Now that a new Borgward is apparently on sale again, perhaps it's time to read up on how this famous car company actually came into being and developed. And it is almost even more interesting to find out what else Borgward did apart from manufacturing passenger cars.
Peter Kurze has been writing about the Borgward brand for some time now and has been publishing another annual volume on the history of the brand every year for several years. Already published are 1957, 1958 and 1959, now followed by 1956. Each book of almost a hundred pages summarizes special events of the year, picks out personalities and special products.
About designers ...
In the new volume, important people from Borgward's history are in the spotlight, e.g. Henrich Focke, an aircraft designer, Heinrich Völker, the man who helped build the Isabella, and Karl-Ludwig Brandt, the engine builder.
... and designs
Borgward owed a great deal to the engineers already mentioned. And if history had taken a different course, Borgward would perhaps be one of the major helicopter manufacturers today, because in the 1950s Focke developed the Kolibri, a helicopter that could have rivaled the French Alouette II if Borgward had not run into financial difficulties beforehand.
Brandt was responsible for the famous 16-valve engine of the Borgward 1500 RS, among many other engine designs. With a cross-flow head, two spark plugs per cylinder and two overhead camshafts, this engine was at the cutting edge, if not superior to most of its competitors. The only thing it lacked, at least at the beginning, was stability, although this also had to do with the limited resources Brandt had to work with.
Not just automobiles
Although Borgward was primarily known for its automobiles, which were marketed under the Hansa, Lloyd and Borgward brands, its range of activities went much further and there is no need to cite the helicopter as an example.
Borgward also built trucks (e.g. the B 2500 AO or the B 2000 AO, with which it also competed for army contracts. They also tried to compete with the Goliath "Jeep" against Porsche and DKW, albeit unsuccessfully. These episodes are also worth a brief review by Peter.
But also automobiles
Of course, the cars take up a significant part of the new booklet, such as the Borgward Hansa 2400 Pullmann II or the Isabella Limousine, but also the Isabella Coupé or the Lloyd LP 250 as well as the LTK 600 panel van.
Lots of historical images remind us of cars that we may have long forgotten or never even known.
Big Data
In addition to beautiful pictures and interesting texts, the new volume of the Borgward series also spoils us again with lots of figures, for example on the 1956 passenger car program (including production and registration figures), on the competitors of Borgward vehicles and on the financial situation of the Group.
But even those who don't like bare data will find a lot of interesting things to read, such as a report on the long Tour d'Europe, which was won by a Ford 15M after a 13,400 km drive over 13 days, while only one Goliath from the Borgward team (in 10th place out of 11 vehicles) crossed the finish line.
Like the previous volumes, the edition on the Borgward year 1956 is a mixture of stories, historical images and data collections that even a non-Borgward owner will enjoy. However, a certain interest in the defunct company should already be present. But that should actually be present on the occasion of the omnipresent rebirth in the press.
Bibliographical information
- Title: The Borgward Chronicle 1956 - drive better, drive Borgward
- Author: Peter Kurze
- Language: German
- Publisher: Publisher Peter Kurze
- Edition: 1st edition 2018
- Format: Hardcover, 17 x 24 cm
- Scope: 96 pages, 164 illustrations
- ISBN: 978-3-927485-56-3
- Retail price: EUR 19.90
- Order/buy: Online at amazon.de, online at the publisher Peter Kurze or in bookstores
