The DKW F4 is a 2 door, 4 seater Sedan (automobile) / ”limousine” (saloon) / 2 door 4 seater Sedan (automobile) / “cabrio-limousine” (soft top saloon/sedan) from DKW, built from 1934 to 1935, when streamlining and independent suspension were arriving together. Under the bonnet: 692 .
How it came about
The DKW F4 Meisterklasse is a small car produced at the company’s Zwickau plant by DKW (part of the Auto Union) between 1934 and 1935. It shared its 692cc engine and front wheel drive configuration with its immediate predecessor, the DKW F2 Meisterklasse, along with its 2,610 mm (103 in) wheelbase, but the body had been restyled again, and was now more stylish, the perpendicular rear end of the F2 now replaced with a sloping rear on the mainstream body types
The engine was again a 2- cylinder 2-stroke in-line 692cc unit producing a claimed maximum output of 15 kW (20 PS) at 3,500 rpm. Power was sent to the front wheels through a three speed manual gear box which was also carried over from the previous model, the gear ratios still unchanged from the days of the DKW F1. However, the F2 Meisterklasse, during its final year of production, had acquired a lockable freewheel device incorporated within its transmission, and this feature was carried forward to the F4 Meisterklasse. The self-supporting body was again supported by a U-profile plywood subframe. Available body types were a 2 door 4 seater ”limousine” (saloon) and a 2 door 4 seater “cabrio-limousine” (soft top saloon/sedan) with a retractable top but fixed windows. In addition to its more stylish rear end, the F4 body was also distinguished by the switch to rear hinged doors for easier access and egress. Although the F4 Meisterklasse replaced the F2 Meisterklasse, the smaller engined DKW F2 Reichsklasse continued to be manufactured alongside the F4. In 1935 both models were replaced by the DKW F5 which would from its in
The hardware
Power comes from 692 . It weighs 750 kg. It shifts through 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.
Family and rivals
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the DKW F2; its successor was the DKW F5; assembly was at Zwickau, Germany. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Chevrolet Suburban, the Bugatti Type 57, the Bugatti type 49 sedan — show what else the money bought that year. Its DKW stablemates include the DKW 3=6 and the DKW CD Manzel.
What it costs now
There is no federal ownership record for the DKW F4 — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.