We're quick to make fun of the Wartburg, but in fact the plastic-bodied two-stroke emblem of Warsaw Pact automotive misery was the descendant of an interesting lineage stretching back to the 1890s. The tale of the Wartburg starts with the mighty car-building prowess of Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach AG, then twists and turns through the Dixi, BMW, and EMW eras before the DDR declared 1956 to be Year Zero of the Wartburg Era.
Wartburg: The history from 1898 [KTUD Online Automotive Archive]
Related:
Der Neue Wartburg 1000!; 5 Passengers and 57 Footballs: Wartburg!; Representing The East Side: The Wartburg [internal]
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