1965 Audi Super 90

Auto-Union had a well mannered, contemporary styled family sedan in the DKW F102 but the car's two-stroke engine suffered a poor reputation. While DKW's engineers were working on a replacement fuel injected two-stroke engine, the company executives were looking for a stop gap. Mercedes-Benz were the majority stakeholders at the time and they provided a medium compression four cylinder engine to Auto-Union. The new engine was fitted into the F102 body as a trial. This required canting the engine over by a few degrees to fit into the engine bay.

By the time the car, designated the DKW F103, was ready for production, Mercedes-Benz had sold its share in Auto-Union to Volkswagen. Wanting to make a break from DKW's two-stroke legacy, the new Auto-Union board decided to retire the DKW brand name and revived the Audi brand. The new car went by a few different designations - Audi F103, Audi 75, Audi 80 and Audi 90, depending on the horsepower of the engine.

The story of the DKW F102 https://dkwautounionproject.blogspot.com/2019/04/1965-dkw-f102.html

1965 DKWV Journal Volume Four

The DKW Veteranen Club continues to extoll the virtues of the new Audi. Slowly but surely DKW's two-stroke heritage, the heritage that had made Auto Union such a success in the prewar period and that had enabled Auto Union to recover after the disastrous war, would be pushed further and further into the background until it was virtually forgotten.

1965 DKWV Journal Volume Three

1965 and a new era begins at Auto Union. DKW, the mainstay of the company since 1949, is finally retired and the Audi brand, defunct since 1940 is revived. The new car, the Audi 103 is a development of the DKW F102 but powered by a Mercedes Benz four-cylinder four-stroke engine. The project had been several years in development, as suggested by the Mercedes-Benz motor.