IFA F9

Infobox Automobile|

name = IFA F9
manufacturer = Automobilwerk Zwickau
Automobilwerk Eisenach
production = 1949 – April 1956
40663 produced Cite web|url=http://www.motorbase.com/vehicle/by-id/1799309002/|title=IFA F9|accessdate=2008-02-29|work=motorbase.com]
predecessor = DKW F8
successor = Wartburg 311
body_style = 2 door saloon
2 door cabriolet
3 door estateCite web|url=http://www.edwfc.de/htmlALT/Modelle/Frameset01.htm|title=Modell-Palette|accessdate=2008-02-29|work=edwfc.de]
engine = 910 cc two stroke straight-3
28 / 30 bhpcite book |last=Gloor |first=Roger |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Alle Autos der 50er Jahre 1945 - 1960|year=1. Auflage 2007 |publisher=Motorbuch Verlag |location=Stuttgart |id=ISBN 978-3-613-02808-1]
layout=FF layout
transmission = 4 speed manual
length = Auto mm|4200
saloon
width = Auto mm|1600
saloon
height = Auto mm|1450
saloon
weight = Auto kg|820 (empty)
wheelbase = Auto mm|2350
track =
fuel_capacity=
related = DKW F89
similar =
designer =

The IFA F9 was a compact saloon manufactured under the auspices of the Russian and East German states between 1949 or 1950 and 1956. It was initially built at Zwickau at the plant previously owned by Auto Union. In 1953 production was transferred to the former BMW manufacturing plant at Eisenach where its underpinnings subsequently found their way into the Wartburg 311.

Origins

Mechanically the F9 derived from the DKW F8 which had been available between 1939 and 1942. The body closely followed the design of the DKW F9, a prototype with which Auto Union would have replaced the F8 on the Zwickau production lines earlier, had the war not intervened. After the war, the first car assembled at Zwickau was the prewar DKW F8, but the more modern F9 started to appear in 1949cite book |last=Gloor |first=Roger |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Alle Autos der 50er Jahre 1945 - 1960|year=1. Auflage 2007 |publisher=Motorbuch Verlag |location=Stuttgart |id=ISBN 978-3-613-02808-1] or 1950. Sources differ. Materials shortages probably delayed introduction in both Germanies, but the eastern car beat the western to the market, and certainly featured the three cylinder motor from the 1938 F9 prototype (rather than the two cylinder motor that had been in serial production in 1942) at least three years before Auto Union in Düsseldorf were installing it in their F91

The bodies

Surviving F9s appear largely restricted to saloon versions, but various sports and cabriolet versions were also produced. Steel for consumer industries was in short supply across many parts of Europe during this period, and the F9’s body construction increasingly involved plastic panels, especially after production was moves to Eisenach in 1953. The car was accordingly usefully lighter than its western built Auto Union half brother.

Technical

The F9 featured a three cylinder two stroke water cooled engine of 910 cc with a claimed output, at launch, of 28 bhp. The engine was water cooled, the radiator being located behind the engine, an unusual configuration but one also found on the DKW F91. The front wheels were driven via a four speed manual gear box with a free wheel.

ources and further reading

*De| IFA F9