Wartburg

The Wartburg was an automobile manufactured in East Germany. It had a three-cylinder two-stroke engine with only seven moving parts. It also had a gravity-flow fuel system and a manual choke.

Wartburg logo.

The marque goes back to 1885, and continued in production until 1991, when German reunification spelt its end. The two-stroke engine had been replaced by a four stroke Volkswagen engine in 1988, but time and technology had passed it by, and the car could not meet modern standards.

The final nail in its coffin was the introduction of the Deutschmark (DM), as the cost of producing a car reached 20,000 DM. There are still cars in drivable condition, and one can still see happy Wartburg owners. Wartburgs were exported to many countries in Europe. There are also many Wartburg owners' clubs throughout Europe, and many Wartburgs are still used as rally racing cars.

The name "Wartburg" derives from the Wartburg Castle on one of the hills overlooking the town of Eisenach where the cars were manufactured.

The factory producing the Wartburg cars was acquired by Opel in 1991.