glas

Hans Glas GmbH is a former German automotive company, which was based in Dingolfing. Originally a maker of farm machinery, Glas evolved first into a producer of motor scooters, then automobiles. It was purchased by BMW in 1966, mainly to gain access to Glas's patents; they were the first to use a timing belt with an overhead camshaft in an automotive application. Its limited model range was shortly phased out by its new parent.

Glas were known for small cars like the Goggomobil. However, in 1964 the company introduced the Glas 1300GT coupe and later the 1700GT. The body was designed by Pietro Frua. However competition, mostly from British cars, was tough and in 1966 they released the 2600GT powered by a SOHC V8 engine, with a volume just under 2.6 litres. However this didn't help and later the same year the company was sold to BMW. The Glas models were kept in production by BMW, but fitted with BMW engines. The Glas 1300 GT coupe was fitted with a 1.6-litre BMW engine and renamed BMW 1600 GT. BMW also fitted a 3-litre engine and named it 3000 GT. This model kept the Glas name, but had a BMW logo in the front and rear. In 1968 BMW created their own large coupe, the BMW 2500 CS, and this meant the end for Glas. 277 copies of 2600 GT was made and 389 of the 3000 GT.

In 1951 Andreas Glas (1923-1990), son of Hans Glas, saw the Vespa scooter from Piaggio in an agricultural machines exposition in Verona, Italy. He was so enthused that he began production of motor scooters that July.

The scooter debuted with a 125 cc motor, increased over time to 150 cc and 200 cc. Until 1956 46,181 motor scooters were built. Production of scooters stopped because of the Goggomobil cars. From 1953 on, load-carrying scooters were built as well. With the 200 cc engine and 9.5 bhp, they had a load capacity of 200 kg.

T sedan

The Goggomobil T250 was introduced by Glas at the 1954 IFMA international bicycle and motorcycle show. The T250 was a conventional-looking two door sedan with a rear-mounted 245 cc air-cooled two-stroke straight twin engine.

Design changes were made to the T250 in 1957. Two windshield wipers were used instead of the earlier single wiper, and the sliding windows in the doors were changed to wind-up windows. Also, at this time the T300 and T400 became available; these had larger engines of 300 cc and 400 cc capacity respectively.

The last design change for the T sedan came in 1964, when the rear-hinged suicide doors were replaced by conventional front-hinged doors.

214,313 sedans were built before production ended on 30 June 1969.

TS coupé

The Goggomobil TS 2+2 coupe was introduced at the 1957 IFMA show alongside the improved T sedan. It was available as the TS250, the TS300, and the TS400, the number reflecting the approximate engine size in cubic centimeters.

The only major design change to the TS coupe was the change from rear-hinged suicide doors to front-hinged conventional doors in 1964.

The TS coupe was always ten to twenty percent more expensive than the T sedan. Total production of TS coupes was 66,511.

TL van

The Goggomobil Transporter, or Goggomobil TL, was introduced at the 1956 IFMA show. The Transporter was built largely at the request of the German Federal Postal Service, which procured more than 2,000 Transporters between October 1957 and November 1965.

The Transporter had sliding front doors. It was available as an enclosed van with double back doors or as a pickup with a tailgate to the open bed. Transporter pickups were often used by municipal services as snowplows or street sweepers.

3,667 Transporter vans and pickups were produced.

dart

Between 1957 and 1961 some 700 sports cars called Goggomobil Darts were produced by Buckle Motors Pty Ltd in Sydney, Australia. Other Goggomobil models were also produced under licence, including saloon, coupe, coupe-convertible and light van variants. These were fitted with Australian-produced fibreglass bodies in place of the steel bodies of their German counterparts.  Australian production totalled approximately 5,000 units. In 2019 an Australian documentary featuring the Dart was released, called "D'art by Karl von Möller."

isar

1958-1965

The Glas Isar is a small two door four seater car produced by Hans Glas GmbH at their Dingolfing plant. The car was first presented as the Goggomobil T600 in September 1957 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, with volume production starting in August 1958.

Initially Glas described it simply as a “big Goggomobil”, but in Autumn 1959 it was rebranded as the Glas Isar. At the same time a kombi (estate car) version joined the range. A minor facelift occurred in August 1960 and the Isar continued in production till the end of Summer 1965.

The 584 cc boxer motor developed a maximum power output of 20 PS at 5,000 rpm, which provided for a top speed of 98 km/h. The car weighed only about 650 kg and was reportedly able to reach an indicated 100 km/h in 61 seconds.

Unusually in an economy car of the period, the T600 incorporated a 12 volt electrical system at a time when the contemporary Volkswagens and German Fords would still come with a 6 volt systems for another ten years.

Between 1958 and 1965 Glas produced 73,311 Isar saloons and, between 1959 and 1965 a further 14,274 Isar kombis. 57% of the saloons and 88% of the kombis were delivered with the larger 688 cc engine. . Between 1960 and 1965 the Isar was also built (badged as the Isard) at the company's plant in Argentina where it is remembered as one of the most popular cars of the 1960s.

1004

1963-1967  saloon

1963-1967  cabriolet

1962-1965  coupé

1966-1968  estate

The Glas 1004 is a small two-door, four-seater automobile produced by Hans Glas GmbH at Dingolfing. It was first exhibited in public, in coupé form, at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 1961. Volume production of the 1004 coupé started in May 1962, and in January 1963 saloon/sedan and cabriolet versions joined the range along with the more powerful Glas 1204. September 1965 saw a yet more powerful variant, the Glas 1304. In September 1966, a fastback Kombilimousine (estate) was added. The 04s were produced at least until December 1967, and new cars were listed for sale through much of 1968.

In 1960 the company's research workshop came up with an engine that used an unconventional camshaft drive. Product developer Leonhard Ischinger, who had joined Glas from BMW, had produced a four-cylinder OHC engine with valve gear driven using a toothed rubber cam-belt, which at that time was a novel idea. The 992 cc engine provided a maximum output of 42 PS at 5,000 rpm.

The full four seater arrived in January with the 1204 which had its cylinder stroke extended from 61 mm to 73 mm, to give an engine capacity of 1,189 cc and claimed maximum power of 53 PS at 5,100 rpm. The larger engined car was also offered as a coupé and as a cabriolet.

gt

1964-1967  coupé

1965-1967  cabriolet

1967-1968  bmw

The Glas GT is a sports coupé produced by Hans Glas GmbH at Dingolfing. The car was first presented as the Glas 1300 GT in September 1963 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, with volume production starting in March 1964. The much rarer cabriolet version appeared in May 1965 and a larger engined 1700 GT in May 1965.

1300gt: Deliveries of the Glas 1300GT began in March 1964. The body was designed by the Piedmontese firm Frua of Moncalieri. The body shells were built in Moncalieri by coach builders Maggiora, then shipped to the Glas factory at Dingolfing for final assembly. The 1,290 cc engine was a bored-out version of the modern unit that had powered the manufacturer’s 1004 model since 1962, with an overhead camshaft. Claimed power output at this point was 75 PS which provided a top speed of 170 km/h.

1700gt: From September 1965 the 1700gt could be ordered with the 1,682 cc engine from the newly-introduced Glas 1700 TS sedan, which had a maximum power output of 100 PS and a top speed of 185 km/h.

1600gt: With the BMW acquisition of the Glas business, the GT was refitted to accommodate the 1,573 cc BMW engine already fitted in the BMW 1600.

Between 1964 and 1967 Glas produced 5,376 GTs including 363 cabriolets. Between June 1967 and August 1968 a further 1,259 BMW badged cars were produced.

1700

1964-1967

The Glas 1700 is a middle class four door saloon produced by Hans Glas GmbH at Dingolfing. The prototype was first presented (at this stage as the Glas 1500) in September 1963 at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Later versions of the coupé and cabriolet bodied Glas GT were also powered, in some cases, by the same engine as the saloon. The saloon was produced between August 1964 and December 1967, but the manufacturer never had the investment capital sufficiently to expand production capability and the model was discontinued after the by now badly indebted manufacturer was acquired by BMW.

Not for the first time with a new model from Glas, the car introduced at the 1963 Frankfurt Motor Show was far from ready for volume production. It became clear that the performance available from the 1489 cc unit was insufficient for a middle-weight saloon with sporting aspirations. Similar conclusions had already been reached on the competitor from the rival manufacturer BMW who in 1961 had introduced the BMW 1500, a similarly sized sports saloon, only to introduce a more powerful version, the BMW 1800, in 1963. A year after the launch of the Glas 1500 in September 1963, the car appeared as the Glas 1700, its engine size now further increased to 1682 cc.

In total 13,792 Glas 1700 saloons were produced in Germany, including 928 of the higher performance 1700 TS models and 284 cars fitted with four-speed automatic transmission.

v8

1966-1968

The Glas V8 is a V8-engined coupé produced by Hans Glas GmbH at Dingolfing. The car was first presented in September 1965 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, where it became nicknamed the "Glaserati" because of its Frua design, which shared many themes with contemporary Maseratis.

The V8 shared its wheelbase with the company's existing Glas 1700 sedan, resulting in long overhangs at each end which some commentators felt compromised the aesthetics of the striking design and the car's road holding.

The company's finances were already precarious and in order to save on development costs it was decided to use the manufacturer's 1290 cc four-cylinder engine as the basis for a new V8 engine, which is why the size of the new engine, at 2580 cc, was precisely twice that of the existing engine. 

The contract for the car's design again went to Frua of Moncalieri, with the proviso that as far as possible they should avoid the requirement to design new components where existing parts might be obtained from other manufacturers. The resulting design, therefore, featured, among its many “borrowed” components headlights from a Setra bus, window winder mechanisms from a Mercedes-Benz 230SL and the door locks of a Porsche 911. The bodywork was built by hand, with moving parts such as the doors and bonnets as well as the chrome trim stripe at top of the grille, being made to fit each individual body. All such parts thus carry the chassis number of each car and mean that they are not directly interchangeable between cars.

By February 1966 Glas were running a prototype V8 with the engine bored out to 2982 cc (literally a doubled up version of the 1489 cc unit found in some versions of the company's Glas GT) and a three way carburetor. This version offered maximum power output of 160ps.

In total the company produced 277 of the 2600 V8s with smaller engines and 389 of the more powerful 3000 V8s.

bmw/glas 3000 V8 fastback coupé

1967

In 1967, at Frankfurt Motor Show, Frua showed BMW/Glas 3000 V8 Fastbackcoupe, designed on the basis of Glas 3000 V8 one-off fastback coupe. This prototype, in contrast to the previous models developed by Glas, already had BMW-style "kidney grille". Later it was demonstrated at the Motor Shows in Paris (1967), Geneva (1968) and Barcelona (1969). It was assumed that this model would be one of the major in a series of sports cars from BMW, but in 1968 they decided to abandon this idea and focused on the development of BMW 3.0CS.

the end

In the late 1960s BMW shut down Glas and built entirely new production facilities, which would eventually become an important production site. In June 1969, the final Glas vehicle, a Goggomobil, rolled off the production line. As of 2008, BMW's Dingolfing branch is BMW's largest factory, with 22,000 workers producing 5, 6 and 7 Series cars and as well as bodies for Rolls-Royce.