DKW does not build many cars like the DKW F8: a 2-door sedan (automobile) / saloon / 2-door cabriolet (automobile) / cabriolet / 2-door sedan delivery / 2-door station wagon (IFA) / 2-door flatbed truck (IFA) with 589, built from 1939 to 1955 when streamlining and independent suspension were arriving together.
The story
The DKW F8 is a compact front-wheel drive two-stroke engined saloon, introduced in 1939. The F8 was slightly shorter than its predecessor despite having a marginally increased wheelbase. The base model, known as the Reichsklasse ("National Class"), was manufactured only until 1940, but the Meisterklasse sedan continued in production until 1942. In addition to the saloons, cabriolet versions were offered.
The "F" in the car's name stood for "Front" which referred to its front wheel drive configuration. Although in retrospect it is almost always identified as the "F8" which distinguishes it from the "F7" which preceded it and from the "F9" which was intended to replace it, the manufacturer's publicity material from 1939 calls it simply the "DKW Front". After the war the car reappeared in 1949 as the IFA F8, from the Zwickau plant which now operated under Soviet control. The factory and operation was reorganized as a Volkseigener Betrieb (or "People Owned Enterprise") Automobilwerke Zwickau (AWZ). The F8 continued in production at Zwickau until approximately 1955: in addition to the sedan and cabriolet bodies, various additional body types available post war included a panel van and an estate variant.
What is underneath
Under the skin sits 589; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Kerb weight is 700 -. 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 2600 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
Where it sits in DKW's history is not in doubt: the DKW F7 came before it; the DKW F89 / IFA F9 followed it; it was built at Zwickau. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Lincoln Continental, the Volkswagen Beetle, the Chrysler Saratoga. 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 F8 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.