A generous CC reader recently sent me several Auto-Parade Annuals, from the years 1960, 1961 and 1967. I do love these trips down memory lane, as they re-awaken long dormant memories. There I was in bed last night, trying to forget about how to deal with the tricky grade elevation changes on the little house I’m designing, and what do I stumble upon? The Wartburg 311-5 Camping Limousine, with rear windows that wrap right into the roof. Very Vista Cruiser like indeed. Or even more like the 1981 Dodge Ramcharger. Fortunately, more detailed shots of the Wartburg without the distracting ladies are to be found at Wikipedia:
Holy Scenicruiser! There’s a sunroof back there too. Yes, the Wartburg Camping, which appeared in 1959, was quite the little wagon indeed, even if it was named “Limousine”.
The Wartburg was Eastern Germany’s “big car”, compared to the more common Trabant. It was a development of the pre-war DKW, whose Zwickau factury ended up behind the Iron Curtain. That means a smoky 900 cc two-stroke three-cylinder engine, to cast a blue pallor to the great outdoors. Well, East German’s opportunities to go camping were a bit restricted back in the day, so I suspect the Camping was not a high-volume item.
thanks for the books, mk!
I’ve never seen the Wartburg wagon – England only got the saloon. Don’t forget a two-stroke “three” is as smooth as a four-stroke “six”.
The next-generation saloon was much better-looking and was starting to sell quite well until the clean-air regulations caught up with it.
Didnt SAAB get their engine from this same dumpster
No, the Saab engine was of their own design. Though, they were “heavily influenced” as they say, when they designed the Saab 92. They simply took a DKW and reverse-engineered it, Chinese style. The Saab 92 is essentially a DKW with a new streamlined body. Up until the war, DKW made two cylinder two strokes, so the original Saab engine was also a two cylinder two stroke. The DKW three-cylinder was developed in 1939, so I guess it was too late for the Swedes to crib. Their three cylinder debuted in the early fifties.
There is an error in the write-up. The Eisenach factory was not DKW, it was BMW.
Thanks for pointing that out; fixed now.