31/1!

"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse) 01/31/2016 at 16:03 • Filed to: Wartburg, 311

2

5

Wrong kind of date for a Peugeot so let’s have a 3 series.

No, not that kind although there is a bit of shared and somewhat convoluted history.

In 1898 Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach in the eponymous Eastern German town otherwise known for JS Bach started making a car which they called the Wartburg after the nearby castle of the same name. In the 1920s BMW bought the company and established a tradition of naming Eisenach-built cars with a three digit number beginning with a 3. Twenty odd years later saw Germany and its car industry split into two and so BMW saw their eastern division lost first to the Soviet Union who continued building BMW models and later to the socialist workers’ paradise of the DDR. The latter renamed the plant as EMW which coincided with the western and capitalist BMW regaining the rights to its name, grille and logo. After just a year as EMW the factory became VEB Automobilwerk Eisenach. Needing a more modern car to make they decided to resurrect the proposed DKW F9 which became the IFA 309, thus keeping the prewar BMW naming system. This then became the Wartburg 311 which retained the DKW two stroke triple, versions of which also appeared in the Auto Union 1000 and various Saabs.

The 311 was built on a separate chassis, a feature which was becoming outdated by then but allowed the company to fit a wide variety of bodies on the same running gear - four door, three door Kombi, five door Touring, coupe, convertible and pick up. All began with 900cc engines and in 1962 rose to the dizzy heights of 992 cc.

The 311 was followed in 1966 by the 353, variations of which continued up to the collapse of VEB in 1991.

Have some 311s, noting the popularity of the typically 1950s two tone paint schemes.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Want to buy one? The four door and coupe ones go for a few thousand euro.

Want a convertible? Pay much more, like !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

. . > Cé hé sin 01/31/2016 at 18:07

0

Are you gonna do the 353 on the 35th of March? :D

Cé hé sin > . . 01/31/2016 at 18:10

0

er...nie.

Anyway I think the 311 was a rather better looking car than the boxy 353.

I’ve actually been in, not a Wartburg but the Schloss Wartburg.

. . > Cé hé sin 01/31/2016 at 18:11

0

The 311 is a genuinely beutiful car, but not one I have nostalgia associated with. That’s why it’s 353 all the way for me. :D

Cé hé sin > . . 01/31/2016 at 18:16

0

I suppose, it must be an Iron Curtain thing like grey Trabants.

Interestingly the blue 311 pickup I posted is registered in Zwickau, home of the Trabi.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Cé hé sin 02/01/2016 at 02:43

0

convertible prices are drug money.