The car was presented on the Automobile Show in Leipzig in spring 1957.

The sports car had a hardtop made of steel panel, and an optional softtop. Even though the wheelbase was the same as of the Wartburg 311, the bonnet was much longer, which meant that the passenger compartment had to be smaller. The front and rear of the car were designs made in Eisenach and the body was produced there for a few months. From 1958 on the body shells then were produced at the VEB Karosserie-Werk Dresden.

Wartburg Sport (red)©flickr/sludgegulper

The chassis was hardly changed but the engine of course was modified. It had two downdraft airflow carbs and a higher compression. It had a pump circulated cooling. So the Wartburg Sport had 50 hp instead of 37 hp and a top speed of 140 km/h. Because of the pretty high weight the car wasn’t very sporty though. But it was one of the fastest cars in East Germany at that time. Of course the brakes were improved too. In 1959 the gearbox of all Wartburg cars gained synchromesh for the 2nd to the 4th gear.

The car had leather seats and the wooden instrument panel was covered with leather too. The instruments were the same as in the Wartburg 311, only the speedo got a new scale up to 160 km/h. The steering wheel was specially designed for the Wartburg Sport and was made of ivory-coloured plastic with a horn ring.
From 1957 to 1960 4 prototypes and 469 cars were manufactured and 143 of them were exported, 8 even to the USA where one car was presented on the New York Auto Show in 1958.

The engine is mounted in the rear, driving the rear wheels. And even though the little AV Monocar might look strange, it was a quite popular cycle-car of its time. It was somehow a mixture of a motorcycle and a small car and offered more comfort and stability than a motorcycle.

AV of Teddington in Middlesex was founded by Ward & Avey Ltd. They bought a cycle-car design from designer John Carden and started to produce monocars.

The cars were single seaters, as the name Monocar already indicates, steering was by wires, and the transmission of the V-twin air-cooled JAP or Blackburne motorcycle engine was by chain through a Sturmey Archer three-speed motorcycle gearbox.

The tiny car was a simple little machine and easy to repair when things went wrong.