Wanderer W50 History

The W50 was the senior six-cylinder Wanderer of the Auto Union era, powered by a 2,257 cc inline-six engine and sitting at the top of the marque's range from 1936 to 1939. It slotted above the W22/W40 family and represented Wanderer's closest approach to the prestige end of the German middle-upper market.

From 1937 Auto Union also offered the W23, a six-cylinder model using a larger 2,632 cc flathead engine built in-house by Auto Union — distinct from the Porsche-engineered overhead-valve units used in the earlier W21/W22 family. Together the W50 and W23 defined the upper reaches of the Wanderer range in its final years before wartime ended civilian production.

W50 production is generally recorded as roughly 4,000 cars, built over a run most sources place at 1936–1938 (a few extend it to 1939). That figure is specific to the W50 and separate from the larger ~29,111-unit collective run of the 3-metre-wheelbase six-cylinder Wanderers (the W21/W22 family), with which the W50 is sometimes conflated.