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Glas Half Full: 1963 Glas Isar K 700

060616 Barn Finds - 1963 Glas Isar Kombi 700 - 1

This cool little wagon is a 1963 Glas Isar K 700 and it’s located in Riihimaki, Finland, about an hour north of Helsinki. Yes, there would be some hefty shipping charges to bring this one across the pond. It’s listed on eBay with an equally-hefty asking price of $4,000. This car was stored in a barn for over 15 years; I’m assuming that it was a barn in Finland. You know what restored Goggomobils go for, several times that $4,000 asking price, so if you do a lot of the work yourself this could be a good buy, even with shipping costs added in to the mix. Thanks to Jim S. for sending in this tip!

060616 Barn Finds - 1963 Glas Isar Kombi 700 - 2

The Isar was the Glas company’s first try at building a “regular-sized” car. It was originally called the “big Goggomobil” when it was introduced at the 1957 Frankfurt Motor Show. By the time that production was under way, in the fall of 1958 for the 1959 model year, the sedan was known as the Glas Isar T 600 and the Kombi, or wagon, was known as the Glas Isar K 600. The “600” referred to the size of the engine – a 584 cc two-cylinder boxer engine with 19 hp and the “700” was a 688 cc two-cylinder boxer engine with 30 hp. Unfortunately, there are no engine photos included in the auction of this K 700. Here’s what a fully-restored car looks like; Very cool! And, what the engine should look like, or what it will look like after it’s restored. 14,275 “station wagon” models were produced between 1958 and 1965 when production ended.

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I love these quirky, somewhat-gangly-and awkward-looking cars! Maybe it’s because I’m also quirky, and somewhat-gangly-and-awkward-looking. The profile is a little awkward because of the originally-proposed engine placement slightly in front of the front drive wheels, but the car was changed at the last minute to be a rear-wheel-drive configuration. That led to some trouble with the gearbox and the early cars were said to be fairly problematic. Luckily, this 1963 model is a later car and those bugs would have been worked out by then. This particular turquoise and white K 700 will need a full restoration. The seller says that it’s missing the tail lights and the back window, and that “one brake is  jammed.” But, the “engine turns”, which is always a good thing. They’ll send more photos and any additional information you need if you send them a message.

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I’m not sure what the gauges are in the center, those must be something that an owner added, I don’t know if those are factory equipment. Here is a photo of an interior in a similar car, in quite a bit better condition than the car for sale here. And, an image of the main gauge cluster on a similar car. The rear compartment of the car for sale here won’t give you a ton of room for hauling things around, but you’ll sure stand out from the crowd at the big box home store when you pick up supplies in this car. I love unusual cars like this. If this car wasn’t located in Finland I’d be scratching my gray-whiskered-chin wondering whether to go for this one or not. Are there any other fans of these unusual cars out there?

Comments

  1. Avatar Bill

    Another bucket list car for me!

    Some guys want Vettes and tri5 Chevies.. i want weird euroboxes…

    Like 0
  2. Avatar RayT

    I agree with Bill! Well, not quite; what grabs me is weird Eastern Euroboxes….

    Which is what I thought this was at first. I didn’t know Glas had tried to build mass-market cars, and figured this was just another oddity from East of the border.

    It wouldn’t take much for me to start hunting down various Wartburgs,Skodas and the like, with maybe a ZIL for a daily driver. To me, they were the strangest of the strange.

    After that, there could be plenty of Japanese oddities (a Flying Feather?) and Red Chinese rides to attract my attention!

    Like 0
  3. Avatar rusty

    I don’t know about comparing the price of an Isar to the smaller gogs. Although rarer they are not quirky enough to bring the bigger money but I could be wrong.

    going to try and refer the fellow In the last goggo thread who had a pic of him as a boy standing next to one. He should get a kickout of this.

    Like 0
  4. Avatar Goggoowner

    It was a surprise for me to bump on to this article. I’m the seller of that particular car on the pictures. Production year is 1960, I found out lately. I have another similar car wich is under complete restoration. Actually I bought this for parts for me, but it is so good condition that I thought someone could build it for himself.

    Price is well, negotiable ;) And I might have some extra parts and service manuals to add…

    Like 0

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