I have always liked odd cars and a Goggomobil is odd by anyone’s standards. Built by the Glas company in Bavaria, these cars were part of the microcar phenomenon of the 1950s and 60s. There were two popular body styles – Coupe or Limo, as well as several commercial versions. Standard motors were two stroke, 250cc units but 300cc and even massive 400cc engines could be specified as an option. Unlike ‘bubble cars’ contemporaries such as Messerschmitts and Isettas, prices for Goggos are pretty reasonable.

One evening wasting time on eBay I came across the following item (roughly translated)….

Goggomobil T250/01, unregistered since 1993 and stored in a garage. According to the registration document the Goggo has had two previous owners. The keys are present. The motor is not installed but is fully functional and in good condition. The Goggo itself is pretty good for it’s age . It has got a bump on the front wing and some minor damage to the side but nothing too serious. The windscreen is cracked but I have already bought a replacement – it just needs installing. Many other spare parts are included but I’ll come to them later. All of the welding on the underside of the Goggo has been completed except the front and rear! The brakes need fixing and the motor needs installing. No real problem for someone who knows what they are doing! Now the spares: There are two doors, two exhaust systems, a dismantled motor (gearbox, clutch etc. but no cylinders), 3 bumpers, spare lamps and a few other small parts.

A couple of days, and a few difficult conversations with my wife later I had bought the car for €520.15, sight unseen.

The car was located in Egglham in Bavaria, exactly 300km from my home and less than 50km from the Dingolfing factory where it was built. The car was definitely not driveable (the engine wasn’t installed for a start) so the only way to get it home was to fit a towbar to my wife’s car (approx €200.00) and rent a trailer (€70.00 for the day). Sam, my youngest son came along with me on the 600km round trip to pick up the car

The registration papers did indeed list two previous owners. The first, Ferdinand Hasler from Noerdlingen, had acquired the car in March 1979  – over 14 years after the car was manufactured. Presumably this was not the original registration document! The second entry shows that the car changed hands again in October 1983 and Maria Graf from Ulbering (near Pfarrkirchen) drove it for ten years before ‘deregistering’ it.

Once the car was home and I had a chance to take a proper look at what I had bought, it was clear that it would be years before my Goggo was back on the road. It would need completely dismantling and rebuilding from the ground up. Something that would be difficult in the shared underground garage of the appartment building that I lived in!

For the next six months I scoured the internet for Goggo links and read all of the parts catalogs that I could get my hands on. Whilst I was doing this my wife was equally busy reading the propoerty section of the local papers. Fortunately she found something with a double garage so we moved. Our neighbors breathed a massive sigh of relief as we loaded the Goggo onto another rented car trailer.

Safely installed in the new garage at last. David, my other son wonders whether I will finish the car before he is old enough to drive.