The DKW Junior is a 2-door saloon / 2-door cabriolet from DKW, built from 1959 to 1965, at the height of the post-war boom. Under the bonnet: 741 .
Where it came from
The DKW Junior is a small front wheel drive saloon manufactured by Auto Union AG. (DKW was founded 1916 by Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen, a Danish engineer in Germany. DKW originally stood for "Dampf-Kraft-Wagen", which is German for "steam-powered vehicle". In 1932, DKW merged with Audi, Horch, and Wanderer to form Auto Union AG and DKW became the small car and motorcycle brand within the group.) The car received a positive reaction when first exhibited, initially badged as the DKW 600, at the Frankfurt Motor Show in March 1957. The ‘Junior’ name was given to the (by now) DKW 750 in 1959 when the car went into volume production, but failed to survive an upgrade in January 1963, after which the car was known as the DKW F12.
In addition to the saloon, a pretty ‘F12 Roadster’ (cabriolet version) was produced in limited numbers. The car was known for its two-stroke engine. A number of European auto-makers produced two-stroke powered cars in the 1950s, but by the time the DKW Junior came along, the market was beginning to resist two-stroke powered cars as the industry increasingly standardised on four-stroke four-cylinder units which accordingly were becoming cheaper to produce. Two-stroke-engined cars were perceived by some as rough and noisy by comparison. In terms of its size and pricing, the DKW Junior slotted into the range just below the Auto Union 1000, which itself underwent an upgrade and a name change (from DKW to Auto Union) in 1957. The Junior was therefore from its introduction until August 1963 the only DKW branded car.
Under the skin
Power comes from 741 other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It weighs 700 -. It shifts through a 4-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 2175 mm Junior / 2250 mm F11/F12. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Trabant P 50; its successor was the NSU Typ 110; assembly was at Düsseldorf, West Germany. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Mini Mini, the Dodge Challenger, the Nissan Patrol — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the DKW catalogue sit the DKW 3=6 and the DKW CD Manzel.
What it costs now
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the DKW Junior 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.