From the Deutsche Auto Zeitung to the magazine "Auto Zeitung" - 50 years
09/22/2019
Almost at the same time as Sport Auto , Auto Zeitung is also celebrating its 50th birthday. The anniversary issue has now been published, over 300 pages long and full of current and historical content. Even posters, once a favorite room decoration of many teenagers, are not missing, including one with the BMW M1!
The first "Deutsche Auto Zeitung" was actually published on April 10, 1969, at a price of 70 pfennigs, but the anniversary is now being celebrated in September.
Of course, the Auto Zeitung has also included some retrospectives in issue 21/2019. For example, it remembers the stars of 1969, the year of its birth.
It looks back at the more than 1,300 issues published, shows many of the cover pages from that time and highlights special articles.
Of course, there is also a sports review, as motor racing was always an important pillar of the Auto Zeitung.
The highlight of the anniversary edition, however, is the (almost) complete reprint of the first issue of the "Deutsche Auto Zeitung" in its original format. In its first year, it really was a newspaper in A3+ format and with a layout reminiscent of the Bild newspaper.
Sensational stories and titles in large letters were intended to attract readers. The first issue featured "Mercedes shocked the whole car world" on the front page and was about the Stuttgart-based manufacturer's Wankel plans.
However, the makers of Auto Zeitung did not want to leave the reprinted original issue completely unchanged, which is why a modern article entitled "Opel puts an end to compromises" was included, which basically refers to an advertisement for the Opel Grandland X Hybrid 4 on page 7.
We'll forgive it, because the rest of the 16-page reprint is great fun to read. The Opel GT was tested back then, the Audi Coupé was announced, racing had its say (with Jochen Rindt, among others) and many a zeitgeisty item was printed that no magazine would afford today. Thank you for the exciting look back, dear Auto-Zeitung makers!
