS in the 1970s (see ilustration above). The front-wheel drive layout gave cavernous boot space, a flat floor and great traction in snowy conditions. That early 100LS was superbly built, well-finished, and much faster than the MGB we owned at the same time. The second 100LS was the facelift model. It was by no means as good a car, suffering from poor build quality and extensive body rot, as Crayprd found when they converted the pretty Solair convertibles in 1973, based on the Audi 100 Coupe S. Only a handful were sold; Solairs were pricey, and rusted through before they were delivered.
Contents
04-05 Colour pages • 06-07 Auto Union, August Horch 08 Colour page • 09 Horch, the final days, Horch & Audi 10 Audi without Horch • 11 The Wanderer story 12 Rasmussen, DKW, von Oertzen • 13 DKW prewar 14-15 Auto Union racing cars • 16-17 Auto Union postwar 18-19 Audi 1960s-70s • 20-21 Audi later years, A-series 22-23 Audi A-series. TT • 24 Audi R8, Q, sports-racers 25 Colour page • 26-27 NSU • 28-29 Colour pages 30 NSU: the Wankel years • 31 Miscellany
Auto Union • 02
