DKW does not build many cars like the DKW F2: a 2 door, 4 seater Sedan (automobile) / ”limousine” (saloon) / 2 door 4 seater Sedan (automobile) / “cabrio-limousine” (soft top saloon/sedan) with 584 , built from 1932 to 1935 when streamlining and independent suspension were arriving together.
Where it came from
The DKW F2, firstly marketed as "DKW Meisterklasse", is a front wheel drive economy car produced by Auto Union's DKW division from 1932 to 1935 at the company’s Zwickau plant. It was launched at the Berlin Motor Show in April 1932.
It shared its 584cc engine and drivetrain with its DKW F1 predecessor, but offered a longer wheelbase and a larger body. Although the DKWs offered a fully enclosed body on a relatively advanced chassis with four wheel independent suspension, they used two-stroke motorcycle derived engines, and cheap, lightweight bodies of timber, clad in artificial leather, like the F1. Known within the company and in retrospect as the DKW F2, this was the first of several successive small DKWs cars to be marketed using the name, “DKW Meisterklasse”.
Under the skin
Under the skin sits 584 . The gearbox is a 3-speed manual. The layout matters: the engine drives the front wheels, the packaging choice that gives a small car a big cabin. The wheelbase is 2610 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Where it sits in DKW's history is not in doubt: the DKW F1 came before it; the DKW F4 followed it; it was built at Zwickau, Germany. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Bugatti Type 57, the Chevrolet Suburban, the Oldsmobile Series L. Nearby in the DKW catalogue sit the DKW 3=6 and the DKW CD Manzel.
The money
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the DKW F2 has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.