Jalopnik: Auto Union

Tazio Nuvolari, deer hunter with Silver Arrow

Peter Orosz — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:00:00 EST

Hunting game and racing cars are generally pursued as separate pastimes, but not by Tazio Nuvolari at the 1938 Donington Grand Prix, where, as evidenced by a severed head, he did both with great aplomb. More »

The forgotten Audi supercar that was never built

Mike Spinelli — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST

Auto Union's Grand Prix racecars of the 1930s were the greatest the world had ever seen. But few know the story of the road car that shared all the motorsports tech with those spectacular racecars. It was called the "Type 52," and it almost became the world's first modern supercar. More »

Budapest’s secret Grand Prix street circuit

Peter Orosz — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:00:00 EDT

This Sunday will mark the 75th anniversary of the Hungarian Grand Prix, an event held since…1986. Fifty years before Formula One came to the Hungaroring, there was a Grand Prix race in downtown Budapest with 100,000 people in attendance. The Silver Arrows came. Scuderia Ferrari came. Three-quarters of a century later, we took a walk around Népliget Circuit’s beautiful, abandoned curves. More »

Ken Block explains hooning to Hans Stuck

Matt Hardigree — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:00:00 EDT

So there's Hans Stuck, sitting in his dad's Auto Union grand prix car, and all he wants to know is "What is hooning?" There's no one better to explain it than Ken Block, who gives an accurate description and then asks Stuck to do a donut in the car. More »

All Silver Arrows, all the time

Peter Orosz — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 16:30:00 EDT

If you like your race cars silver, wicked and German, Motorhome is a tumblr you should check out: nothing but photos of Silver Arrows, like this Auto Union A-Type, page after page after page. More »

Silver Arrows In Flight

Justin Hyde — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 09:00:00 EST

Formula 1 racers Jacky Ickx and Hans-Joachim Stuck took to the streets of Monaco last May in Auto Union Silver Arrows Type D and C, respectively, briefly creating an eight wheel, 28-cylinder piece of history. [HellForMotors] More »

Take a Look Around the Argentine Auto Union Factory in 1960

Tom Joslin — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 15:00:00 EST

Auto Union was the result of the merger of 4 German car companies formed in 1932. Few are aware during the 1960s, the German company which became Audi licensed car production in Argentina. These photos show the factory in action. More »

The 1936 Auto Union Type C Unpeeled

Mike Spinelli — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 14:30:00 EST

This stuff'll keep engineer kids up all night. The third of Auto Union's Grand Prix racecars, the 1936 Typ(e) C sparred with Benzes and Alfas, and made Bernt Rosermeyer world champion. Now see it in wireframe glory. More »

Kids’ Fashion Meets 1930’s Silver Arrow Race Car

Peter Orosz — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:00:00 EDT

In a case of visual merchandising gone slightly weird, this is a display window of the Italian fashion brand Benetton selling kids’ clothes with a toy version of the V16-powered 1936 Auto Union Type C. More »

Audi R8 V10: The Supercar's New Clothes

Peter Orosz — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:00:00 EDT

We love our supercars to death. We obsess over their top speeds and great power. But what is it like to actually use one? Over 500 miles of European motorway, we discover an inconvenient truth. More »

Rolling DKW Style

Murilee Martin — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST

Think super-serious Audi would run an ad like this nowadays? More »

Don't Forget The 2-Stroke Oil! DKWs For '64

Murilee Martin — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST

Dampf-Kraft-Wagen! One of the all-time great car-company names was phased out by Auto Union not long after this jaunty ad for the '64 DKW F11, F12, and F12 Roadster came out. More »

Remembering Bernd Rosemeyer

Peter Orosz — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:30:00 EST

It was 72 years ago on this day that Bernd Rosemeyer flipped his streamlined V16 Auto Union on the Autobahn at 268 MPH and died. Come and watch a video of his very photogenic life. More »

Happy 100th Birthday, Bernd Rosemeyer

Peter Orosz — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:20:00 EDT

Auto Union’s fearless prewar grand prix driver, who died 71 years ago in a 270 MPH crash on the public road, has turned 100 years old. Come and share his birthday cake. More »

Bernd Rosemeyer, Now In Chocolate Form

Peter Orosz — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:00:00 EDT

You can buy a bar of Belgian chocolate with Bernd Roseyemer’s Auto Union Type C on the wrapper. Just make sure you don’t exceed 270 MPH while eating it. More »

Ferdinand Porsche - Genesis Of Genius by Karl Ludvigsen

Murilee Martin — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EDT

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You know how a lot of marque-specific car books tend to be a bit on the lightweight side? A couple of anecdotes about the designers and then a lot of pretty pictures? Not this monster! More »

The Jalopnik Guide To Mid-Mounted Engine Faux Pas

Peter Orosz — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:30:00 EDT

Having been invented three times over three decades, the mid-mounted engine is not an engineering innovation that feels particularly natural to the human eye. Here’s our guide to avoiding faux pas involving mid-engined cars. More »

Porsche-VW Merger Closer, Could Be Called Auto Union

John Krewson — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:30:00 EDT

Prominent umlaut-junkies barked today that Volkswagen and Porsche have finally agreed on a merger, making Porsche the tenth member of the VW family in a partnership that could resurrect the Auto Union name. More »

The Amazing Vintage Car Photography of Zoltan Glass

Wes Siler — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:00:00 EDT

Starting in the 1930s, Zoltan Glass followed Mercedes, Auto Union and other makes to tracks like the Nurburgring and Avus circuit, capturing some of the most famous cars and racers of all time. Moderately NSFW gallery of his work below. More »

Gerry Judah's Sculptures of Speed

Peter Orosz — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EDT

In the name of art, it's cars in the sky at the Festival of Speed every year since 1997. Meet the man who makes them: Gerry Judah, a Baghdadi Jew from Calcutta. More »

Panoz Batmobile: Proof Front-Engined Race Cars Don't Suck

Peter Orosz — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:00:00 EDT

Front-engined cars have been absent from the highest echelons of racing since the early 1960s. But in 1997, Don Panoz took a car to Le Mans ready to rattle the mid-engined establishment. It was called the Batmobile. More »

VW Halts Merger Talks With Porsche Over CEO Squabble

Ray Wert — Mon, 18 May 2009 09:30:00 EDT

Porsche's planned ~~assimilation~~ merger with Volkswagen has hit a snag, temporarily halting negotiations. We're told the "snag" is who's going to lead the new company — VW CEO Martin Winterkorn or Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking. More »

Vorsprung Your Way to Goodwood This July to See Audi at Its Very Best

Peter Orosz — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:00:00 EDT

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Audi will be the featured marque at this year's Festival of Speed, held July 3-5. This is your last chance to see the Auto Union race cars before Audi becomes, by default, hopelessly uncool. More »

58-Year-Old Hans-Joachim Stuck Returns To Race At 12 Hours of Sebring

Peter Orosz — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:30:00 EDT

A surprising revelation of endurance racing is the fact most drivers are far from being spring chickens. Here's a few examples. More »

Auto Union Type D Race Car To Auction For $8 Million

Peter Orosz — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:00:00 EDT

Lamborghini V12’s are passé. Three million people have seen that clip of a Countach with custom exhausts revving its engine. Let’s see what Lamborghini’s parent company can do in the V12 department. More »

Last Flight Of The Silver Comet: Bernd Rosemeyer's Fatal World Speed Record Attempt

Matt Hardigree — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 10:00:00 EST

Bernd Rosemeyer was fearless, but yesterday in 1938 his attempt to eclipse 268 MPH on a public road and set the speed record in an Auto Union prototype would prove fatal. More »

Audi Resurrects Auto Union Type D Racer For Goodwood, Pink Floyd's Mason Behind Wheel

Mark Arnold — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:30:00 EDT

At next month's Goodwood Festival of Speed, Audi plans to unveil their authentic reconstruction of a 1939 Auto Union Type D Dual Compressor. The single-seat roadster, a replica of the Grand Prix racer driven by the likes of Tazio Nuvolari and H.P. Müller, will be driven by none other than Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. Mason'll have to tame the 420 HP V12, the mother-loving engine at the atom heart of the Type D, as it spins those skinny tires up the hill at Goodwood. Luckily, Mason isn't new to priceless classic race cars. More »

Auto Union Type C

Ben Wojdyla — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:00:00 EDT

The LeMans-dominating Audi R10 is an incomparable engineering spectacle. Honed from the finest materials and tested by banks of supercomputers before the first part was even crafted, the LeMans Prototype car is only now being challenged three years after its birth by an improved Porsche RS Spyder. The irony here is though these two teams battle for the same prize, they share the same grandfather, Ferdinand Porsche. Today we examine the R10's oldest and most revolutionary ancestor: the Auto Union Type C. More »

Project Car Hell: Auto Union 1000 or Shorty Corvair Van?

Murilee Martin — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:15:00 EDT

In a rare upset, a French car actually lost a Choose Your Eternity challenge! Not only that, front-wheel-drive triumphed over a rear-engined machine. Yes, the Fiat 128 Rally beat the Simca 1000GL in our last Project Car Hell! Today we're going to look at a pair of vehicles that do interesting things with the concept of scale: a tiny German Thunderbird or a huge Seattle Hot Wheels car. More »

Audi Re-Releases Auto Union Type C As Pedal Car

Ray Wert — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 10:45:00 EDT

The original Auto Union Type C was a V16-powered Grand Prix car with 520 HP. This new Audi-built Auto Union Type C replica announced today will be powered by two feet and may get you the power of about half of a horse depending on how fast your little legs can move. The 1:2 replica of the Auto Union Silver Arrow pedal car, first revealed as a prototype at last year's Paris Motor Show, has now been approved for a collectors run of just 999 foot-powered units. The 1:2 size means it's perfectly large enough to accommodate "budding racing drivers up to 1.35 metres tall." No word yet on pricing, but contact Audi USA to find out more details not included in the full press release below the jump. More »

DKW do Brasil!

Davey G. Johnson — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:00:00 EDT

From 1957 to 1967, Vemag produced DKW cars in Brazil. In racing trim, they made awesome two-stroke noise, much like contemporary Saabs. Which, of course, makes sense, since the two-cycle Saab motors were based on a DKW design. Big noise, low speeds. Auto Union heritage! We so need one of these. And we'll totally wear a fruit hat with lederhosen while driving it. More »

It's the DKW F800!

Davey G. Johnson — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 20:45:00 EST

Predecessor to the modern minivan, the DKW F800 was woefully underpowered (20hp! Upgraded through the addition of another cylinder to 32!), featured a flat load-floor due to its front-drive configuration, and was built from 1949 to 1962. We'll take ours mid-engined and RWD'd, thanks. An Audi R8 drivetrain seems as if it would do the trick (after all, one must keep with the Auto Union theme now, mustn't one?) Yes, that might be the ultimate sleeper death-hoon van to beat all sleeper death-hoon vans. It just might. – Davey G. Johnson More »

Holy Crap! Auto Union Type D Going on the Block!

Davey G. Johnson — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 23:15:00 EST

Excuse us for a second while we wipe the drool from our chin. And our chest. And our toes. Unsavory as it might be, we are literally swimming in a sea of saliva at the moment, and here's why. In the 1990s, this Auto Union was discovered in pieces in the former Soviet Union, having been taken back to the Rodina after the war to be studied in the hopes that the precision of German racecar technology could somehow advance The State's auto industry. It didn't work. We got the Lada instead. More »

The Auto Union Type D in NYC

Mike Spinelli — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 12:33:03 EDT

Audi feted its new Park Avenue forum this morning, showing off the R8 for the first time on US soil, as it paraded alongside the R10 TDI LeMans diesel racer. As a nod to heritage, Audi also rolled out the granddaddy of them all, the ~~1936~~ 1938 Auto Union Type C D "Silver Arrow," whose roaring ~~V16~~ V12 penetrated the post-rush lull on Manhattan's most exclusive street. Just imagine the sound of an entire field of these things lined up on the N rburgring, and try to forget who was most likely seated in the VIP section. [UPDATE: Behind the wheel is R10 TDI racer Emmanuel Pirro. [UPDATE 2: It's actually a 1938 Auto Union Type D Silver Arrow. Thanks to Benztown for the double-check tip.] More »

The Racing Car as Propaganda Machine

Davey G. Johnson — Thu, 18 May 2006 17:58:05 EDT

Mattias, who is thankfully back to signing his comments (T-Blt, you need not worry anymore), dropped a link to a gallery of historic shots of the Silberfeile (Silver Arrows). It starts off totally awesome and gets really, really creepy. It's strange to think of all of the incredible engineering feats that came out of the Third Reich while watching a man incite so many to hatred, bloodshed and depravity. It's definitely worth a look. More »

The Full Awesomeness of the Auto-Union Type C

Davey G. Johnson — Thu, 18 May 2006 16:00:01 EDT

What happens when you put Horch, DKW, Audi and Wanderer together, let Ferdinand Porsche design a crazy 32-valve, V16 pushrod motor that cranks out 520hp at five grand, and build one of the most aesthetically-badass bodies and chassis ever seen to put the thing in? You get the Auto-Union Type C. Put Bernd Rosemeyer in the cockpit, and you also walk away with the European Championship for 1936. More »