In 1943 the German Wehrmacht wanted a more suitable bike for their Army. The DKW factory came out with the NZ 350-1 - the prototype of this bike was invented actually as early as 1939. This was completely suitable for army service machine, designed and built for this purpose on the NZ 350 basis. In reality there are not very many differences but a few. We are still searching for an actual DKW NZ 350-1 parts book. So far the only book we can find is the actual manual D 605.27 dated 5 Jul 1944.

One of the first major differences is the motor. According to "Short Notice No.328" this new motor started around April 1944 with engine no. 1358201. Just recently pictures came my way which showed an cast iron engine with number 1354362! This engine was very original and the gearbox parts were marked with 05/44 (May 1944) which proofs that official DKW statements have to be treated with some scepticism.

The motorcycle went under a few cosmetic changes, one was the front fender. From the old style art deco looking wide front fender they went to a thin sleek fender. This was to keep mud build up down in the fender. The bike was available in two main Army versions - one in the grey colours of Luftwaffe - “Schwarz-grau” (black-grey) and Wehrmacht's “Dunkel-grau” (dark grey) and a beige version, known as Sahara.