Yes, Borgwards were not uncommon in the US in the ’50s, along with a raft of other obscure European brands. Here’s the photographic proof of one of them and its proud owner.
Vintage Snapshot: Me and My Borgward – Photographic Proof of the ’50s Import Boom
– Posted on June 14, 2019
I’ve never heard of this car. Thanks for posting it. I’m gonna have to research this one.
By the way, why do you look the same in every decade?
Time travel or clean-living?
+1, I thought that was actually Paul too. Must be one of his distant Austrian relatives.
I know whenever I pass through Schiphol airport it feels like I’ve arrived at a family reunion. Everyone looks like me 🙂
A lot of ’50s tech in this picture. Yard light with new advanced PhotoTronic Eye, and massive ham antenna in the background.
Some of our neighbors in 1960s suburbia had television antennas that looked like the one in the photo…
All I “know” about these is what I just learned on Wiki. As of late 1959, evidently plenty of satisfied U.S. customers–or, rather, its U.S. customers plenty satisfied:
The source was the importer! I think Borgwards were pretty nice cars, but the claim in the clipping about happy customers seems specific to the four-stroke Isabella range. The little two-stroke wagon above was sold as a Goliath 1100 in the US. They were made by Borgward, but it is possible that they were only badged as Borgwards in Australia, where they were Borgward-Hansa 1100s.
This Hansa 1100 had a four-stroke flat 4 (and FWD). You’re thinking of Lloyds and older Goliaths.
I don’t have a link handy, but there’s a photo of the last Borgward Isabella coming off the assembly line. The workers had put a sign on the windshield saying, “You were too good for this world.”
I think if I’d been in a position to buy a new car in 1960, it would have been a Borgward or a Volvo 122.
The pic you’re referring to is in this old Deadly Sins post:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automobile-history-german-deadly-sins-the-bayern-cycle-part-2-a-four-wheeled-titanic-named-borgward/
Very nice — though not quite as glamorous as Borgward’s brochure model:
I would love something like this with a wind up key on the roof for my daily commute
Looks like a slightly larger version of a 2-cycle Saab wagon….
My aunt’s husband in Greece had a Borward Isabella in the 1970s when I was a kid. I always thought it was an “old mans’ car”, as it looked…old-fashioned to me.
Eventually he replaced it with a 76 or 77 Ford Escort, but he lamented how he missed the Borgward.
Thanks to you and Google, I now know a little about these cars. I think of them as the BMW of the 1950s: a wannabe Mercedes that was more upscale than an Opel, but ultimately the company could not make it. Where Borgward failed, BMW succeeded.
I was just a little kid in 60 but I remember that ‘weird’ foreign cars were everywhere in our neighborhood. There were all sorts of makes running around although interestingly enough I don’t recall any Volkswagens.
I was paying attention to foreign cars because my dad came home one day in a new SAAB – with a 3-cylinder 2-stroke engine. Our next-door neighbors
fell foractually paid money for a new Renault Dauphine. As I recall, one of its chief selling points was that the front and rear fenders were interchangeable. The neighbor kid and I used to argue about which one would win in a drag race….seriously.I won’t say that my early childhood was as automotively traumatic as Paul’s but at least he tricked his dad into a performance V-8 Ford. I still blame my lack of coolness on that plume of oil smoke I inhaled during my formative years. My dad kept buying SAABs (as in matching his ‘n hers SAABs for himself and my mom) right through 1969. Oddly enough when SAABs finally went 4-stroke… he gave up on them.
I don’t recall ever seeing a Borgward, but I was pretty young and would have probably just assumed it was a Triumph Herald or something…. yes somebody my Dad knew had one of those…he didn’t think much of it though. After all, SAAB won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1962 and 1963.
Who is going to notice a Borgward or a Triumph when he’s cruising around in a Rally winning car? Besides, you probably couldn’t even see them behind you in all that blue smoke you were trailing.
They apparently still sell these in China.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borgward_Group
The brand name was resurrected sometime in the past ten years. Sales in China only originally, although they seem to have expanded. Why Borgward? Well, last I looked Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi were already taken.
Upon first glance of the headline, I was under the impression that BorgWarner (auto components) had developed its own vehicles like Henry Kaiser and the Manhattan sedan.
BorgWarner was smart to avoid the temptation.
I am a late convert to Borgward fandom. I will admit that I prefer the larger Isabellas to these.
Many Borgwards had their generally nice styling let down by odd or busy front ends, but not this one.
Nice!
I went to school near Bremen where they were made. As late as 20 years ago, it wasn’t uncommon to see one around. Isabella – now that’s a stunning car. Too bad the guy running Borgward was more like Germany’s Tucker than Germany’s Ford.
At one time, there were about five hundred Borgward dealers in the U.S. In the late fifties, Chrysler tried to buy a 51% share in the company, but was rebuffed by Carl Borgward.
I grew up in Ottawa, Canada and can recall an eclectic mix of unique and unusual imports all over the city at least until the mid 1970s. The large number of diplomats, and staff from foreign countries was likely a significant contributing factor. I recall routinely seeing an early 60s Ford Anglia, a Rover P6, a Renault R16, Renault 10, and a Mini Clubman ‘woodie’ daily driven, just around our neighbourhood, and on the base at CFB Rockcliffe. Wish I had appreciated the variety moreso at the time, and studied these rare gems more closely!
Is that a California plate? Great photo!
Mom & Dad had a ’59 Beetle (their only new car purchase throughout their lives) in which I came home from hospital after being born – it was almost immediately replaced with a used ’60 Biscayne four door. Not too long after, Dad bought a well-used Hillman Husky as his DD. I remember riding in it when I was very young, up to maybe 5-6 years old when it was replaced with a Rambler American.
A Hansa Kombi rare car years ago a friend had one flat four engine it was on its last legs then and he changed it for a Ford Anglia, I recently saw one in a junk yard full of classics at Hinds in our South Island along with two Borgward Isabellas the owner is making one out of two with.
That may well be a later model Lloyd with a four-stroke flat four driving the front wheels in place of the older two-stroke twin. In that case the design was a major influence on the first “big” Subaru to reach production and that neighborhood is awash in its’ spiritual descendants.
If that’s you, Paul N, then you had in fact a rare Goliath Goliath.
Either that or you had a really, really late growth spurt after this car.
The first car that I owned was a Borgward Isabella sedan. I drove it for two years and my parents sold it while I was in the Navy. It was a pretty good car at the time and very cheap as Borgward had been out of business for about two years. The Borgward Isabella had swing axle rear suspension so it was easy to hang the tail out when cornering. It was great fun for a young man who loved cars and sports car racing. After my Navy years my next car was an original Mini. It had 38 horspower and was the most fun you could have with your pants on.