Today, Wartburgs are no longer produced, but you can still meet one on domestic roads. The 353 model, made with a sedan, station wagon and pickup body, was a part of the street scene in Eastern European countries connected to the Soviet Union for a long time. since more than one million units of the model equipped with a two-stroke engine with front-wheel drive (for most of its life) were produced.
These recordings may be familiar to many, but a generation probably missed how and under what conditions cars were made in East Germany, in the Eisenach factory. This small video compilation is a real impression, it is interesting to see how a forklift unloads the chassis from the train in winter, in heavy snowfall, which also continue their journey on an open tractor trailer.
The “cube” appeared in 1966 Wartburgfirst with the type designation 1000 and then 353. From 1975, the “353W” (Weiterentwicklung, further development) had 50 horsepower, had a steering gear as well as a floor shifter, was slowed down by disc brakes at the front, and a load-dependent brake force regulator was added to the rear brake circuit.
The previously used dynamo was replaced by a generator. In 1985, as a DKW legacy, the radiator built behind the engine was moved to the front of the engine, and the fan rigidly mounted on the water pump shaft was replaced by an electric motor with thermal switch. The two-stroke Wartburg 353 was produced until 1988.
Photo: Harald Lange/ullstein image via Getty Images
Among the socialist models of the time, the two-stroke engine drove the less than one-ton Wartburg superbly, according to factory data, the maximum speed of the Wartburg 353 Deluxe is 134 km/h. one of the special features of the car was the freewheel, which, in addition to starting and reversing, made it possible to shift without a clutch. He also eliminated the engine brake, which was mostly important because the two-stroke engine used in the car was lubricated by a gasoline-oil mixture, so the lubrication became insufficient when the engine brake was in operation.
In Hungary, the Wartburg 353 was most often referred to as the “cube Wartburg” because of its more angular shape compared to the Wartburg 311 (“hump Wartburg”). In the GDR, he was called “reliable Hans” because of his problem-free nature, and he also had a less flattering nickname, the “farting Hans” – or in Hungary, the “stinky cube” – which stuck to him because of his particularly unpleasant-smelling exhaust gases.
Source: www.vezess.hu
