The museum mobile in the Audi Forum Ingolstadt, Germany has organized a spectacular exhibition to commemorate the centenary of the Audi brand. For this unique event, entitled "From Horch to Audi - The history of perfection has a new name", historic cars have been collected from all over Europe.
From March 11 to July 16, 2009, visitors to the Audi museum mobile will be able to see 13 cars dating from before WW2, including the first model to bear the Audi name, a 1911 Audi Type A, and a world premiere - the 1935 Audi 225 Front Special Roadster, which was recently rebuilt. Both these cars, and many other exhibits as well, are the only examples to be seen anywhere in the world.
Audi AG can look back on a varied and often turbulent history. Before the end of the 19th century, August Horch established a company known as Horch & Cie Motorwagen Werke in Cologne. In 1902 he moved to Zwickau in Saxony, and in 1904 it was reorganized into a joint-stock company.
In 1909, following a dispute with the members of the executive and supervisory boards, August Horch left the company and a few weeks later established a second automobile manufacturing operation, also in Zwickau. Since he could not use his own name, which was a registered brand, he chose a Latin translation instead: the German word "Horch!" (meaning "Listen!") became "Audi". The use of this Latin imperative was suggested by the son of one of August Horch's business partners, a student of Latin, who had followed the discussion about a new name with interest.
Car production began on a small scale, true to Horch's basic principle of building only "good, strong cars", but only a few years later Audi had already developed into one of the best-known German automobile brands. It enjoyed success in competition from the very start. Victories in Austrian Alpine Rallies between 1911 and 1914 made the Audi name familiar on the international scene. The Audi Type C 14/35 PS was especially successful, and acquired the name "Alpine Victor".
The Audi museum mobile will be displaying no fewer than 13 of the oldest Audi cars still in existence. In order to present not only these historic vehicles but also any number of anecdotes from the company's early days in a stimulating manner, including the years up to the major interruption in its activities caused by the Second World War, the exhibition's organizers have adopted an unusual approach. The stories have become a storyboard, and this in turn takes the form of a comic strip. Each page deals with anecdotes, special occurrences and legendary landmarks in the Audi company's history. The choice of name, the dismissal of August Horch, the first eight-cylinder model, the pioneering adoption by Audi of left-hand drive in Germany, the competition for the first Audi radiator badge, acquisition by DKW and the subsequent creation of Auto Union - the chronicle continues until the point when, on the outbreak of war, Germany's second-largest automobile manufacturer had to cease production of passenger cars for the general public.
As Stefan Felber from the Audi museum mobile explains: "Audi's history is far too exciting for a conventional form of presentation. We have aimed to make it easily comprehensible at first glance, and for children to understand it easily too."
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