The most spectacular event for Audi Tradition in 2004 is about to take place: three Wanderer Streamline Special sports cars will participate in the Liège-Rome-Liège long-distance run from June 20 to 26, 2004. 65 years have passed since Auto Union won the team event in 1939. These three marvellous cars are authentic replicas. Audi Tradition has owned two of the streamlined roadsters since the autumn of 2003; one of these precious silver vehicles belongs to Belgian Audi importer D’Ieteren.
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| 1938 Auto Union Wanderer Streamline |
The three legendary sports cars will be driven through the Ardennes, the Vosges and Jura mountains, the Alps, the Aosta valley and Tuscany during the six days of the event and will travel a total distance of approx. 2,000 kilometres. The race will start in Liège/Spa (B), and prizes will be awarded to the winners of the daily stages in Vittel (F), Aix-les-Bains (F), Isola 2000 (F), Viareggio (I), Grosseto (I) and Rome (I). The 2,802-metre Col de la Bonette mountain pass is definitely one of the climaxes of the race. This will be a maiden run with spectators and genuine competition!
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| 1938 Auto Union Wanderer Streamline |
“This international constant-speed rally is a real challenge for these sports cars; it won’t be all that easy to make it to the end of this difficult route. Our goal is to use our historic cars mainly where they formerly appeared in races,” explains Thomas Frank, Head of Audi Tradition.
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| 1938 Auto Union Wanderer Streamline |
Shortly after it was held for the first time in 1931, the Liège-Rome-Liège long-distance trial had acquired a reputation as “the most difficult international non-stop long-distance reliability run”. Stopping was only allowed for re-fuelling in this event, which has also been praised as the “Queen of the rallies”. The driving teams, who had to average at least 50 kilometres per hour on the roads at the time, sat at the wheel non-stop for more than 100 hours during the crossing of the Ardennes, the Alps, the Appenines and back. In 1939, all three of Auto Union’s Wanderer Streamline Special cars reached the finish: The driver combinations Momberger/Weidauer and Müller/Menz both had the same number of points and took fourth place, the Trägner/Fritzsching team was twelfth. Auto Union thus won the important team prize for factory entries – the “Coupe des Constructeurs”. In 1938, however, Auto Union had bad luck: The leading Krämer/Münzert team had to give up only 30 kilometres before reaching the finishing line due to a minor camshaft defect.
The Wanderer Streamline Special sports car is 4.35 metres long, 1.65 metres wide and 1.28 metres high. An aluminium-bodied roadster, it weighs just 900 kilogrammes and has a top speed of 160 km/h and a power output of 70 bhp (at 4,800 rpm). The six-cylinder engine has three carburettors and a capacity of two litres, and was designed by Ferdinand Porsche, who developed a new generation of engines for the Wanderer brand in the early 1930s. Building up the cars was a big challenge for restorer Werner Zinke of Zwönitz, Saxony. Says Zinke, “I had no reliable data except the wheelbase and track measurements. I got most of the information I needed from historic pictures.” After a wire grid model, a wood model was built on the basis of computer calculations. The sheet metal was beaten manually on leather sacks and smoothed with the “English roll”. The work took two years to complete.
The name “Wanderer” dates back to 1896, when its fame was associated with the bicycles built by Winklhofer & Jaenicke, a company founded in 1885 in Chemnitz. Production of motorcycles commenced in 1902, and the first trial production of motor cars took place in 1904.
1885 Wanderer logo. (source: Audi)
A small car under the name of “Puppchen” went into series production in 1913, and proved very popular. No higher-performance successor appeared until 1926, when the Wanderer Type W 10 with 1.5 litre engine and developing 30 hp made its debut. This car incorporated all the latest developments in the world of automotive engineering, such as left-hand drive and a central gear lever, a multiple dry-plate clutch, a unitary engine block and gearbox, and a four-wheel brake system. This car met with an excellent market reception.
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| Auto Union – Wanderer |
To cope with the overwhelming demand, a new production plant was built in the Chemnitz suburb of Siegmar. Parts continued to be produced at the existing factory, and were then transferred to the other plant by rail. Individual parts and assemblies were unloaded directly from the rail wagons onto the assembly line: just-in-time methods at the end of the 1920s!
The buffer store in Siegmar had capacity for parts for only 25 cars — as many as could be built in a single day.
Wanderer’s marque image was characterized by its extremely reliable cars and by their outstanding manufactured quality. Such excellence had its price, however, and at the end of the 1920s Wanderer attempted to stem the looming crisis with more modern body designs and higher-performance engines. Despite these innovations, production figures slumped. Wanderer’s car production operations fell into the red. The entire motorcycles division had already been sold off to NSU and the Czech company Janecek. This prompted Dresdner Bank, Wanderer’s largest shareholder, to promote plans to sell off the automotive division and to expand the profitable machine tools and office machinery operations.
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| Auto Union – Wanderer |
Dates in the history of Wanderer.
1885.
On February 26, establishment of “Chemnitzer-Velociped-Depot Winklhofer & Jaenicke”
1887.
On January 4, adoption of the WANDERER name for the company’s bicycles
1896.
Change of company name to WANDERER Fahrradwerke AG, formerly Winklhofer & Jaenicke, Schönau/Chemnitz, on May 5
1900.
Start of machine tool production
1902.
Start of motorcycle production
1904.
Start of typewriter production (“Continental” brand)
1905.
First experiments in automobile design
1908.
From January 15 on: WANDERER Werke, formerly Winklhofer & Jaenicke AG; capital: 1.6 million Marks, increased in 1915 to 5.25 million Marks
1913.
Start of WANDERER automobile production
1918.
By this year, well over 10,000 motorcycles and over 2,000 automobiles had been built.
The price of the 1.5 hp motorcycle was some 750 Marks; the WANDERER Puppchen automobile cost 4,000 Marks
1926.
The Wanderer W 10 with a 30 hp, four-cylinder engine appeared on the market. This model was available in various versions until 1932
1927.
Wanderer’s car production operations were moved from the main plant in Chemnitz-Schönau to a newly erected plant in the Chemnitz suburb of Siegmar
1928.
The new Wanderer six-cylinder Type W 11 extended the model range upwards
1929.
Wanderer motorcycle production wound down. The production facilities were sold off to NSU and the Czech company Janacek. Establishment of the JAWA company (Janacek/Wanderer) in Prague
1931.
Ferdinand Porsche developed a modern generation of six-cylinder engines for Wanderer Werke AG
1932.
Wanderer Werke AG sold off its car division to Auto Union AG. The machine tool, office machinery and bicycle production divisions remained within Wanderer Werke AG
(source: Audi AG).
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