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In December 1956 a team consisting of two Germans and two Swiss spent alternating times driving a DKW Monza around the racecourse at Monza. (In Italy.) With an average of 140km/h the team of drivers set up to five International records.

The record DKW Monza racer used a conventional DKW 3=6 chassis. The body was of a special design. The glass-fiber reinforced polyester coupe body had a smaller aerodynamic resistance due to its rounded frontal area and being of a very low profile. This made it much faster than the standard DKW. Like all DKW’S of those days, the MONZA had a compact chassis of the following dimensions; four meters in height and average weight was about 780 kilograms. This was 115 kilograms less than the DKW 3=6 limousine. (4dr. Sedan)

The three cylinders of the engine, which performs two strokes with each crankshaft full rotation, perform much like a four stroke engine. With the complete rotation cycle of the three-cylinder DKW engine, DKW people thought of it as a “6” of a six cylinder machine. Consequently the use of the emblem, “3=6”.

Three cylinders of a total capacity of 900ccm and 40hp were enough in order to provide acceleration of the 3=6 series sedan to 125km/h. It could also provide an acceleration of 0-100km/h in 31 seconds. With the same engine the Monza could attain 140km/h and accelerate from 0-100km/h in 20 seconds.

The Monza records were thus driven on the Monza track. Auto Union noticed that, however showed little interest for the record coupé. There the Heidelberger camper wholesale dealer Fritz Wenk took the initiative and placed a private order for a small Monza series on 3=6-chassis.

The complete vehicles were first built by Dannenhauer & Stauss in Stuttgart, Germany, then by Massholder in Heidelberg and lastly by the company Robert Schenk in Stuttgart.

Fritz Wenk had to discontinue his Monza production in 1958 because of the AU1000 and SP models from AUTO UNION arriving with the 50 hp engines. As a result AUTO UNION refused to provide additional new chassis for his production of the Monza. Privately owned, used DKW 3=6 and AU1000 sedans could be delivered to the Richard Schenk company and converted to the Monza.

Numbers of produced cars:
In addition, conflicting reports as to the actual numbers built has been circulated. One of the reasons for this is that there was never an accurate record kept. With several companies making them at various times it was difficult to maintain a good production record. Therefore, it was very difficult to suggest a final production report on the actual number of Monza’s built. Making it more difficult was the additional used vehicles at the company and Monza kits that were sold to the public. The number of produced Monza’s varies between 230- 240, (Theoretically possible, according to letters of Wenk and Massholder. According to the realistic number of items appear to be about 70 - 80 .

DKW Monza