Photos of the Auto Union DKW F89 Meisterklasse Factory in 1951

The DKW Meisterklasse, also known as the DKW F89, was a compact front-wheel drive saloon manufactured by Auto Union 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.

Auto Union DKW F89 Meisterklasse factory in 1951

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 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-Borsig in Düsseldorf.

Here below is a set of vintage photos from Carl Guderian that shows the Auto Union DKW F89 Meisterklasse in 1951.

Engineering drafting office, 1951

Factory canteen, 1951

Assembly line rounding off wheel wells, 1951

Finishing assembly line, 1951

Fueling finished cars, 1951

Line of car bodies painted with primer, 1951

Machinist making bearing bushings, 1951

New office building, 1951

Outside of factory building, 1951

Overhead view of crane, 1951

Physical plant, 1951

Side of factory building with sedans and cabriolets, 1951

Side of factory building with sedans and cabriolets, 1951

Side of factory building with sedans and cabriolets, 1951

Side of factory building with sedans and estate conversions, 1951

Spraypainting wheel hubs, 1951

Tester checking box wrenches, 1951

Welding a car body, 1951

Worker adjusting motor speed, 1951

Detailing on finished cars, 1951