Barkas (van manufacturer)
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Barkas was the
East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
manufacturer of small delivery vans and
minibus A minibus, microbus, minicoach, or commuter (in Zimbabwe) is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, th ...
es named the B 1000. In addition to delivery vans, Barkas also made engines for Trabant cars. The van was built in a new factory in
Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...
(then known as Karl-Marx-Stadt) on a site which was formerly home to the Framo car plant, the old Framo factory having been crated up and shipped to the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
as part of a larger war reparations package in the late 1940s. The business had subsequently been nationalized by the GDR government. B 1000 production started in 1961 and continued until 1991. Originally the B 1000 was powered by the 45 PS three cylinder, two stroke
DKW DKW (''Dampf-Kraft-Wagen'', en, "steam-powered car", also ''Deutsche Kinder-Wagen'' en, "German children's car". ''Das-Kleine-Wunder'', en, "the little wonder" or ''Des-Knaben-Wunsch'', en, "the boy's wish"- from when the company built to ...
derived engine found also in contemporary Wartburgs. Shortly before production ceased, the model designation was changed to B 1000/1, and the old engine was replaced by a 1.3 four-stroke engine manufactured under
licence A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
from
Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
. The Belgian importer began installing a 1.8-litre (
Endura-D The Ford Endura-D engine is a inline-4 Diesel engine used in a variety of vehicles made by the Ford Motor Company, including the Ford Escort (Europe), Ford Focus, Ford Fiesta, Ford Mondeo, Ford Orion, Ford Sierra, Ford Transit Connect and Ford ...
) Ford diesel engine in the 1980s as the two-stroke was no longer competitive. The B 1000 was a remarkable van at the time; the unusually high loading capacity, two-stroke engine, front wheel drive and semi trailing arms suspension differed from the more traditionally constructed vans in the West. Being the only commercially available van in East Germany, the factory offered many body styles; a flatbed, a panel van, a people carrier, a box van and an ambulance were all available. Comparisons with the Volkswagen van of the early 1960s were inevitable. Its front-mounted engine made the Barkas easier to load and more variable in its configuration, with space for up to eight passenger seats. The vehicles were mostly produced for public service applications, with private customer delivery times in the 1960s stretching to heroic levels commonly associated with
Trabant Trabant () is a series of small cars produced from 1957 until 1991 by former East German car manufacturer VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau. In total, four different models were made, the Trabant 500, Trabant 600, Trabant 601, and the Tra ...
s, of between ten and fourteen years. Perhaps the most infamous alleged use of the B 1000 in the time of East Germany was by the feared
Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...
state security forces as a covert prisoner transport vehicle, whereby up to five prisoners could be held in tiny, windowless cells in the rear of the vehicle. The vans were often used allegedly to snatch citizens directly from the street, and were usually disguised as food delivery trucks. Examples of vans configured in this way can be found on display at the former Stasi headquarters in Berlin, as well as the Hohenschönhausen prison used to hold political prisoners. Altogether 175,740 B1000s and 1,961 B1000-1s were built.


See also

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Tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...
Matador *
DKW Schnellaster The DKW Schnellaster, also known as the DKW F89 L, was a van produced by DKW from 1949 to 1962. Alongside the DKW F89 passenger car, it was the first vehicle to be manufactured by the new Auto Union conglomerate in Ingolstadt following the re-es ...
*
VW T1 The Volkswagen Type 2, known officially (depending on body type) as the Transporter, Kombi or Microbus, or, informally, as the Bus (US), Camper (UK) or Bulli (Germany), is a forward control light commercial vehicle introduced in 1950 by the G ...


Gallery

File:Frankenberg Museum Barkas1100.jpg, B 1100 prototype File:Barkas B1000.JPG, Fire engine File:Barkas B 1000.jpg, People carrier File:Stasi Barkas B1000.JPG, Stasi prisoner transport version File:Barkas B1000 twin-axle LKW LX 26-98, Erfurt, DDR, August 1989 - Flickr - sludgegulper.jpg, Tandem axle File:Barkas B1000 Pritsche.jpg, Pickup truck File:Barkas1.jpg, Semi-truck


References


External links


UK IFA owners' club Barkas page

www.barkas.de

Website zum 4-Takt-Barkas B1000-1

Fire Museum Frankenberg
* https://web.archive.org/web/20041209040812/http://home.clara.net/peterfrost/barkas.html Alternative Autos {{DEFAULTSORT:Barkas (Van Manufacturer) Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1958 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1990 Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Germany Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau Car manufacturers of East Germany 1958 establishments in East Germany