The 1936 Horch 853 featured in this article is one of the most valuable collector cars in the world. The automobile is original and features a 4.9 liter straight eight engine.
August Horch
Horch & Cie. Motorwagenwerke AG was founded by August Horch, a former production manager for Karl Benz, in 1904 in the city of Zwickau in the Kingdom of Saxony. Interestingly enough, due to an internal personnel problem and because the Horch brand was already registered and not to August Horch therefore the company was renamed Audi Automobilwerke in 1910.
The name Audi was suggested to August Horch by a business partner. The word “Audi” is the Latin translation of “Horch”. This is why the Audi automobile had it’s roots going back to the original company founded by August Horch.
The Horch 853
August Horch gained a reputation for building quality automobiles. Horch had a goal to compete for the Mercedes-Benz market with OHC 4.5-liter straight eight engines, and also a 6-liter V-12. Mercedes-Benz built engines with superchargers while Horch did not, leaving his great looking cabriolets relatively under powered and with a top speed of around 80 mph. With that being said, the elegant Horch 853 series looked comparable with the Mercedes-Benz 500K and 540K series.
The very first Horch 853 was introduced for 1936 and the 853s continued to be produced up until the start of World War II.
A total of 627 Horch 853’s were produced. They sold for the price of 14.900 Reichsmark. These were very luxurious automobiles, looks comparable to Mercedes but carried a price tag lower than Mercedes-Benz.
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