The story of Goliath is the story of Carl Borgward, a German industrialist who levered the circumstance of bankruptcy declared by Hansa-Lloyd by merging it into his own enterprise in the mid-1920s. By 1929, the company was making cars under several brands: Lloyd, Hansa, Borgward, and Goliath. After WWII, Borgward split his brands into separate divisions in order to maximize his allocation of steel made scarce by the war. Goliath emerged as a down-market option to the Isabella, though Borgward routinely engaged in the sin of badge engineering, resulting in Goliath becoming Hansa in 1959. Here on eBay is a 1957 Goliath 1100 Kombi project or parts car. The asking price is $4,750, with a “make offer” option available. This incredible hulk is located in Stratford, Connecticut. Of course, we have T.J., master of the weird, to thank for this tip. This vehicle has no title.
The predecessor to the Goliath 1100 was the 900, which used a two-stroke engine fitted with Bosch fuel injection. But by the time the 1100 came along, customers were clamoring for more power. The new Goliath offered a liquid-cooled, 1094 cc four-cylinder, four-stroke boxer motor with either a single carburetor or rarely, twin carburetors. The single-carb version here would produce about 40 bhp; with a tailwind, top speed was 78 mph. The gearbox was an all-synchromesh, four-speed manual. Unfortunately, the motor here is not going to light up the pavement any time soon. The seller indicates that the Goliath motor was “later used by Subaru” which is a stretch: Subaru happened to use the same configuration but there is no proof that its motors ever came from Borgward.
The interior has seen better days. The nameplate is missing from the radio grille. Anyone who knows the Borgward Isabella will recognize those white switches, steering wheel, and gauge trim rings. The rear seats might be a bit better than the fronts, but the headliner is absent. No door cards of course, and I don’t even know what to say about the rubber seals, except try Steele Rubber Products – provider of a length of rubber that just happened to work to seal a Tatra 403 trunk.
The rear shows off the outside hinges, barn door, bumper – and economy-sized dent. At least a couple of lenses are present and the seller mentions a box of parts including trim and hubcaps. Sad to say – because I like to think every car can be saved – this one’s best and highest use is likely as a donor. What do you think?
I would go $ 47.50 on this one, that would get me a profit from the scrap 👦.
Remember as a kid one of my friends parents had a white Goliath convertible in their garage. The Mrs. would drive it in fair weather. Looked very familiar to this car from the windshield forward. Other than that one car can’t remember seeing another. It was a later 4 stroke as it didn’t make the dring ding sound.
EV anyone! Don’t scrap it, build it as an electric vehicle instead. You’ve
already got a blank canvas here so why not take advantage of it. Scrapping this example means there’s
one less of the make available for car
nuts to gather ’round at your next car
show. After all, what ever happened to good old Yankee infinity.
We restored this 59 Goliath Tiger Coupe in 2015-16.
It won the “Most smiles per mile / Best in show” trophy at the Monterey Little Car Show during speed week in August 2016. Neat little cars with a transverse leaf spring in front and that unforgettable boxer sound. More photos and video here https://www.driven.co/inventory/goliath-sport-coupe/
What a beauty! Considering Goliath is factually an unknown make here and elsewhere, this was a labor of love. The Goliath 700 of the early 50´s revolutionized engine, transmission layout as well as the usage of fuel injection. As far as the alleged Subaru connection goes, Sabaru didn´t copy the engine design but rather they were inspired by it.Carl F. Borgward was a visionary who rebuilt his empire from scratch after 1948 and was ruined by Mercedes due to his Borgward cars and trucks, includng military ones, being unwelcomed competition. His demise was the rersult of quasi criminal actions..
as a former Borgward owner, don’t expect your local PepBoys to have a backroom full of parts.
I noticed that, finding parts is very challenging…..
My brother had a new 1958 Goliath 1100 Kombi. It had the 1100 cc 40 hp
DIN/46 hp SAE watercooled boxer engine and a 4 speed column shift.
At 60-65 mph, the engine sounded very much like my mom’s Singer sewing machine at full chat. The Goliath was well built and IMO, a better vehicle than
the same year VW Beetle.
FWW, the seller’s reference to Subaru is not off base. When Goliath’s parent company, Borgward, went bankrupt the tooling and rights for the Borgward line was sold to a firm in Monterrey, Mexico. The Borgward Isabella and P100 models were built in Mexico from 1967 to 1970. The Goliath tooling and rights were sold to Fuji Heavy Industries in Japan. Fuji was the parent company of, wait for it….Subaru!
The Subaru Model 1000 introduced in 1965 was the make’s first FWD vehicle and was fitted with a horizontally opposed 4 cylinder engine based on the Goliath 1100. Some 15 years ago, I had a lengthy discussion about this history with one of the engineering honchos at the Subaru plant in Indiana. IIRC, Road & Track magazine mentioned the Goliath sale to Fuji in one of their 1960’s issues.
I WAS GOING TO VOLUNTEER THE FUJI CONNECTION IF YOU HAD NOT BROUGHT IT UP .
I HAD FOUR GOLIATH’s FROM THE 1100 LINE AS WELL AS THE REMAINS OF DEALER STOCK & TOOLS . WONDERFUL ENGINES !
THEY WERE GETTING 60 HORSES FROM THE TWIN CARB VERSION
FOUND IN THE TIGER & EMPRESS MODELS .
1 HORSE PER CUBE NORMALLY ASPIRATED WAS THE BENCHMARK .
I ALSO HAD ALL THE FACTORY TOOLS AND WORKSHOP MANUALS
FOR THE CARS & TRUCKS . ALL THAT IS GONE NOW .
MY OLD EMPRESS IS SOMEWHERE IN CALIFORNIA NOW .
THE ONLY GOLIATH I HAVE THESE DAYS IS A GOLI 3 WHEEL TRUCK
BUT THAT WAS A DIFFERENT PRODUCT LINE .
My earlier comment seems to have vanished in cyberspace so I’ll try again.
The seller may not be off base with his Subaru comment. When Borgward went into bankruptcy, the tooling and rights to the Borgward Isabella and P100 models were sold to a firm in Monterrey, Mexico. Mexican production ran from 1967 to 1970. The tooling and rights for the Goliath were sold to Fuji Heavy Industries in Japan. Fuji Heavy Industries was the parent company of, wait for it…….Subaru! Road & Track magazine mentioned this sale in one of their 1960’s era issues.
Some 15 years ago, I had an interesting conversation about this with an engineering honcho at the Subaru plant in Indiana. The Subaru Model 1000 introduced in 1965 was based on the Goliath 1100.
You didn’t mention the AMC connection. In the early 70s some guy found some Borgward engines in some Mexican warehouse under some old Afrika Korps pith helmets. They were dropped in some Mexican AMC rollers he bought and sold them as Borgwards.
Interesting comment. I hadn’t heard about that connection but, it’s certainly possible if there were NOS engines left over from Borgward P100 production in Monterrey. I doubt the Afrika Corps helmet story as the Isabella and P100 were introduced well after the last great international misunderstanding had ended poorly for the initiators.
FWIW, an old Road & Track issue mentioned that an AMC importer or distributor in Austria (!) was pulling AMC I-6 engines from new AMC cars and retrofitting them with NOS Borgward engines.
It was the claimed that the Borgward engines gave better performance and economy than the AMC I-6 but, failed to state whether the Borgward engine was the P-100’s 2,240 cc. 99 Hp I-6 or the 4 cyl. 1493 cc 75 Hp Isabella engine. I don’t recall the article stating which AMC model was involved. Perhaps another forum member can provide more accurate information.
They wereJavlins,the motors were from Germany,they were p 100 motors,no pith helmets were involved.they used self adhesive pin striping to make a Isabella design on the side
this for me this is prime for a chassis/driveline swap….you wouldn’t find another
Considering the condition of this one and the amount of rust visible, scrap it. Too much labor and scarcity of parts Make this one a doubtful proposition. Especially at the listing price, this one’s too far gone.
What a fun car to get back on the road and teach my grandchildren old school body work with all the custom stuff available today you can make a awesome custom wagon
This is a fried-out Kombi.
BUT, it didn’t come from a land Down Under!!!
Did Goliath make a pickup version or was that Lloyd. Back about 1967 a college friend bought a pickup that was either a Goliath or a Lloyd. He was told “all it needed was a battery and a tune-up”. we thought it was so exotic! It sat unfixable untill the college had it towed away.
Most English speakers don’t realize what the German pronunciation of the Goliath name actually is . . .
Go-lee-ott
Hmm, that identical car is in the woods near my house. But it must be a newer model because it says Hansa 1100 on the side. Its parked next to another very very unknown car, a Tempo Rapid…
The Tempo brand was ubiquitous on German roads as a delivery vehicle, usually 3-wheeled and powered by an Ilo 2-stroke twin engine of between 200cc´s and around 750cc´s. They hauled everything from beer barrels to supplies of every other kind. In the cities they were loved by the huge amount of individual bakeries, butcher shops and small craftsmen of all sorts. In 1940 they developed a 4-wheel drive, twin engined military vehicle powered by 2 Ilo engines of 600cc´s each. The costs however where too high, so the Swedish army bought the proction run of abot 1000 vehicles. I think, the company was sold to an Indian conglomerate in the 1960´s and disappeared from its home market.
TomP,
Is the Tempo Rapid this truck? https://barnfinds.com/thing-1959-tempo-rapid/
If not, there must be more than one in the USA.
Bill Mccosky, No, the Tempo Rapid nearby me is a van that looks very similar to an old 1960’s VW bus.. It may be one of two in the U.S.!
The Rapid is sitting next to a very rare mail order catalog version of the Henry J. car…. All you serious moto-heads out there would know the name of it!…
That would be a Sears Allstate.
The Tempo Wiking Rapid is a updated version – the Wiking used to have a two – cylinder two – stroke Heinkel ( TE 460 ) engine, whilst the Rapid hat a BMC A – series engine – same as the Mini. Nice van – like the Goliath Express.
Right, now : Goliath 1100…this price is not only over the moon, it is barking mad. There are n o spare – parts – zero. My best mate used to work at the Goliath – factory from 1935 onwards – but he passed away in 1994; he always helped me out of trouble and drove a Hansa 1100 estate with way over 600.000 miles on the clock.
The bodywork is very bad for a Goliath; normally, they are pretty rust – resisant…the Achilles – heel is the ( riveted ) timing – gear; available – nowhere, as usual. New Pistons ? Laughing my socks off…my mate used to turn them a 180 degrees to make them last longer.
This Estate would be worth between 250 and 300 Dollars – but no more. Good luck to the seller….cost of ” restoration ” ( which, considering the lack of spares is almost impossible ) would exceed its value – by far. Sorry, but you have to find an expert with NOS parts – there is not many of them…and none of them would pay such a ridiculous price !
I have to agree with MichailKnoller that even in Germany there doesn’t appear to be a specialist spare parts [Auto-Ersatzteile] dealer for Goliath cars. And even ebay in Germany only has a few individual used trim pieces listed.
Unlike other German car companies that assembled their cars in other countries [for example; DKW in south America] and as a result the spare parts continued to be available, I suspect the Goliath parts were probably scrapped, when the parent company Borgward, closed
You are absolutely right….that very last cars were assembled in 1963, coming back from Argentina ( 487 cars ). My mate had one of them, a 1963 Hansa 1100 estate…he told me, that they had to throw new parts from first floor to make sure they were destroyed. You better do n o t rely on German sources – there is none. Only front wheel cylinders are identical with DKW 1000 – that would not help a lot….( diam. 20.64 ) My mate organized spares until he died – and left me plenty of knowledge. I struggle myself to complete my Goliath 900 E estate…thank God I got other Borgward – cars to drive in the meantime. Goliath – cars died a quick death – unless you were a ” dyed in the wool ” entusiast, you did not drive them longer than to the end of the decade. The last survivors were 3wheelers, old scrapmen kept on using them until mid 1970s.
When I was living in the Mannheim area in the middle 1970s I would see the 3-wheelers in use at the Hauptbahnhof for luggage, and the city used them to collect trash from sidewalk and public area rubbish cans, but I never saw them outside the center of the city.
I always wanted a Goliath 3-wheel truck, but by the time I came back a decade later and was able to afford one, they were all gone.
You still stand a chance to – day…I had one as well, but sold it about 25 years ago. Since I am stupid, I sold the Express as well…and now, I could do with an Express van. I do not want to drive ” electronic ” vans – and certainly no VW or Merc; too many bad experiences…Borgward is ” my ” make.
MichailKnoller,
While I still want a Goliath 3-wheel truck [or a tempo], I am at an age where I can no longer do the work, and I have closed my shop, so no place to work anyway. I am slowly selling my various collections; cars, spares, literature, and vintage toys.
By the way, top indicator lenses are of a Volkswagen beetle – not of a Goliath….
@Bill : Oh yes; I know that very well…I am not a youngster either, my back and legs and whatever tell me that every day. Nevertheless, I still got plenty of projects ( starts with a Borgward Hansa 1500 and the nice P 100…) – I shall try to work until Carl F.W. Borgward calls me to the other side…what cars are you selling ?
I have 4 cars for sale, 1937 Packard 120 sedan, 1948 Packard Super 8 convertible, 1961 Vanden Plas Princess limo with LHD, and a 1962 Tatra T2-603. If interested, contact me at Billmccoskey{at}aol.com.