The Club was formed in 1969 making it one of the oldest clubs for vehicles from the DDR (East Germany), only the Czech Wartburg club is known to be older.

For many years the Club catered solely for Wartburgs as for a long time they were the only East German car imported in any quantity. The collapse of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe resulted in much easier access to the wide variety of vehicles produced by those countries. Trabants received much publicity as they were seen driving through the remains of the Berlin Wall. By 1991 several hundred Trabants plus a few other vehicles of DDR manufacture, such as Barkas and Framo had been imported into the UK. At that time the name of the Club was changed to Wartburg IFA Owners Club UK to reflect this, IFA being the DDR state owned company to which all the automobile manufacturing bodies belonged. The Club name has recently been changed again to that shown in the heading above to acknowledge the fact that numbers of Wartburgs and Trabants in the Club are now probably about equal.

Having one club to cater for all the IFA vehicles has a number of advantages. Many spare parts are common to more than one make of vehicle, and often parts that are not common will be made by the same component manufacturers or are available from the same suppliers. The majority of DDR vehicles use two-stroke engines which share a common technology. Most of the European clubs also cover the whole IFA range rather than concentrating on a particular marque.

The Club produces a bi-monthly magazine called Knight Rider which keeps the membership informed of current events. It features articles that range from technical to humourous, plus adverts for cars and parts.
There is a network of area representatives in the UK, and linkmen in many other countries. These provide friendly advice, assistance and local coordination to club members travelling in the UK and abroad. The Club also maintains close links with IFA clubs in other countries and has a number of overseas members.

The Club keeps a list of vehicles for sale and wanted. This list is regularly updated and published in the Knight Rider.

IFA Day is the major annual event of the Club. In the past few years it has been held at Stanford Hall, Leicestershire in May. We also have a "Treffen" in September which has alternated between Mildenhall in Suffolk and the Foxfield Railway near Stoke. Members in Scotland have their own IFA Day. You can see pictures from recent rallies on the web site run by our membership secretary - click here to visit.

A number of Club members use their cars as every day transport and some make regular continental trips. Some of the Wartburg members have owned their cars for many years and have clocked up huge mileages (300,000 plus in more than one case). This demonstrates the reliability and longevity of DDR vehicles. Since official imports of right hand drive Wartburgs into the UK ceased in the mid 1970s a number of cars have been imported privately. Many of these have been converted to right hand drive in the UK (a relatively easy conversion). Most DDR vehicles provide an interesting, practical and inexpensive alternative for the classic car enthusiast.

Wartburgs are built on a separate chassis and feature bolt together construction. Their powerful smooth three cylinder, two stroke engine has only seven moving parts. The post 1966 cars only required servicing every 30,000 miles! The engine requires no oil changes and only needs occasional new plugs and contact breaker points. The spares availability for post 1968 cars (Type 353, Knight saloon or Tourist estate) is generally very good. Spares for the earlier 1957-67 models (Type 311 and 312) are harder to get but not impossible. Running repairs and full restorations are both easily within the capabilities of the average enthusiast.

Trabants are constructed on a steel body shell with outer panels made of Duraplast which is a plastic resin (related to Formica and Bakelite) reinforced with cotton fabric making a material similar to GRP, but being a dry process, with each panel made using a press, was much more suited to mass production. Trabants are NOT made of papier-mache, cardboard or hardboard as some people believe. Their twin cylinder two stroke engine has only five moving parts, gives good acceleration and will allow surprising average speeds to be maintained. Spares are freely available and cheap and again maintenance and restorations should prove no problem.

During the last two years of production (1989-1991) four stroke engines, made under licence from VW, were fitted to both the Wartburg (1300cc) and Trabant (1100cc).

The Barkas van, pick-up or minibus make an interesting alternative classic vehicle for someone who needs greater carrying capacity. These use a similar three cylinder engine to the Wartburg. Although under 1000cc it is quite capable of powering these larger vehicles.

The Club operates a spares service for Wartburgs. Most frequently required service parts are available from stock. All other parts can be obtained to order from our suppliers in Germany, usually within seven days. Trabant spares can be obtained from Trabi UK run by David Milne. Club members get a discount on the published prices.

Club members in the UK are now entitled to 12.5% discount on all books and videos in the Haynes Publishing catalogue, including free post and packing.