Awtowelo

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Exhibition visitors in front of a motorcycle AWO 425 (1951)

Awtowelo , AWO for short , was a (German) Soviet stock corporation (SAG or SDAG), which was mainly created out of the BMW factory in Eisenach, which was confiscated, expropriated and converted in 1945, and the Simson hunting gunsmith in Suhl .

The name Awtowelo is an abbreviation of the Russian term Awto-Welosiped (self-propelled velocipede ). Awtowelo also included the Elite Diamantwerke Siegmar-Schönau near Chemnitz , the precision measuring tool factory Keilpart in Suhl, the Rheinmetallwerk in Sömmerda , the ball bearing factory Böhlitz-Ehrenberg in Leipzig, the watch and machine factory Ruhla and the Fichtel & Sachs factory in Reichenbach in the Vogtland . From March 5, 1947 the company in Suhl was called Staatliche Aktiengesellschaft Awtowelo Werk vorm. Simson & Co , in Suhl (Thuringia) . Awtowelo also included the Chemnitz development plant for automobile construction with employees from the former Central Design and Central Research Institute of Auto Union . A few years after the founding of the GDR (1949), Awtowelo was transferred to VEB Automobilwerk Eisenach in 1952 and the development plant for automobile construction in Chemnitz became the VEB IFA research and development plant .

motorcycles

Gun manufacture was initially not allowed in Germany after the end of World War II . The Suhl-based company was commissioned to build a motorcycle , literally translated: Build a motorcycle out of iron. The AWO therefore had the name iron motorcycle in connoisseur circles. The similarity of the AWO 425 (touring version) with the 250 BMW was clear and could not deny its Eisenach development. Until 1961 a 4-stroke motorcycle with a displacement of 250 cm³ was produced in Suhl (first under the type designation AWO, then under the brand name Simson ). However, the production of motorcycles was discontinued in favor of 2-stroke mopeds.

Features of the AWO 425 (there was a tour version and a sports version) were: stationary cylinder - four cycle engine , valves via tappets and the rocker arms driven shaft drive , Beiwagentauglichkeit, 12 or 14/15 PS.

Automobiles

The Awtowelo design team in 1951

Awtowelo development plant for automobile construction Chemnitz

A racing car with the type designation Awtowelo 650 (Russian designation Sokol 650) with a V12-cylinder four-stroke carburettor engine and 152 hp was developed here between 1949 and 1951, 2 of which were built and brought to the Soviet Union. They came back later. One example is in the Chemnitz Industrial Museum , the second, which has been in Donington (England) in the meantime , is on display in the PS store in Einbeck .

Awtowelo 351, next to Siegfried Becker (one of the designers at Awtowelo) with a colleague from Awtowelo Zschopau .

An Awtowelo 351 car was also developed in 1951, but only a prototype was built that did not go into production.

literature

  • SED - BPO of the state stock corporation Awtowelo, Werk Stock & Co. (Ed.): Our work, our work: in the mirror of the times; Company newspaper for the workforce of the state stock corporation "Awtowelo", Stock & Co. plant, Königsee i. Thuringia , Thüringer Volksverlag, Rudolstadt from 1951 published irregularly
  • Hans-Heinrich Schmid : Lexicon of the German watch industry 1850–1980: company addresses, production program, company logos, brand names, company histories . Ed .: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chronometrie eV 3rd extended edition. 2017, ISBN 978-3-941539-92-1 .

Vehicle models (selection)

motorcycles

Automobiles

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