Eastern Suburbs Scale Modelling Club

.: Peter McKinnon's 1/32nd Auto Union

These racers, powered by mighty V16 engines, were developed by Ferdinand Porsche and, together with the Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows, ruled the European racing scene during the late 1930s.

Auto Union was a group of companies based in Eastern Germany that built vehicles ranging from very humble three-cylinder, two-stroke DKW family cars to ultra-luxury coachbuilt Horch models. When the Russian army arrived in 1945, they packed most of the factory tools, and sometimes cars, on trains and sent them back to the heartland.

This is how almost all Auto Union racers ended in up Russia. Paul Karassik, a Serb-born American classic car collector in the British Classic & Sportscar magazine, once described how these cars were torn apart and used by Soviet engineers to develop credible racing cars after 1945 and how he managed to find the remains of two and smuggle them out of the country. A third one was saved by the Latvian Automobile Club and is now on display at the Riga Motor Museum.

All model images thanks to Frank Morgan from Modelart Australia

Click the image below for a desktop wallpaper.

Nuvolari above in his Auto Union D-Type at Donington Park in 1938

Click the image below for a desktop wallpaper.