Wanderer W24 History

Introduced for 1937 alongside a wider Auto Union range refresh, the W24 was Wanderer's volume middle-market car: a four-door saloon powered by a flathead 1,767 cc inline-four producing 42 PS at 3,400 rpm, transmitted through a four-speed manual gearbox. Production ran at the Siegmar factory in what is now Chemnitz.

By the time civilian passenger-car production was stopped in 1940 by the intensifying demands of the war economy, approximately 23,000 W24s had been built — making it the most-produced Wanderer automobile and one of the marque's commercial high points. A small number of cabriolet variants (approximately 300) were also built, making them rare and collectible today.

The W24's chassis used a box frame with a swing-axle rear arrangement borrowed from sister brand DKW's smaller models, and an electrical system running on six volts. The model occupied the mainstream mid-class sector within Auto Union's brand pyramid, positioned below the larger six-cylinder Wanderers.