Solved: Wendax 895 - DKW F8 racing car with IFA F9 styling elements

[Wendax]

A nice car that shouldn't puzzle you for long.

For one point, please identify this car by telling its base as well as the year it was built.

[Wendax]

No Rookie wanted this point.

[ropat53]

Wendler BMW

[Wendax]

Not Wendler, not BMW

[D-type]

Any Jaguar connection?

[Wendax]

None

[spider]

French ?

[Wendax]

No

[targhediferro]

IFA?

[ropat53]

Adler by Spohn

[kwgibbs]

allard?

[D-type]

German?

[Wendax]

IFA?

Yes and no. The builder certainly either used IFA parts or was inspired by the IFA design, but the base car is not an IFA.

Adler by Spohn

Neither Adler nor Spohn involved

allard?

Not an Allard, because...

German?

... it is German.

[ropat53]

Hanomag 1.3 litre by Ambi Budd

[Wendax]

Not Hanomag-based, and I don't know the coachbuilder (if there was any known one involved).

[ropat53]

Hansa - Borgward

[Wendax]

Neither Hansa nor Borgward

[ropat53]

Wanderer

[Wendax]

No, but coming closer again

[targhediferro]

DKW based?

[Wendax]

Yes, which one?

[4popoid]

The grille, and other parts, resemble an IFA F9 ('49-'56), but the wheels say DKW F8 ('39-'42), and the style is early to mid fifties.  I will guess that this car was built postwar on a prewar base, and say:  DKW F8 base with as shown car construction about 1953/'54.

[Wendax]

Yes, that is about as close as we can get. It is based on a DKW F8 with a postwar body. According to a newspaper article it should be based on a 1938 F8 chassis what is rather improbable as only 17 F8 pre-series chassis were built in that year. The body itself is supposed to be from 1950. I have my doubts about that date, too, as the IFA F9 production just started in October of 1950. Nevertheless a very nice car.

[Wendax]

In a nice setting:

[Wendax]

The chassis has been changed to a postwar IFA F8 during its restoration. It was up for auction recently. The auction house says that it was originally a 1939 frame and that the body wass made in the 1950s, just as I laid out before. You better not trust the vehicle identification bolted to the car during its recreation. It says that it is a "Audi-Zwickau-DKW Typ DKW F8" from 1938. The chassis number doesn't fit in the prewar DKW number pattern, but is probably the postwar IFA number.