Dhe standard of living is rising, paying in installments makes it easier to make a larger purchase, and then there is “the female element” that “is often the decisive factor when buying a motorcycle, scooter or mobile home”. Good reasons, then, to buy a vehicle with a roof to protect against bad weather instead of a two-wheeler. That’s what it said in early 1955 in an overview of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung about small vehicles, because interested parties could choose from a larger range: Kleinschnittger, Fulda-Mobil, Messerschmitt, Pinguin and Kroboth were the names of the mobiles. Another is remembered for its bizarre name: the Goggomobil.
The name is probably more familiar to many than the manufacturer, Hans Glas GmbH Isaria Maschinenfabrik. The current exhibition at the Central Garage in Bad Homburg, a private automobile museum, is dedicated to vehicles from Dingolfing. The choice of exhibits naturally lives up to the title “Glass Automobiles – from the Goggomobil to the V 8”. They were made available by lenders organized in Glas Automobilclub International.
So the series begins with the Goggo, a scooter inspired by the Vespa. Junior boss Andreas Glas became aware of the Italian wasp when he visited the agricultural machinery exhibition in Verona. In 1951 the German scooter came onto the market. The nickname of Hans Glas’ grandson provided the brand name. The two-wheeler was a complete success: in 1954, 25,000 rolled. Copy from tape, the newspaper reported in April. A fifth of the production was sold abroad. Three months later, Glas announced a new type of vehicle “for two adults and two children sitting next to each other”, which was to be called the Goggomobil.
With the scooter from 1951 to 54, the company, which previously produced agricultural machinery, landed a great success. The first “Goggomobil” rolled off the production line in 1955.
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Image: Helmut Fricke
The 14 hp engine with a displacement of 250 cubic centimeters promised top speeds of 85 kilometers per hour. Because it wasn’t any bigger, the vehicle could still be driven with a class IV driver’s license. An advantage that should not be underestimated: It is possible that plans for a small car by the Bad Homburg motorcycle manufacturer Horex, of which drawings have been preserved, failed, not least because of the oversized 400 cc engine and the required driver’s license III. In its original form, the cute Goggomobil with its round headlights looks like a car drawn by a child’s hand that would fit in well with Duckburg. You could also imagine Donald in the TS 300 convertible. The appeal of the exhibition is the many different variants that you can encounter here. For example, the T 400 van from 1961, which was mainly used on the streets in postal yellow to deliver parcels. However, the two-tone Dart Roadster from Australia is a hit in terms of shape and color. There Bill Buckle had dealt with bodies made of plastic. To avoid the high import duties, Glas delivered the appropriate chassis to the other end of the world, where Buckle turned the Goggomobil basis into a sleek, open sports car. With 20 hp! That was enough for the Dart for 100 kilometers per hour.
A Goggomobil van with two sliding doors and tailgates for trade and commerce.
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Image: Helmut Fricke
It didn’t stop with the Goggomobil. In 1958 came the larger Isar, of which there was later also a station wagon version. While these cars are still characterized by the typical late baroque curves, the Glas S 1004 coupé presented in 1961 comes in simpler forms, as later also shown by competitors from Opel and Ford. What Central Garage owner Dieter Dressel finds remarkable is the innovative strength of the glass engineers. They developed modern engines with overhead camshafts and toothed belt drives, many different vehicle variants and finally even a V8 engine with 2.6 liters for an exclusive sports coupe. The drive was based on the apparently simple principle of placing two in-line four-cylinder engine blocks at an angle on a common crankcase. In any case, the result was a sensationally inexpensive V8 coupé, the dress of which came from the Turin designer Pietro Frua, who also designed bodies for Maserati. Which is why the eight-cylinder from Dingolfing was given the nickname “Glaserati”.
View into the cockpit of the car with English flair, glass V8 coupe from 1966, with 160hp and 195km fast but high fuel consumption: 16l per 100km.
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Image: Helmut Fricke
The Glas GT sports coupe, which was later offered by BMW in almost unchanged form as the 1600 GT, also bears Frua’s signature – both are cozily standing next to each other in the central garage. In 1966, Hans Glas GmbH was taken over by the Bavarian Motor Works. The large range of models and the entry into the luxury segment no longer fit with the unfavorable cost structure at the company, in which a lot of manual work was still done and in which the senior boss found it difficult to invest in new machines. The story of the glass cars is not the only thing that is told in the Central Garage. The film “Traumreise zu Drei” can be seen in a separate room, to which Marlotte and Peter Backhaus set out in 1957 with a Goggomobil.
The Central Garage in Bad Homburg, Niederstedter Weg 5, is open Wednesdays to Sundays from 12 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. Admission is free.