Wanderer W22

Shall it be a little rounder?
 
As in 1933 the long-distance race ‘2,000 km through Germany’ was advertised and organized for the first time, this event was intended as a counterpart to other large, well-known events, such as the Mille Miglia. The premiere of the race met expectations and the second edition was planned for 1934.

In 1933, Wanderer, part of the freshly merged Auto Union (1932) based in Chemnitz, Saxony, felt addressed to create vehicles specially built for the long-distance race. These models were based on the commercially available W 22 model, which was presented in 1933. 

For the first edition of the long-distance race, the responsible gentlemen in the management at Wanderer apparently wanted to present themselves as an innovative and future-oriented plant and had three production chassis fitted with an new sheet metal body.

For the realization of the body, the series chassis was handed over to the workshop of “Karosserie Hornig”.

At that time, designer Erich Lüsebrink was the driving force behind the design. Especially for the long distance races, it was decided to fit the Wanderer with a coupe car bodies, which were designed as ‘semi-streamliner’. This differed for the production model manly in a long, semi-circular sloping rear section. In one of these sports cars, a gentlemen named Bernd Rosemeyer, who was only known to insiders at the time, completed his first competition on four wheels.

None of the cars have survived to the present day, but AUDI Tradition decided to rebuild a vehicle based on historical plans and photos (2014-2022).