Dixi (make of car)

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Dixi
owner
Introductory year 1904
Products Automobiles
Dixi R 8 6/14 PS - double phaeton 1908–1911

Dixi was a brand name of the Eisenach vehicle factory , which it used from 1904 until it was taken over by BMW in 1928 for automobiles , trucks , bicycles and buses . After the takeover by BMW, the brand name was used there until 1932. The best-known model was the Dixi 3/15 , a license for the small English car Austin 7 .

history

A Dixi during a car race in Berlin (1922). Distorted display due to the rolling shutter effect .

After the company's founder Heinrich Ehrhardt left the company in 1904, the Eisenach vehicle factory gave up the brand name Wartburg . The products were given the new brand name Dixi , which comes from Latin and means "I have spoken". These were newly developed models. In contrast to the Wartburg wagons, they had four-cylinder engines with lamellar coolers at the front instead of the previous tubular finned cooler.

In the beginning stately automobiles and trucks were built under the name Dixi. A Kentaur was used as a trademark for business papers, printed matter and as a hood ornament; this was designed and manufactured by the Eisenach metal goods dealer August Sauermilch .

Due to the First World War (1914–1918), the Eisenach vehicle factory was then prohibited from manufacturing civilian vehicles and armaments had to be manufactured. Army trucks, ammunition wagons, medical vehicles, field guns were the Eisenach product range until the end of the First World War.

The Dixiwerke survived the war, but it was never possible to build on the glorious times before the war.

At the end of 1921, due to economic difficulties, the Eisenach vehicle factory had to merge with the Gothaer Waggonfabrik and initially operated as the Eisenach vehicle factory, a branch of the Gothaer Waggonfabrik , and later as the Eisenach vehicle factory ("Dixiwerke") .

In 1927, with the production of the 3/15, the license production of the small car that did not bring about the turning point that was hoped for with it began there, but which has made the name Dixi unforgettable to this day.

The motorcycle and aircraft engine manufacturer BMW wanted to get into automobile production towards the end of the 1920s and was looking for a competitive product to avoid the tedious in-house development. They decided on the Eisenach car factory, which at that time (u. A.) Under the name Dixi 3 / 15PS DA ( D eutsche A base columns) licensed versions of internationally successful Austin 7 of the Austin Motor Company produced.

vehicles

Dixi 3/15 and BMW 3/15

Dixi 3/15 DA (1928)
A Dixi 3/15 DA registered in Nuremberg around 1930 on the Großglockner
BMW 3/15 DA2 (1929)
BMW 3/15 DA2 Tourer (1929)
BMW-Ihle Type 600 (1936)
  • Dixi 3/15 (1927)

The licensed construction of the British small car Austin 7 , known today simply as "Dixi" , was initially completely imported by the Austin Motor Company and sold right-hand drive as Dixi 3/15 in Germany (around 50 pieces).

  • Dixi 3/15 DA (1928/29)

DA stood for 'German version' and can be recognized by the left-hand drive. But there is more than just a steering wheel on the other side. To enable left-hand steering, the 'German version' (including the engine) was completely reversed in Eisenach.

  • BMW 3/15 DA2 (1929 – February 1932)

After the takeover by BMW, this model was further developed and the Dixi 3/15 DA became the BMW 3/15 DA2, recognizable by the larger body of the sedan versions and larger doors. This body came from Ambi-Budd in Berlin. Appropriately, the vehicles were not assembled in Eisenach, but directly at Ambi-Budd in Berlin. The chassis and technology remained unchanged.

  • Dixi 3/15 DA1 (1929)

DA1 refers to the large number of Dixi 3/15s that were built unchanged after the takeover by BMW and continue to be built under the name Dixi in Eisenach.

  • BMW Wartburg DA3 (1930-1932) (BMW 3 / 15PS DA3 Wartburg)

In 1930, parallel to the DA2, the 18 hp sports version, the BMW Wartburg DA3, with a top speed of over 90 km / h, came onto the market. Only 150 pieces of this BMW, which weighs only 400 kg, were sold at a price of RM 3,100. The Wartburg was also the first BMW racing car that could be bought. With minor changes, it could be used for automobile races at that time.

  • BMW 3/15 DA4 (1931-1932)

The BMW 3/15 DA2 was then supplemented by the slightly modified BMW 3/15 DA4 (different front axle, modified body) and was the last "Dixi". Incidentally, there was never a vehicle with the official name “BMW Dixi”.

  • Ihle-BMW 3/15 Type 600 and Type 800 (1934–1939)

There were some bodybuilders who gave the Dixi 3/15 and BMW 3/15 an individual look. By far the most important were the Ihle brothers from Bruchsal. They successfully manufactured roadster bodies with the BMW kidney grille, which was already known from the BMW 303 , for the used Dixi / BMW, which were now getting on in years, but only after the 3/15 had been produced .

  • There were different body variants for all these vehicles (Dixi 3/15, BMW 3/15). 2-door with 2, 3 or 4 seats, open (touring) and closed sedans (inner handlebars), convertible sedans, roadsters, delivery vans or just as a chassis without a body. Technical data: 4-cylinder engine with 15 HP from 743 cm³ enabled a top speed of 75 km / h (cruising speed approx. 65 km / h).
  • There were also different sales names. Model names with a preceding 'Type' or the attached unit 'PS' are often used and just as correct: Dixi Type 3/15, BMW 3 / 15PS (the 3 in the model name was the tax class for this car at the time). The more internal designations DA to DA4 were also not necessarily part of the model name, but were used by dealers in sales advertisements and in-house brochures.
  • In 1932 the BMW 3/15 was replaced by BMW's first own automobile design, the BMW 3/20 AM1 (AM = Munich version).

Others

The Eisenach vehicle factory also produced a wide range of larger passenger cars, trucks, buses and bicycles under the brand name Dixi before the Dixi 3/15 became famous under license.

Among other things, these were models with these names:

  • Dixi S 1 (1903–?)
  • Dixi S 6 (1904–1906)
  • Dixi S 12 (1904–?) 2815 cm³, four-cylinder engine, 20 hp
  • Dixi S 13 (1904–1907)
  • Dixi T 7 (1904-1907) single cylinder engine, 1234 cc
  • Dixi T 12 (1905-1912)
  • Dixi S 12/13
  • Dixi T 14 (1905-1912)
  • Dixi S 14/15 (1904-1910)
  • Dixi T 17 (1904) 4960 cm³, 32 PS
  • Dixi T 24 / T 12 (1905–1907)
  • Dixi U 35, saloon limousine (1905-1914) 7320 cm³, 65 hp, 85 km / h
  • Dixi UR 35, sports car
  • Dixi T 25 (1906-1914)
  • Dixi S 15, 24 PS
  • Dixi T 25
  • Dixi R 6/20
  • Dixi R 8 6/14 PS (1908-1911) double phaeton, sports car, 1569cm³, 65km / h
  • Dixi R 9 8/21 PS (1910-1914) sedan, 1744cm³, 70km / h)
  • Dixi R 12 (1910-1914)
  • Dixi T 20 (1910-1913)
  • Dixi S 16 (1912-1925)
  • Dixi R 5 (1914-1925)
  • Dixi R 10 (1914-1922)
  • Dixi U 20 (1914-1915)
  • Dixi military trucks (1914–1918) chassis from the U 35
  • Dixi B 1, small car (three-seater)
  • Dixi R 9 8/24 PS
  • Dixi S 16, six-cylinder engine, 13/30 hp and later 40 or 60 hp
  • Dixi U 1 (1919-1923)
  • Dixi 6/18 [G1] (1921-1923)
  • Dixi 6/24 [G2] (1923–1928) touring car
  • Dixi P1 / P2 (1926-1928)
  • Dixi 9/40 (Cyklon) (1927-1929)
  • Dixi TL 30
  • Dixi omnibus M 2
  • Dixi express truck TL 25
  • Dixi delivery van RL 12

literature

  • Werner Oswald : German Cars 1920–1945 . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-87943-519-7 , p. 540 .
  • Werner Oswald, Eberhard Kittler: All BMW automobiles since 1928 . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-613-02053-X , Wartburg-Motorwagen and Dixi, ancestors of BMW automobiles, p. 8-10 .

Web links

Commons : Dixi vehicles  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ How it was back then. In: Motor vehicle technology 3/1964, p. 114.