Melkus RS 1000 History

The RS 1000's origins trace to the mid-1960s, when Heinz Melkus — already respected in East German motorsport through Formula Junior and Formula 3 — was overtaken on the road to Yugoslavia by a Lotus Elan. Determined to build a comparable lightweight mid-engine sports car from the parts available in the German Democratic Republic, he assembled a working group with engineers from the Dresden University of Technology, technicians from the Eisenach car factory, and designers from the Berlin-Weißensee School of Art.

To secure permission from the East German government, Melkus framed the project as a vehicle to honor 'the 20th anniversary of the founding of the German Democratic Republic.' The first car was driven on 1 January 1969. The RS 1000 used a fiberglass body mounted on a tubular steel frame, with a tuned 992 cc three-cylinder two-stroke engine — derived from the Wartburg 353 — mounted amidships and driving the rear wheels through a five-speed gearbox. The car weighed only 690 kg and could reach 165 km/h (103 mph), with approximately 68 horsepower on offer.

Gullwing doors and sleek Italian-influenced proportions made the RS 1000 look far more exotic than its humble mechanicals suggested — contemporaries compared it to the Lamborghini Miura. At 28,000 East German Marks, buyers faced an 18-month waiting list and typically needed racing credentials or well-placed connections to obtain one. Production ended in 1979 after exactly 101 cars, when worsening supply of Wartburg components made continuation impossible. The RS 1000 remains the only production sports car ever made in East Germany.