Audi F103
Encyclopedia
F103 is the internal designation for a series of car models produced by Auto Union
in West Germany
from 1965 to 1972, derived from the earlier DKW F102
. To signify the change from a two-stroke to four-stroke engine, the DKW
marque was dropped in favour of Audi
, a name dormant since before the Second World War.
The more powerful Audi 80 and Audi Super 90 sports saloons appeared in 1966: in 1968 the arrival of the less powerful Audi 60 completed the range.
The Audi 75 replaced both the Audi 72 and the Audi 80 from 1969 onwards.
In 1972 the F103 series was discontinued in favour of the "B1" Audi 80.
, which Auto Union
's DKW
brand had pioneered during the 1930s, and the longitudinally positioning of a four cylinder engine would provide the basic template for Volkswagen
's successful new Passat
as well as the Audi
models Audi 80
and Audi 100
after Volkswagen
acquired the business
from Daimler-Benz
late in 1964. Since the chassis on the F103 was taken from the DKW F102
with a 3-cylinder two stroke engine the longer engine meant that the cooling system had to be offset to the left of the engine instead of the normal position in front of it.
The engines of the F103 series were a joint development with Daimler-Benz
who owned Auto-Union at the time (from 1958 to 1964). They were dubbed the Mitteldruckmotor (medium pressure engines), because of their unusually high compression ratio
, mid-way between conventional petrol and diesel engine
s.
Inboard mounted front disc brakes were featured, which was still unusual in the mid-size car market at this time. The rear brakes followed the more conventional drum configuration.
. The engine compartment had to be extended so that the new four-cylinder engine could be accommodated. The front and tail were also cosmetically revised: Audi F103s sold in Europe all featured quasi-rectangular headlamps which were becoming fashionable at the time, whereas the F102 had used round headlamp units.
All Audi F103 models were offered as saloons with two and four doors. However, the two door saloon/sedan was not sold in markets with little demand for two door cars of this size, such as Italy and Britain.
With the exception of the Audi Super 90, the F103 series were available also as three-door estate models. Making its debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1966, this was called, like the Volkswagen
estate/station wagon models, Variant.
Auto Union
Auto Union was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony, during the Great Depression. The company has evolved into present day Audi, as a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group....
in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
from 1965 to 1972, derived from the earlier DKW F102
DKW F102
The DKW F102 is a car that was produced initially by German manufacturer Auto Union AG and later by Volkswagen AG after Volkswagen acquired the Auto Union brands from Daimler-Benz AG in 1964. It succeeded the Auto Union 1000 and 1000S models in 1963...
. To signify the change from a two-stroke to four-stroke engine, the DKW
DKW
DKW is a historic German car and motorcycle marque. The name derives from Dampf-Kraft-Wagen .In 1916, the Danish engineer Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen founded a factory in Zschopau, Saxony, Germany, to produce steam fittings. In the same year, he attempted to produce a steam-driven car, called the DKW...
marque was dropped in favour of Audi
Audi
Audi AG is a German automobile manufacturer, from supermini to crossover SUVs in various body styles and price ranges that are marketed under the Audi brand , positioned as the premium brand within the Volkswagen Group....
, a name dormant since before the Second World War.
Models
The first model was launched simply as the Audi, later being renamed the Audi 72 (72 being the nominal power output of the engine in Pferdestärke).The more powerful Audi 80 and Audi Super 90 sports saloons appeared in 1966: in 1968 the arrival of the less powerful Audi 60 completed the range.
The Audi 75 replaced both the Audi 72 and the Audi 80 from 1969 onwards.
In 1972 the F103 series was discontinued in favour of the "B1" Audi 80.
Engines
The F103 series were equipped exclusively with four-cylinder four stroke engines. These were longitudinally mounted. This combination of front-wheel driveFront-wheel drive
Front-wheel drive is a form of engine/transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longitudinal engine arrangement generally found in rear-wheel drive and...
, which Auto Union
Auto Union
Auto Union was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony, during the Great Depression. The company has evolved into present day Audi, as a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group....
's DKW
DKW
DKW is a historic German car and motorcycle marque. The name derives from Dampf-Kraft-Wagen .In 1916, the Danish engineer Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen founded a factory in Zschopau, Saxony, Germany, to produce steam fittings. In the same year, he attempted to produce a steam-driven car, called the DKW...
brand had pioneered during the 1930s, and the longitudinally positioning of a four cylinder engine would provide the basic template for Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
's successful new Passat
Volkswagen Passat
The Volkswagen Passat is a large family car marketed by Volkswagen Passenger Cars through six design generations since 1973. Between the Volkswagen Golf / Volkswagen Jetta and the Volkswagen Phaeton in the current Volkswagen line-up, the Passat and its derivatives have been badged variously as...
as well as the Audi
Audi
Audi AG is a German automobile manufacturer, from supermini to crossover SUVs in various body styles and price ranges that are marketed under the Audi brand , positioned as the premium brand within the Volkswagen Group....
models Audi 80
Audi 80
The Audi 80 is a compact executive car produced by the German car manufacturer Audi, from 1966 to 1996. It shared its platform with the Volkswagen Passat from 1973 to 1986 and was available as a saloon car/sedan, and an Avant...
and Audi 100
Audi 100
The restyled C2 Audi 100 was launched in 1976, with an in-line five-cylinder engine...
after Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
acquired the business
Auto Union
Auto Union was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony, during the Great Depression. The company has evolved into present day Audi, as a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group....
from Daimler-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
late in 1964. Since the chassis on the F103 was taken from the DKW F102
DKW F102
The DKW F102 is a car that was produced initially by German manufacturer Auto Union AG and later by Volkswagen AG after Volkswagen acquired the Auto Union brands from Daimler-Benz AG in 1964. It succeeded the Auto Union 1000 and 1000S models in 1963...
with a 3-cylinder two stroke engine the longer engine meant that the cooling system had to be offset to the left of the engine instead of the normal position in front of it.
The engines of the F103 series were a joint development with Daimler-Benz
Daimler-Benz
Daimler-Benz AG was a German manufacturer of automobiles, motor vehicles, and internal combustion engines; founded in 1926. An Agreement of Mutual Interest - which was valid until year 2000 - was signed on 1 May 1924 between Karl Benz's Benz & Cie., and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, which had...
who owned Auto-Union at the time (from 1958 to 1964). They were dubbed the Mitteldruckmotor (medium pressure engines), because of their unusually high compression ratio
Compression ratio
The 'compression ratio' of an internal-combustion engine or external combustion engine is a value that represents the ratio of the volume of its combustion chamber from its largest capacity to its smallest capacity...
, mid-way between conventional petrol and diesel engine
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
s.
Running gear
The car came with a four speed manual transmission.Inboard mounted front disc brakes were featured, which was still unusual in the mid-size car market at this time. The rear brakes followed the more conventional drum configuration.
Bodywork
The F103 bodyshell was a development of the earlier DKW F102DKW F102
The DKW F102 is a car that was produced initially by German manufacturer Auto Union AG and later by Volkswagen AG after Volkswagen acquired the Auto Union brands from Daimler-Benz AG in 1964. It succeeded the Auto Union 1000 and 1000S models in 1963...
. The engine compartment had to be extended so that the new four-cylinder engine could be accommodated. The front and tail were also cosmetically revised: Audi F103s sold in Europe all featured quasi-rectangular headlamps which were becoming fashionable at the time, whereas the F102 had used round headlamp units.
All Audi F103 models were offered as saloons with two and four doors. However, the two door saloon/sedan was not sold in markets with little demand for two door cars of this size, such as Italy and Britain.
With the exception of the Audi Super 90, the F103 series were available also as three-door estate models. Making its debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1966, this was called, like the Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
estate/station wagon models, Variant.
Commercial
During the early 1960s Auto Union was in commercial retreat: the Audi F103 was a relative success when compared with recent Auto Union products even if its commercial success was trumped by subsequent Audi models. In July 1967 it was reported that 100,000 Audis had been completed: production of the F103 had by now built up to a rate of almost 40,000 per year and the company was moved to deny speculation that another new Audi model would be presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show in the Autumn / Fall of 1967. (The Audi 100 was introduced only towards the end of 1968.)Specifications
Manufacturer's figures except where stated| Audi F103 | Audi 60 2 or 4-door saloon/sedan 3-door ‘Variant’ estate/station wagon |
Audi 72 2 or 4-door saloon/sedan 3-door ‘Variant’ estate/station wagon |
Audi 75 2 or 4-door saloon/sedan 3-door ‘Variant’ estate/station wagon |
Audi 80 2 or 4-door saloon/sedan 3-door ‘Variant’ estate/station wagon |
Audi Super 90 2 or 4-door saloon/sedan |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Produced (years): | 1968–1972 | 1965–1969 | 1969–1972 | 1966–1969 | 1966–1972 | |
| Produced (units – excludes estate 'Variant' bodied cars): | 216,988 | 122,579 | 49,794 | |||
| Engine: | 4-cylinder-inline engine (four-stroke), longitudinally front-mounted | |||||
| Bore x Stroke: | 80 x 74.4 | 80 x 84.4 | 81.5 x 84.4 | |||
| Displacement: | 1496 cc | 1695 cc | 1761 cc | |||
| Max. Power: | 55 PS / 54 hp Horsepower Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the... / 40 kW Kw kw or KW may refer to:* Kuwait, ISO 3166-1 country code** .kw, the country code top level domain for Kuwait* Kilowatt* Self-ionization of water Kw* Cornish language's ISO 639 code* Kitchener–Waterloo, Ontario, Canada... 65 PS / 64 hp / 48 kW |
72 PS / 71 hp / 53 kW | 75 PS / 74 hp / 55 kW | 80 PS / 79 hp / 59 kW | 90 PS / 89 hp / 66 kW | |
| Compression Ratio: | 9.1 : 1 | 11.2 : 1 | 9.1 : 1 | - | 10.6 : 1 | |
| Acceleration 0 – 100 km/h / 0 – 62 mph (seconds): |
18.0 | 14.8 | 14.5 | 14.0 | 12.2 | |
| Max Speed km/h (mph) : | 138 km/h (86 mph) 144 km/h (89 mph) |
148 km/h (92 mph) | 150 km/h (93 mph) | 152 km/h (94 mph) | 163 km/h (101 mph) | |
| Fuel feed: | single Solex carburetor | |||||
| Valvetrain: | - | |||||
| Cooling: | Water | |||||
| Electrical system: | 12 volt | |||||
| Front suspension: | Independent torsion bar | |||||
| Rear suspension:: | Torsion bar | |||||
| Brakes: | Front discs / Rear drum brakes | |||||
| Body structure: | Monocoque Monocoque Monocoque is a construction technique that supports structural load by using an object's external skin, as opposed to using an internal frame or truss that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin or coachwork... |
|||||
| Dry weight: | colspan="5" align="center" |960 kilograms (2,116.4 lb) - 1065 kilograms (2,347.9 lb) | |||||
| Track front/rear: | colspan="5" align="center" |1343 millimetres (52.9 in) / 1327 millimetres (52.2 in) | |||||
| Wheelbase: | colspan="5" align="center" | 2490 millimetres (98 in) | |||||
| Length: | colspan="5" align="center" | 4380 millimetres (172.4 in) | |||||
| Width: | colspan="5" align="center" | 1626 millimetres (64 in) | |||||
| Height: | colspan="5" align="center" | 1451 millimetres (57.1 in) | |||||
| Steering: | rack & pinion | |||||
| Turning circle: | 10.59 m / 34'9" | |||||