View source for DKW F89

{{More citations needed|date=February 2018}}{{Infobox automobile
| image = File:DKW F89 (museum mobile 2013-09-03).JPG
| caption = DKW F89 2-door saloon
| name = DKW Meisterklasse<br>DKW F89
| manufacturer = [[Auto Union|Auto Union GmbH]]
| production = 1950–April 1954
| predecessor = [[DKW F8]]
| successor = [[DKW F91]]
| class = [[Compact car|Compact]] / [[Small family car]] ([[C-segment|C]])
| body_style = 2-door [[sedan (car)|saloon]]<br> 3-door [[Station wagon|’Universal’ Estate]]<br> 2-door [[Cabriolet (automobile)|cabriolet]]
| engine = 684&nbsp;cc [[two-stroke]] [[Straight-twin engine|straight-2]]<ref name=AlleAutosder50er>{{cite book |last=Gloor |first=Roger |title=Alle Autos der 50er Jahre 1945 - 1960|edition=1.|year=2007 |publisher=Motorbuch Verlag |location=Stuttgart |isbn=978-3-613-02808-1}}</ref>
| layout = [[FF layout]]
| transmission = 3- or (from 1953) 4-speed manual
| length = {{convert|4200|mm|in|abbr=on}}<br> saloon
| width =
| weight = {{convert|860|kg|lb|abbr=on}}- {{convert|900|kg|lb|abbr=on}} (empty)
| wheelbase = {{convert|2350|mm|in|abbr=on}} (2-door)<br> {{convert|2450|mm|in|abbr=on}} (Estate)
| track =
| related = [[DKW van|DKW-Schnelllaster]]<br>[[IFA F9]]
| designer =
| assembly = [[Düsseldorf]], [[West Germany]]
}}
[[File:IFA F9 front 20040924.jpg|200px|thumb|right|While Auto Union built the F89 in [[West Germany]], the [[Zwickau]] plant that had passed to the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]]-controlled [[East Germany|GDR]] was producing the [[IFA F9]]. 30,000 or More IFA F9s had been produced initially at Zwickau and subsequently at Eisenach by 1956. Both western and eastern cars were closely based on the DKW F9 prototype first exhibited in 1939.]]
The '''DKW Meisterklasse''' (English: "Master Class"), also known as the '''DKW F89''', is a [[compact car|compact]] [[front-wheel drive]] [[automobile|saloon]] manufactured by ''[[Auto Union]] [[Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung|GmbH]]'' between 1950 and 1954. It was the first passenger car to be manufactured by the new Auto Union company in West Germany following the re-establishment of the business in the west in 1949.
==The Factory==
Apart from the former DKW factory at Berlin-Spandau, the Auto Union’s manufacturing plants had been located in [[Saxony]] at [[Zwickau]], [[Chemnitz]] and [[Zschopau]] when [[Second World War|war]] had put an end to passenger vehicle production in 1942. After the war the company was no longer able to access its production facilities in the [[Soviet occupation zone]]. The first post war DKWs were therefore built under contract in a refurbished plant by [[Rheinmetall|Rheinmetall-Borsig]] in [[Düsseldorf]].
==The Origins==
The F89 shared its underpinnings with the [[DKW F8|DKW F8 / 'Meisterklasse']] which had been available between 1939 and 1942, but the F89 has a steel body based on that of the [[DKW F9]], a prototype which would have directly replaced the F8 on the Zwickau production lines had the war not intervened. Although many of the machine tools at that plant were crated up and shipped to the [[Soviet Union]] in 1945, Zwickau’s new controllers also built their own version of the DKW F9 prototype, and indeed the eastern version was put into production as the [[IFA F9]], probably shortly before the Düsseldorf built F89.
The F89 was not the first vehicle built by Auto Union after the war. That honor goes to the [[DKW Schnellaster|DKW F89 L “Schnelllaster”]], ''Rapid Transporter'' in English, a curiously modern light van built on the same chassis and using the same engine / transmission package, introduced in 1949.
==The Body ==
The form of the saloon’s body closely followed that of the prewar [[DKW F9]]. However, extensive ‘streamlining’ had been applied to the earlier design, and impressive claims were made for the F89’s lowered wind resistance.
In 1951 a two-seater hardtop coupe version, built by coach builders [[Hebmüller]] of [[Wuppertal]] became available, and the range was completed in October 1951 with the addition of a three-door estate version, employing a body conversion that made extensive use of timber, which was replaced in March 1953 by an all-steel body. The F89 estate, like its steel bodied, successors, was branded as the ‘Universal’.
[[File:DKW F89 Universal Meisterklasse Heck 1951.jpg|250px|thumb|left|The estate conversion, offered from late 1951, made extensive use of timber.]]
{{clear}}
==Technical==
The F89 featured a two-cylinder [[two-stroke]] engine of 684&nbsp;cc with a stated output, at launch, of 23&nbsp;bhp. A maximum speed of 100&nbsp;km/h (62&nbsp;mph) was claimed for the saloon (95&nbsp;km/h / 59&nbsp;mph for the 'Universal' estate). The engine was water-cooled, but there was no water pump. Cooling was by a convection-based  [[thermosiphon]] system. The front wheels were connected to the engine by means of a three-speed manual gear box controlled via a dash-board mounted ''Krückstockschaltung'' lever similar to that familiar to later generations from its application in the [[Citroën 2CV]] and [[Renault 4]]. Towards the end of the production run a four-speed manual box was offered on the Meisterklasse.
==Data==
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Technical data DKW F89 / Meisterklasse  <ref name=DeAutos45bis90Oswald>{{cite book |last=Oswald |first=Werner |title= Deutsche Autos 1945-1990, Band 4|edition=1.|year=2001 |publisher=Motorbuch Verlag |location=Stuttgart |isbn=3-613-02131-5}}</ref> ''(Manufacturer's figures except where stated)''
|-
! width="18%"|
! width="21%"|F89 2-door saloon
! width="21%"|F89 3-door estate
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
| Produced:&nbsp; || align="center" |1950–1954 || align="center" |1953 -
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
| Engine:&nbsp; || colspan="6" align="center" |[[Straight-twin engine|2-cylinder-inline engine]] ([[two-stroke]]), transversely front-mounted
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
| Bore x Stroke:&nbsp; || colspan="2" align="center" |76&nbsp;mm x 76&nbsp;mm
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
| Displacement:&nbsp; || colspan="2" align="center" |684&nbsp;cc
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
| Max. Power @ rpm:&nbsp; || colspan="2" align="center" |{{Convert|23|hp|kW|0|abbr=on}} @ 4500
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
| Cooling:&nbsp; || colspan="2" align="center" |  Water cooling ‘Thermosyphon’ gravity powered
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
| Fuel feed:&nbsp; || colspan="2" align="center" |  single Solex carburetor
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
| Transmission:&nbsp; || colspan="2" align="center" |  3-speed manual driving front wheels: 4-speed optional after 1953. Facia mounted control lever
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
| Body structure:&nbsp; ||colspan="2" align="center" | Separate steel body on box-frame chassis
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
| Wheelbase:&nbsp; || align="center" | {{convert|2350|mm|in||abbr=on}} || align="center" |{{convert|2450|mm|in||abbr=on}}
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
| Track front/<br>rear:&nbsp; || align="center" |{{convert|1190|mm|in||abbr=on}} {{convert|1250|mm|in||abbr=on}} || align="center" |{{convert|1190|mm|in||abbr=on}} {{convert|1250|mm|in||abbr=on}}
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
| Length:&nbsp; || align="center" | {{convert|4200|mm|in||abbr=on}} || align="center" |{{convert|4055|mm|in||abbr=on}}
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
| Width:&nbsp; || align="center" | {{convert|1600|mm|in||abbr=on}} || align="center" |{{convert|1520|mm|in||abbr=on}}
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
| Height:&nbsp; || align="center" | {{convert|1450|mm|in||abbr=on}} || align="center" |{{convert|1555|mm|in||abbr=on}}
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
| Dry weight:&nbsp; || align="center" |{{convert|860|kg|lb||abbr=on}}|| align="center" |{{convert|900|kg|lb||abbr=on}}
|- style="background:#EEEEEE;"
| Tyre/Tire sizes:&nbsp; || colspan="2" align="center" | 5.50–16“ 1950–1953<br>5.60–15“ 1953–1954
|}
==See also==
*[[DKW Schnellaster]]
==Sources and further reading==
{{reflist}}
{{commons category}}
{{Auto Union (Europe) timeline 1950-1968}}
[[Category:DKW vehicles|F89]]
[[Category:Compact cars]]
[[Category:Front-wheel-drive vehicles]]
[[Category:Cars introduced in 1950]]