Micro cars are pint sized fun that in our opinion aren’t seen enough at car events or in everyday life. This Goggomobil is a great project, with plenty of extras and a very solid chassis. With a little time and patience, it is likely this one would be a driver in no time. Priced at GBP 6,995 we think this is a great opportunity to get into a micro car, with plenty of spares. Find it here on eBay out of New Milton, United Kingdom.
Power is developed from an air cooled 250cc twin cylinder two stroke engine that boasts a whopping 13 horsepower. Micro cars are by no means fast or even quick, but are usually a joy to drive. There are four engines included with this Goggomobil, one having a rebuilt bottom end and a few others that are serviceable. The spares really add a great value to this car, as you can imagine parts are not available at your local auto parts store, to say the least.
Along with the mechanical spares comes extra window glass, and two interiors to choose from to complete this TS250. We personally prefer the lighter blue interior, as it matches nicely and looks to be in better condition. The body looks extremely solid, with no visible rust or rust repair. There is some minor denting to the underbody, but that is all that can be seen to mention. The paint and exterior look fantastic and looks ready for reassembly. The headliner has been installed but has yet to be completed, as the headliner at the edges is held up by the windscreen and rear window seals. We wonder if the seller has fresh window rubber, and if he has taillights for it?
With a sharp appearance and loads of spares, we think this Goggomobil is a great deal. With a little time and effort this would likely be road ready and ready to draw in the crowds! How many of you have seen a Goggomobil in the flesh? Would you complete this cool micro car project?
Aw, nobody on the GoGoGoggomobil? Our “resident” oddball expert, Scotty, is on the road this week, but this would be right up his alley ( if he could fit in it, that is) While horribly inaccurate for America’s roads, I’m sure it fit right in, in Europe. I’m not sure I’d use any of the “ring-ding” motors, it would be tough to repower it with something more user friendly, but it could be done.( I’d think,even a big 4 cycle single would be better) Quite a following for these micro cars, and this one looks great. Quite frankly, my family would have me committed if I spent $7g’s (plus a chunk to update and finish it) on this, but I’m sure you’d have the only one, if that spins your crank. Cool find.
Even with the Pound being down some the asking price is still a shade over $9,000. Factor is shipping and you had really love these quirky little cars to want to ship it to the States. If it were a little closer to me I’d go take a look but a 7+ hour round trip kind of kills it for me.
We take a 7+ hour trip in Canada for lunch. Just saying.
I have been known to take a quick trip to Mexico for lunch about a 8 hour turnaround but for some reason we hardly ever make the turnaround part until the next day.
I had never seen a GOGOMOBIL until I visited Lane Motor Museum in Nashville Tn. They are very tiny cute little cars for slender people! This one in powder blue is very cute but I shudder at the reassembly and location of missing parts. I know they are rare but I would be hard pressed to pay the asking price when it is in this disassembled condition! Way Cool Though!
At 6’5″ and let’s say 250 pounds, I’d look like John Wayne riding a shetland pony… that’s if I could even get inside the thing. I’ve always found micro cars interesting and it would be awesome to find one that was roomy enough for me to drive comfortably. Has anyone ever seen one upgraded with a powerful bike engine like they’ve been recently doing to the smart cars? Would be great to see one of these romp on some Mustang. Would love to see the look on the driver’s face.
John H, you should check out the Honda 600 that’s in this post. I couldn’t say for sure that you’d fit but I had an enormous neighbor that used to drive around a first year Civic.
Goggos are really great little cars, well built and designed, and relatively bulletproof when sorted. They are reliable and actually do quite well, even on our roads here in the states.
Any microcar is no fun on the highway as they are limited in speed and they get drafted and overwhelmed by eighteen wheelers, but on back country roads, very few things can be more pleasant to drive. These cars will touch 60 to 65 mph, but they don’t hold that speed on a hill, but 45 to 50 is delightful.
This is the more desireable TS250 model which is the Sport Coupe with the wrap around rear glass, and the fake “Alfa” type grill and the tailight lenses that were molded to resemble tail fins.
This is also the more desireable European model with the 5 inch headlights and the 250 cc motor, and smaller fake grills around the parking light lenses. US export cars got the 400 cc (Big Block) engine, with automatic oil injection, and huge 8 inch headlight pods to satisfy DOT. They look like Frog eyes, and make the car look more like a caricature of an automobile.
US cars also lost the smaller air grills as they had to have bumper overriders to meet the DOT bumper height restrictions here in the states. Finally, the US export cars got an intricate electro-mechanical shifter mechanism which allowed the driver to “pre-select” the gears by moving a small toggle lever on the dashboard, and then when the clutch was pushed down, it would complete the circuit, allowing the solonoids embedded in the gearbox to effectuate the gear change.
It is a really remarkable system that works much like the front wheel drive Cords from the 1920’s and 1930’s.
Do not fear these cars! They are fun, reasonably fast (for a microcar), extremely reliable and parts are readily available from sources in Germany. We have many different Goggombil models in our collection, and each and every one of them is a blast to own and to drive. I can also help with parts, advice, guidance and encouragement if you decide to bid on it. This is also a very fair price for a rare and desirable model of the Goggomobil
Go for it!
Chas
In 1993, as the US representative for the European car club C.A.A.R. [Club Ancient Autos & Rallies, based in Paris], I invited the club to come to America for a “Route 66 rallye”. The club used to do a major rallye somewhere in the world each year. In 1991 they went from Amsterdam To Moscow, and I believe in 1995 they drove to the Arctic circle!
For the USA rallye we had 136 vehicles, 1927 to 1973, come over by boat, thru the port of Baltimore [That’s another story for another day], and almost 400 people fly in to BWI airport. The club members drove from Baltimore, down to DC, where the cars were on display in front of the Washington Monument, and then they headed to Chicago where they picked up Rt 66, following it all the way to the Santa Monica pier! It took a couple of months to accomplish this feat.
The reason I bring this up was one of the vehicles making it all the way to California was an almost identical Gogo 250, same colors too. Each morning the 2 people in the Gogo folded up their tiny tent, put their luggage back onto the rack on the rear, and headed out long before the others even had breakfast. And you could count on that little car usually being the last car into the next night’s campground, often after dark.
This was a huge undertaking for a vintage car rallye, at over 4,000 miles, coast to coast. But that little Gogo never gave any problems, always humming along, leaving a slight trace of blue smoke as it drove by, usually at about 35 or 40 mph.
There is a VHS tape about the Rt 66 rallye, made by a Dutch firm called Wissink Films, very enjoyable to watch. [I no longer have a copy due to a fire in 1998.]