Solved - NEH 1715: Audi P70 - 1956

[Carnut]

As far as I can ascertain this car has NOT featured before on AP, despite appearances.
So, what is it, from when - for 1 point?

Google Search by Image continues to raise its ugly head on AutoPuzzles.
For the sake of our newer members who may not be aware of past discussions on it, Google Search by Image as a means of solving puzzles is banned on this website.

AutoPuzzles is primarily a game of automotive knowledge, not of who can copy and paste the quickest.

We ask all members to remember and respect this, and retain the right to ask puzzle-solvers how they came to their answer.

Have fun!

[cljo]

Trabant P70. Body made of "fibreglass", called duroplast, made out of surplus soviet cotton fibres. Two stroke engine (two cylinders). I saw quite a few of them visiting East Germany in the eighties.

[Carnut]

Trabant P70. Body made of "fibreglass", called duroplast, made out of surplus soviet cotton fibres. Two stroke engine (two cylinders). I saw quite a few of them visiting East Germany in the eighties.

This being AutoPuzzles things are rarely quite what they seem to be.
And whilst this car appears to be a Trabant P70 that would have been way too easy and is not the right answer to this puzzle!
Have another look!

[Carnut]

Experts?

[Delorean]

My first guess was also a Trabant P70, but if it isn't that, could it be the predecessor of the Trabant, the AWZ P70 (Automobil Werke Zwickau) build between 1955 and 1959? They have the same bodywork ...

PS. There's also another car with the same bodywork, but I'll make one guess at a time ...

[Carnut]

My first guess was also a Trabant P70, but if it isn't that, could it be the predecessor of the Trabant, the AWZ P70 (Automobil Werke Zwickau) build between 1955 and 1959? They have the same bodywork ...
PS. There's also another car with the same bodywork, but I'll make one guess at a time ...

You'll have to make this one now, as the other is not the answer I'm looking for!

[Delorean]

Ok, then my other option was a Sachsenring P70 ...

[Carnut]

Ok, then my other option was a Sachsenring P70 ...

No, it's masquerading as something else here!

[Delorean]

Ok, then my other option was a Sachsenring P70 ...

No, it's masquerading as something else here!

I'll have to start digging then ...

[tonyola]

AWZ P70 Zwickau from around 1956 - the direct predecessor to the Trabant.

Bleah, if it's not that, I got nothing.

[Delorean]

Is it one of the above made under license in another country?

[Carnut]

Is it one of the above made under license in another country?

It's one of the above of course (same car) and made by them as well, but marketed under a different name elsewhere.

[Delorean]

East European?

[Carnut]

East European?

Surprisingly, no!

[hondast]

  A brand of Auto Union?

[wingroad]

Japanese ?

[Carnut]

Japanese ?

Not Japanese...

A brand of Auto Union?

...but you're getting VERY warm with this one!

[hondast]

  Audi?

[Delorean]

Audi didn't bother to exist yet in 1955 ...

DKW maybe?

[Carnut]

Audi didn't bother to exist yet in 1955 ...

DKW maybe?

Don't forget Audi was a pre-war company - and somebody obviously still had the right to use it in some markets before its general revival by Mercedes in the early 1960s because...

Audi?

...Hondast is right!
It was marketed in Sweden as the Audi P70 because they didn't think AWZ or Trabant or any of the other names had sufficient cachet in the Swedish market and that it would sell as an Audi however crap it was!

[Wendax]

Some additional information and corrections:
In 1955, the AWZ P 70 Zwickau appeared as the successor of the IFA F 8, combining its chassis with a new Duroplast body. It was built by the VEB Automobilwerk Zwickau, the former Audi works. In some export markets it was sold as the "Zwickau P 70" (in the Netherlands) or, as we have learnt here, as the "Audi P 70". In 1958, the former Horch works (by then VEB Sachsenring Kraftfahrzeug- und Motorenwerk Zwickau) and AWZ were merged to become the VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau. Despite the company name, the AWZ P 70 wasn't renamed to "Sachsenring P 70", it was just called "Typ P 70". The only car to be officially named Sachsenring was the P 240 (and the S 4000 truck). The successor of the P 70 was the P 50, for which the name Trabant was created. There never was a "Trabant P 70".

[Delorean]

I always thought the prewar-Audi's started in 1965? Anyway ...

Did they actually make any of these Audi P70's? Or was it just a marketingthing and never sold any?

[Wendax]

I always thought the prewar-Audi's started in 1965? Anyway ...

Did they actually make any of these Audi P70's? Or was it just a marketingthing and never sold any?

Yes, the post-war Audis started in 1965. 

Looking at the article I'm not even sure whether it was the official sales name or just the invention of a creative journalist referring to the ex-Audi works where the P 70 was built.

[Carnut]

This is a translation from a Swedish website:

QUOTE
What might this be for an Audi, then? Well, what is sometimes called the forerunner of Trabant, namely, IFA, or Zwickau AWZ P70. In Sweden, people thought that Audi had better cachet.

P70 was presented at the Leipzig Fair in 1955 as "the first series-built plastic car", manufactured by Automobil Werke Zwickau (AWZ) between 1955 and 1958. A Kombi came in 1956 followed by a coupe in 1957. A total of 36151 AWZ P70 were made. Because of the lack of steel sheet, they were manufactured from a material which is called duroplast. This is a type of thermosetting plastic closely related to bakelite . Duroplast was made from recycled surplus cotton from the Soviet Union, and phenolic resin, which was a by-product of the East German industry. Also the better-known Trabant was made of this material.
UNQUOTE

[Allemano]

Looking at the article I'm not even sure whether it was the official sales name or just the invention of a creative journalist referring to the ex-Audi works where the P 70 was built.

I second that!

There wasn't any official or inofficial Audi with that name.