DKW Meisterklasse, also called DKW F89, was a compact front-wheel-drive saloon made from 1950 to 1954 by Auto Union GmbH. After the new Auto Union company was established in 1949, it was the first passenger car manufactured in West Germany.
When the war ended passenger vehicle production in 1942, the Auto Union’s manufacturing plants had been located in Saxony at Zwickau, Chemnitz, and Zschopau and the former DKW factory Berlin-Spandau. The company could no longer access its production facilities in the Soviet occupation zone after the war. After the war, the first DKWs were built under contract in a rehabilitated plant run by Rheinmetall-Borsig in Düsseldorf after the war.
Here are some vintage photos of the Auto Union DKW F89 Meisterklasse in 1951 from Carl Guderian.
#1 Engineering drafting office, 1951
#2 Factory canteen, 1951
#3 Assembly line rounding off wheel wells, 1951
#4 Finishing assembly line, 1951
#5 Fueling finished cars, 1951
#6 Line of car bodies painted with primer, 1951
#7 Machinist making bearing bushings, 1951
#8 New office building, 1951
#9 Outside of factory building, 1951
#10 Overhead view of crane, 1951
#11 Physical plant, 1951
#12 Side of factory building with sedans and cabriolets, 1951
#13 Side of factory building with sedans and cabriolets, 1951
#14 Side of factory building with sedans and cabriolets, 1951
#15 Side of factory building with sedans and estate conversions, 1951
#16 Spraypainting wheel hubs, 1951
#17 Tester checking box wrenches, 1951
#18 Welding a car body, 1951
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With the clear face mask and the kind of sparks it looks more like they are grinding instead of welding.