DKWs in Ceylon
I am writing to place on record my appreciation for the inclusion of “me on the SRV 250” in the OBA 98. A good friend of mine said to me “fancy this – you getting a mention at your age”. I had to laugh! Because persons who want to sell older motor bikes make contact with you, I thought I might explain I used to work back in Ceylon – as it was then called – for the company that used to be the agents for the DKW range of cars and motor cycles; the forerunners of what is now the Audi range, although Audi never ventured into the realm of motor cycles.
I owned a 175cc which I raced against 250cc as there was no 175cc class. We did not get even starters’ money – you just did it for kicks. But I also owned one of the two RT 350cc DKW twins in the island – a beautiful machine and sold it for Rupees 1200.00 in 1969. At today’s rate of conversion that would amount to Australian dollars $8.28. I was looking at purchasing another 350cc DKW machine
and found one in Germany with an asking price of Aust $11,969 (Euro 7,500) and that was not the CIF price either… too rich for me.
Enclosed (above) a shot of my DKW 350 in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) taken in 1968 by a lake at Newura Eliya. Trevor Ebert Queensland
I have long wished to find an Australian-based DKW RT350 as the basis for a story in OBA. Is there one out there? – Ed