If you’re like me, your question is “What’s a Wartburg”? And the answer turns out that it’s an East German car built by AWE. The 353 was a versatile sedan produced from 1966 to 1988, accounting for more than one million automobiles along the way. Yet not one of them was sold (at least officially) in the U.S. It was a 3-cylinder car that didn’t change much over the years. We don’t know many details about the seller’s 1984 Wartburg 353 other than it looks okay, and runs and drives. Located in Melrose Park, Illinois, this interesting import is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $9,000. Our thanks to Sam61 for the tip!
Aka the Wartburg Knight, the 353 was considered a mid-size vehicle that was on the European market for more than two decades. The first 353s came out of the former East German BMW plant. Because of its simple two-stroke engine, the 353 was often considered an automobile that drove like a car but was as easy to service as a motorcycle. These cars were popular with government agencies back in the day, including as police transport. Its front-wheel drive configuration was considered easy to operate.
Displacing only 1.0 liters, the 353’s little engine was good for maybe 50-55 horsepower. These were considered cheap cars to buy and maintain and were easy on fuel even by European standards. The body, paint, and interior on this 353 all look good, as they should if the 36,000 claimed miles are correct. The seller provides no history of the car or how or when it found its way to Mid-America. My second thought is where do you find parts for this car when something eventually breaks?
Is that a 3 on the tree 🌳
I was wondering if its a 4 speed on the column.
It is a 4-on-the-tree. There was an optional floor shift but FWIU the linkage was even less direct. It was mainly developed in the late ’60s for export markets where column shifts were considered passe, and also for right-hand-drive ones regardless since they didn’t also do an RHD column shift.
Wartburg 353s – and 311s as well – always got 4 – speed gearboxes !
Parts availability may depend on your ability to read German. I looked up Trabant parts once and found a site selling everything, but on the German web. I don’t sprecken, so I moved on. This may fall into the same category.
https://www.ldm-tuning.de/en/wartburg_353/spare_parts/
2stroke so how long can it last?
By the manufacturer, 60.000 miles are standard. Provided you treat the car as it should be treated. The engine will be on the bench after 40 minutes – front grill comes off ever so easily, 4 nuts M 6….it is one of the few really well – conceived cars in the world.
“for the repair & maintenance, mechanic” I suppose amended to ur comment MK ?
Looks like the ‘Every Car’ from then: 240 wolwo, 2002 beemer, may B a celebrity cheb (shorter deck/hood?).
A great little car to pick up enemies of the state in! If it was good enough for the Stassi, it should be good enough here in Amerika!
Sorry to disappoint you…they used Soviet cars like Ladas and Wolgas.
I’ve owned both Chaikas and Tatras – I believe senior KGB officials used Chaikas, and weren’t Tatras used by the Stasi in East Germany? And yes, I’ve seen Wartburgs before, running and driving . . . in Berlin!
The front end of a Yugo, with the rear looking like an unfinished BMW. It’s like communism stunted the designers growth.
Not very commonly known, before WW2 BMW had one of their factories in Eisenach in what later became the zone given to Soviet after the war. This factory re-started car production still using the BMW name, so 1946-52 all BMW cars were made by this factory. While the old pre-war BMW designs were not bad, the available materials were not great so it seemed that they quickly turned shabby. Unsurprisingly BMW didn’t quite agree sharing the brand name and I have no idea of how they managed to convince the East Bloc factory to change the name to EMW.
The EMW still kept the roundels but suitably with the blue segments changed to red. The EMW were somewhat successfully exported to my native Sweden, so back when I was a kid in the 60’s and early 70’s you would still see them.
While BMW moved to new post-war designs EMW kept selling the pre-war cars, but then came another twist. Also DKW had a factory that had ended up in East Germany and they had also resumed production of pre-war cars. Also the DKW factory got to change the brand name to IFA (which later in Sweden was said to be short for Ingen Fart Alls – No Speed at All) The IFA factory was luckier than EMW in that there were designs and tooling for a post war design so they started building cars also with the new streamlined DKW design. I think it was around 1953 that production of the IFA was moved from Zwickau to Eisenach, and eventually spawned the Wartburg in 1956 using the new 3-cylinder 2-stroke DKW knockoff engine.
Overall, the Wartburg was seen a a cheap, roomy and not terribly sophisticated car that was reasonably robust and easy to maintain.
Final note is that they were one of the least known Formula 1 manufacturers. They did run a post war German GP but retired after only some laps with mechanical problems. So if you can’t afford a Ferrari or a McLaren, here’s your chance to buy a car from a manufacturer with F1 pedigree!
If BMW and Lada had a baby.
Nein Danke
I had the minibus version of the Wartburg in 1979, called Barkas, and it drove smoothly with its 996cc at 140 km/h! With its front-wheel drive it was very stable, and the freewheel provided smooth shifting. The two-stroke engine was very smooth and very quiet, only in when running idle the two-stroke engine had that pat-pat sound. But it used a lot of two-stroke petrol, but with special two-stroke oil there was no smoke. Only the clutch plate wore out quickly, but a plate from a Volkswagen Beatle fitted, and then there were no more problems.
Interesting comments and helpful to me as i have 1953 DKW wagon sitting out from at my ranch that i bought 30 years ago and never got to the restoration. The engine is frozen up. I assume someone forgot to mix oil with the gas.
I do remember when they were sold with the same engine. The little engines would zoom. The advertising was the “were only 7 moving parts”.
And I remember going to East Germany, Berlin in 1963 and looked over the wall and saw all the divestation as compared to West Berlin, a city of plenty surrounded by Communism.
1953 might still be the old ” Meisterklasse ” 700 cc – 2 – cyl. engine….instead of the three – cylinder.
Lack of use for a long time would do the trick, too….because the air can always get into the ” crank – chamber “, it might not be the fault of the last driver.
Try to find out the position of the pistons – maybe just the piston – rings are the culprits…and, if in a favourable position, flood them with hydraulic – oil – not for one day, if possible, for a week or more.
If you are lucky, she will turn.
Thanx Michael,
Good advice and I will try it.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Very interesting and incommun car. Very ugly too. I have seen one in Budapest, Hungary, last year. The station wagon is even way huglier with its akward rear door.
Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.
Pressed Rat and Wartburg. (You know the rest)
NOPE! never seen one before and with any luck will never see one again without the eye bleach kit handy