AWZ P70 ‘Zwickau’ Coupé

The AWZ P70 "Zwickau" Coupé was made before the Trabant, in the same ex-Auto Union factory that eventually started producing the Trabant.

One wonders why they thought they could improve on the P70’s drop-dead cute looks…

Credit to this car, and its construction, go to Auto Union. Part of its Zwickau factory included a research centre that had been — 1937-1941 style — used in part to develop alternatives to steel. As suitable materials began to become more viable for production, they were tested here. In total, three DKW F7 models were modified with composite bodywork.

“Composite bodywork” in this sense isn’t carbon fibre, as you may have assumed. Here, panels were made using a process similar to how Bakelite and Formica is formed. 

After the Second World War, the research centre fell under the control of East Germany, with IFA (Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau) resuming production of pre-war DKW designs. IFA was actually more a union of companies than anything else; the East German government nationalized various companies and industries after the Second World War, and automotive production was no different.

Today’s car is sometimes called only the Zwickau P70 Coupé, owing more to the location of its factory in Zwickau than the state planners dropping “IFA” from its name for a few model years.

When the range (two-door sedan, wagon, and coupe) was released, the headline feature was the P70's Duroplast construction. Made from recycled materials, cotton waste, and stuff called phenol resins, Duroplast is light, strong, and can be formed in a press like steel. 

There’s no free lunch in the auto industry, and Duroplast is no exception.

Burning Duroplast releases very toxic fumes, so, similar to asbestos, when a Duroplast car is no longer needed, the bodywork requires special disposal. Because we’re friends, I’ve found two such special disposal methods.

These days, old Trabants are shredded, with the material used as aggregate for cement blocks. (Back in 1991, news outlets reported on a Berlin-based firm that developed a bacterium capable of composting a Trabant body in 20 days.)