1938 Wanderer W25K

Sold for $104,500 at 2017 Motostalgia : Amelia Island.
Audi, Horch, DKW, and Wanderer coalesced to form Auto Union in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony, during the Great Depression. The company would later become known as Audi. Auto union and their Silver Arrows were a dominant force in motor racing. They dominated Grand Prix racing from 1934 onwards and set numerous long-lasting records.

During World War II, they were brought to the brink of extinction, only to be re-founded in Ingolstadt, Bavaria in 1949, and eventually evolving into the modern-day Auto Company following its takeover by Volkswagen in 1964. In 1969, they merged with NSU motorenwerke.

The current company with the Auto Union name (Auto Union GmbH) was founded in 1985 and is a subsidiary of Audi AG.

In 1929, the company owner, Dresdner Bank, sold the motorcycle business portion of Wanderer to František Janeček, and in 1932 divested the rest of Wanderer. The car division became part of Auto Union and built various mid-priced small cars.

In 1936, the Wanderer w25k was introduced. It had low-slung lines and deep-cut doors. Power was from a 6-cylinder engine conceived by Ferdinand Porsche and often fitted with a supercharger. It is believed that around 250 examples of the W25K were ever produced.

This particular example is an open-top sports car. Little is known about its history; it is believed that the 6-cylinder in the engine bay is a non-original variant. It has white-faced gauges and a four-speed manual transmission.

By Daniel Vaughan | Apr 2017

The name Wanderer dates back to 1896, when Winklhofer & Jaenicke, a company founded in 1885, built bicycles in Chemnitz. Production of motorcycles began in 1902, and the first production of motor cars took place in 1904. In 1932 Wanderer AG sold off its car division to form part of Auto Union along with Horch, Audi and DKW hence the four interlinked rings of the famous badge.