DKW – Ongeluk in motor van hout
Elsie Du Plessis het vertel van ‘n ongeluk waarin hulle met pa Cornelius se DKW motor betrokke was. Hulle was oppad huistoe van ‘n saamtrek en het langs die pad parkeer om vir oupa Willem Schalk-hulle of ander familie te wag. Die volgende oomblik het die motor van ene Landsberger van die pad geloop en hulle van agter getref. Hy het verduidelik hy was so besig om hom aan al die karre wat by die saamtrek was te verstom dat hy hulle nooit langs die pad gesien het nie. Getuies het vertel hoe die DKW ‘n meter of twee deur die lug gevlieg het met die bakwerk, wat van hout gemaak is, wat in alle rigtings getrek het. Elsie wat in die middel agter gesit het, het haar regteroog teen die voorste sitplek gestamp. Die volgende oggend was dit ‘n swart sak geswel en sy is dokter toe geneem. Sy vermoed dit is dalk die oorsaak van probleme wat sy steeds vandag met haar oog ervaar. Eduard (Eddie) was nog ‘n baba en het voor op ouma Miemie se skoot gesit. Gelukkig het sy hom styf vasgehou gehad anders kon hy dalk baie ernstig beseer gewees het.
DKW staan vir “Dampf Kraft Wagen” en is ‘n motor wat in 1940 in Duitsland gemaak is en ook in Suid-Afrika gewild was.
dkw.co.za
DKW in South Africa:
Klaus-Detlev von Oertzen (1894-1991), previously in charge of sales at the Wanderer Werke and later the sales director of Auto Union, became uneasy in Nazi Germany of the time due to alleged Jewish connections, therefor he decided to relocate to South Africa in order to get some distance between him and the “system”. He initiated the export of the DKW motorcar to South Africa by the end of 1936. During 1937 he arranged for the AUTO UNION Grand Prix racing cars to be brought out to South Africa for promotional purposes, where they competed on a handicap basis in Cape Town and East London. Berndt Rosemeyer, Rudolf Hasse and Ernst von Delius were the drivers.
The DKW F5 and F7 sold like hot cake, partly due to the huge impression that the racers had made on the local motoring public. They were renowned for their reliability, endurance and economy during the thirties and fourties. The DKW F7 and DKW F8 were very popular locally during World War II because of their economy and for the ability to consume all sorts of petrol/ paraffin mixtures at the time when petrol was rationed. This was also the case in other neighboring states like Rhodesia, South West Africa and Mozambique.
