The Goggomobil is a microcar produced in Bavaria in three body styles between 1955 and 1969. Though upwards of 300k were built overall, I don’t recall them being sold in the U.S. They came with little air-cooled engines in the 250 to 400cc range, although none is present in the seller’s “T” sedan. Located in Fletcher, North Carolina, this little rarity is available here on craigslist for $2,750 OBO. Thanks for another interesting tip from Chuck Foster!
When this vehicle was produced, you had your choice of three Goggomobils: the “T” sedan, the “TS” coupe, and the “TL” van. They came with 2-stroke motors that grew in size over the years, and they were paired with electric, pre-selective transmissions. Of 284,500 units in 15 years, more than 75% were sedans like the seller’s little runabout. Changes were minimal over the years, such as a change to multiple windshield wipers and roll-up windows (gadzooks!).
While the seller’s Goggomobil looks rough, it’s said to sport new tires and tubes, and the only thing significant missing is the engine and transmission. That’s a good thing as I’m not sure where you’d find anything else you might need without identifying sources in Europe that might still stock them. The odometer reading is 7,600, but is that in miles or kilometers, and has it gone around once already? This would be a nifty machine that should draw some attention to Cars & Coffee, but the latter part might need to be free!
All that comes to mind is the Far Side.. “quick Clyde, this one has a coat hanger”. with the lions.
On the flipside a Hyabusa engine might make this come alive??
I had a gogomobile from my dad to learn to drive. Jacksonville FL during the 60’s.
Add says only thing missing is the engine and transmission oh and the title.
If I recall these little things were rear engine so I say get a smart car from CoPart as a donor and have fun with it
One of the all time great ads was in AutoWeek for a Gogomobile…in the description was the claim that “it’ll blow the door off an Isetta!” A classic!
🤣🤣🤣
It’s a stop stop mobile for me. Not a Gogo. Especially with no driveline. I guess Fred Flintstone might find this car appealing.
I think the power train is in there. It looks like the rubber band is still attached to the driveshafts.
Don’t tempt me, a ‘Busa swap sounds good and I’m a Vermont resident so that old title “trick” still works for me…
This appears to have been an original US-spec car with sealed-beam headlights and clear/white “beehive” front turn signals.
These were the first and last cars made by Glas in Dingolfing, surviving in production in Germany into the late ’60s, even after BMW took over, because there was a ready-made market that could not easily trade up – people who had gotten motorcycle licenses before 1953 could drive a car up to 250cc on them but would have to retest, no mean feat in Germany, to go bigger.
Sorry – totally wrong. Glas had a wide range from Goggomobil, Isar T 600/T700, 1004, 1204, 1304, 1300 GT/ 1700 GT, 1700 sal and the big V8 Glas 2600 / 3000.
And again : ” BMW ” took over the 1700 and sold all the machinery to South Africa later, where is was produced for another couple of years.
And ; ” BMW ” took over the 1700 GT, put a beamer engine in it and changed the front grill. They also sold the V 8 for a short time.
The BMW produced in South Africa was known as the 2000SA and later a Cheetah. They went o.k. but rusted faster than they could run.
In Australia we have the Goggomobil Dart, a doorless, two seater sports convertible.
It has a fibreglass body and was produced by Bill Buckle, a great entrepreneur in the automotive industry.
They bring big dollars these days.
OK, I was a little unclear by “first and last”. It was the first of that lineup to enter production and the last one they stopped building (in Germany, at least – the 1700 sedan lived on in South Africa as a BMW, sending its’ body dies there having been a cheap way to increase local content).
You sure couldn’t get $2750 if you took this to the junk yard.
I was going to compliment the photographer’s thoroughness for removing the doors for a clearer shot of the interior; until I motored back to the previous shot. Cute, but no thanks; I’ll walk.
If the Green weenies get their way? This thing could be hooked up to a horse, since electricity will be severely rationed to the proles.
Great post, Big.
These cars were offered here in the States. I remember reading up on them in the “Small Car Guide” at the local library, but they never sold in large numbers.
This is a sedan that was built for export to the U.S.A. The headlights are DOT 7 inch sealed beams. The frog eye sheet metal around the headlights was unique to U.S. export sedans.
Russ,
Nice overview…
Fortunately, all parts and accessories necessary to get this sedan up and running again are plentiful and easy to source. I have been corresponding with Uwe Staufenberg in Bavaria for the last couple of years. He is the go-to-guy. Very knowledgeable and operates a Goggomobil store. He speaks multiple languages and is an excellent source for all things related to these micro cars. I am completing a 1962 Coupe’ with “suicide doors”. A slight upgrade that will be implemented is utilizing 300cc heads to boost the hp. from 13.6 to 15 hp. This will allow it to cruise in the 60+ mph vs. the 50 mph range…😂👏
You better go go to the bank and make sure you’ve got lots of dough dough to get mixed up with this money pit
300cc heads? Only the heads? That would not give any more power. In fact, with a larger combustion chamber volume, it would reduce the power due to the drop in compression. Hopefully you mean 300cc barrels, pistons, heads, intake, and carburetor. And the top speed will be roughly the same (mid 50s), as it will have the same gearing, and it will not rev any higher than a healthy 250cc. It will accelerate slightly better, though. You would need to swap gear sets to gain any notable top speed. The 250cc, 300cc, and 400cc cars were all geared differently.
Thank you, MichailKnoller. nlpnt was not correct. My Dad bought an Isar T700 in 1964, which he owned until we left Holland in 1967. Drove that car all over Europe with three kids and camping gear. BMW 700 engine, spun around and moved to the front. That resulted in a mirror image gear selection, 1st was right and back, 4th was left and front. Surprisingly powerful for the time, 36 HP from 700 cc, same HP as the VW from 1200 cc, and more than 500 lbs lighter than a VW. Whereas our neighbor in a DKW had to back up the switchbacks in Switzerland (reverse was lower geared than 1st) and had to ask his wife and kids to walk up, we could drive forward, with all the kids and the camping gear in the car. Myself, I have owned a couple of 1700 GTs, but unfortunately had to sell them when I ran out of interior storage.
Missing engine and transmission…probably would be a benefit for the buyer. In college in Northern New Hampshire in the late 60’s a classmate had a blue Goggomobil parked under the pine trees, not running. I got the engine running then tackled the preselector wiring, apparently hand-wired point-to-point. Based on my success with that, even including a wiring diagram, the car may still be sitting there.
Was it a Coupé ? Pre – selectors were rare on a saloon…although, it might be a nightmare now; coils are not available ( nowhere ! ) – but if you go for the mechanical one, there will be no trouble.
To change the coils, you have to take apart the engine….if you had one.
MichailKnoller,
Many years ago my shop was working on a coupe, I think it was a 1958, and the ignition coil was shorted out. The car’s owner gave us a coil that was modified to work, he said it was for an E-Z-Go golf cart.
Yes, the Isar is a nice car. They used that ” inversed ” gearbox on the 04s as well.( it depends if you got a ” long neck ” or ” short neck ” – box ) The engine – either 600 or 700 cc – was a ” Glas – own ” engine – I doubt anything was interchangeable with the BMW – engine. Pity you sold the 1700s – although my favourite would be a 1004 CL…by the way : you can find that sort of gearchange on a Saporoshez as well – and on Trabants and Wartburg 311, not to mention the Lloyd 600….
MichailKnoller, and other Barn Finds readers,
Thought you might enjoy a short story about my time in Germany:
In the mid 1970s I lived in central Germany [courtesy of the US Army], and in the spring of 1975 I discovered a long-closed car scrapyard owned by an old man who didn’t like most people. This was in the small town of Schwetzingen, near the Rhine River, just west of Heidelberg. The yard was filled with many microcars, especially Goggomobiles.
The man [my memory is his name was Rolf Schliemann] would allow me to wander around the old cars in his yard, but he said because the business was closed and he had no license to sell anything, he could not sell me parts or cars. I kept visiting him and slowly he realized I liked many of the same antique cars he liked, and we struck up a friendship. I was driving a 1956 Chrysler Imperial as my everyday car, and he really liked my Imperial, fascinated with the big 354 Hemi V8.
Herr Schliemann lived on the premises, and one Sunday when I came to visit, I offered to take him on a drive to visit his daughter, as he could no longer drive due to his age. His daughter lived in Mannheim, and on the trip back to the scrapyard, Herr Schliemann told me that to reimburse me for fuel, I could take small parts off the cars in his yard. If I could put the pieces in my pockets, I could have all the parts I wanted. Not just this one visit, but on many visits I filled my pockets with car emblems, knobs, car dealer name plates, VIN plates, and much more. I even stuffed some long items down my pants legs, including very nice Goggomobile rear air grills and a few pre-WW2 license plates!
There was one car in his yard I wanted very badly; a [possibly British-built] early Volkswagen type 1. The VW was in poor condition, but complete, it even had the original motor. It was an early type 1 with a solid round emblem at top of the front hood. It never had bumpers, and had cable brakes.
Herr Schliemann, when he found out I was leaving Germany, “officially” gave me the VW, and I gave him an American car magazine [with DM300 inside the magazine] as a gift. The problem was, the VW didn’t run, and to bring it back to the US I would need to pay a shipper to move it to Bremerhaven and then load it into a shipping container. The Army was already paying to bring the Imperial back to the states, so I had to pay for shipping the VW, and the costs were estimated at between $1,500 and $2,000, more than the car was worth at that time. So I didn’t bring the car back to the USA. I did bring the solid round VW emblem back with me, and a few years ago I found a guy restoring a ’46 who needed the emblem, so It’s now on his car.
The one other thing in his office I kept asking about was an old open-top 10 liter wooden barrel filled with car keys. He called it his schlüsselfass. Each time a car came into his scrapyard, he tossed the keys into this barrel, and it was overflowing with keys, many on the original fobs. So instead of the VW, he gave me the keg and contents. I brought the barrel back to my room. The shipping company working for the Army packed up that very heavy barrel and shipped it back as part of my household goods. For many years I sold 1920s thru 1950s European automobile and truck keys, and many had key fobs with dealer stamps and car logos. Have you seen the 1950s Opel “der zuverlassige” plastic key cases? I found many of them in the barrel.
When I visited the area again about 20 years later, I tried to find the junkyard, but it was evident the whole thing had been gone for many years.
7200 is likely original miles. If you got 20,000 out of one of these, you were doing pretty good, especially if you drove it like an American car. It was a different world for European car makers back then. Still recovering from WWII. They came up up with some fantastic little cars that were generally underpowered and lacking in creature comforts but did the trick for getting folks mobile and stimulating their economies. There’s an enthusiastic collector community for these although I believe this one to be quite a bit overpriced.
Well when playing games with my wife and daughter the question was ,name a car that starts with G so perhaps now a picture is worth my over 1000 words. Wonder if the Honda 450 sitting in the garage would fit.
i was thinking an rer air cooled skidoo motor and trans setup lol
you could do it with the water cooled ones too. i just like the air cooled and just happen to have one lying around
Ha that’s funny l actually have a title for one of these.
Thanks to a well known and much loved Yellow Pages TV commercial back in the 90s every Australian knows what a Goggomobile is. Especially that model because it’s NOT THE DART!
Bill Buckle in Sydney, Australia produced Goggomobils under licence.
As well as the Dart (unique to Australia), he made sedans, coupes and transporters
Darts were not an uncommon site around Sydney
They were sold in the US, I have a friend that bought one new as did his brother.
coupe, van and dart were over the top.
Only thing I like abt the sedan was the Brit advert for their ‘yellow pages’.
The funniest part was not abt a Brit owning a German make but the razz he go on the phone at all the parts stores “A what…?” (Or may B it was his size, didnt look like he’d fit in one).
In the 1990s I was the US rep for a world wide car club based in France; CAAR. [Club Ancient Autos & Rallyes] Every 2 years the club would plan a large rally somewhere in the world.
In 1993 I hosted the club for a tour across the USA, using route 66. They shipped about 150 cars & trucks from 18 countries, along with about 400 people. The vehicles came in thru the port of Baltimore, and started the trip in Washington DC, heading out on I-66 in Virginia, then up to Chicago where they picked up the old route 66, all the way to the Pacific ocean at the Santa Monica pier.
One of the cars was an almost identical [but restored] Gogomobile. The young couple who owned the car was from Germany, and they DID drive the car all the way, almost 4,000 miles, with no troubles at all! As it was so underpowered and slow, they were usually the first to leave the campsites every morning, and the last to arrive at the next campground, often after the sun had set.
They also took their little car on the 1991 tour from Amsterdam to Moscow, the group returning just a few days before the USSR fell apart. I understand they drove the car on the 1995 tour from central Europe, up thru Scandinavia, to the Arctic circle and return.
Ever since, I’ve had a lot of respect for the little Gogomobile cars!
I’d respect this one more if I didn’t have to go find a driveline for it.
I’d convert it to Fred Flintstone power
Loved your story about the old man with the scrapyard in Germany, Bill. Pity you didn’t get that very early VW back to the States as by now somebody would have restored it, hopefully back to original, and it would be greatly admired by the Beetle brigade. I imported a 1957 Messerschmitt from South Africa a couple of years ago, sight unseen, but by the time it arrived here in UK my restorer guy had died. I joined the Messerschmitt club and offered it to any member that wanted to buy it. Well, the first guy that came to view it jumped on it and wheeled it straight into his workshop, not to restore it, but to offer it to club members as what a Messer should look like after a restoration as it was totally original and untouched from new. It even had it’s original tyres, Perspex roof, lights, ignition key, upholstery etc. Now all a club member has to do if he is unsure about his resto is to pop along to the buyer and check it out.
My Dad had a 1960 Version I have a pic of me washing it when I was 2. The last time I rode in that car was when my dad packed us all up and drove us to Schiphol in Amsterdam and put us on a Constellation and we flew to Montreal in 1967. I know he drove that car all over europe back in the day.
John,
Yes, you’re correct. My bad, that was a slip on my part. The complete (left and right cylinder assemblies)…13.6hp to 15hp
🛠😂
Hey Bill McCoskey,
I enjoyed reading your story of a time from the past. I too am a military veteran with a great appreciation for various vintage German micro cars, DKW’s, V.W.’s, Tempo Matadors and the like. I continue to wrench on some early projects as we speak…🛠🔩 Ray
Ray, thanks for the compliment. While I’ve owned many rare and unusual European cars over the years, I’ve only got one at this point, a Tatra T2-603 with the air cooled V8 in the back.
Bill,
Ah the Tatra, quite the engineering feat for its time…
🛠👍Ray
The Tatra was always my favorite European car. In 1957, when I was only 5 years old, I saw a photo of the new Tatra T-603 in Time Magazine. At that time I was already a car nut, and I told my dad it was incredible and someday I would own one. He laughed and said that would never happen because it was a communist car.
So when the Iron Curtain fell apart, I went looking for Tatras and found 2 to bring back, and I kept one. Once I had my blue car running and licensed, I drove it over to my parent’s house and reminded my dad of our conversation over 30 years prior.
Whenever I drove the Tatra, once I parked it a crowd would develop, even if I was just going to the grocery store. Many thought it was a Tucker! Of all the foreign cars I’ve owned, it’s the one that gathers the most interest, followed by the 1959 Auto Union SP2000 Bauer coupe that [sort of] looked like a ’57 T-Bird, and my weird 1958 DKW Munga 4X4.