With modern styling and a trusted twostroke engine, the Auto Union DKW Munga was Germany’s post-war successor to the motorcycle combination and Kűbelwagen
Unlikely as it sounds, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, a two-stroke 980cc engine powered Germany’s answer to the Land Rover. The modern-styled ‘Munga’, produced by Auto Union under its DKW brand took its name from an acronym; ‘Mehrzweck UNiversal Gelȁndwagen mit Allradantrieb’, which translates as ‘multi-purpose universal utility vehicle with all-wheel drive’.
It was an economical yet effective crosscountry car which, though used mainly by the West German Bundeswehr (the post-war German Armed Forces) was also employed by the German Democratic Republic (manufactured as Wartburg), the Netherlands, the United Kingdom (though mainly in West Berlin, by the Berlin Brigade), France and Indonesia. Germany had enjoyed an edge in field car design during World War Two with the ingenious Kubelwagen - its torsion bar suspension and light weight a boon at speed on rough terrain and easy adaptability for swimming an added extra. In the immediate post-war years West Germany’s car industry began reconstruction with determination and imagination. The London Agree…
