Author Topic: Cars from the '60s  (Read 1653 times)

Offline stokester

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Cars from the '60s
« on: January 18, 2020, 08:47:35 AM »
For you auto enthusiasts out there...

My wife came across a business directory her late parents had kept from their Army days in Augsburg Germany.  This 1960-61 book contains many advertisements for cars; being just 15 years post WWII I tend to think that the Americans were the ones with the income to buy.

These are two of the advertisements, one for an NSU Prinz the other for an Isabella from another manufacturer.  I blocked out the tiny lettering in the logo.

So what company made the Isabella?  It is a rather obscure company so just don't rush to do an internet search, let's see if anyone knows.  I repaired a Motorola tube radio for a guy in Pennsylvania who has the sedan model.
Nick
Yorktown, VA

Offline goodfellow

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Re: Cars from the '60s
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2020, 09:59:18 AM »
The Isabella was a German made Borgward touring sedan -- For the standards of the time, it was quite a ride.

I lived in Germany for many years, and one of my neighbors was a Borgward fan. Coincidentally, his wife drove an NSU Prinz as well. Loud little bustards, but they were as reliable and inexpensive to run as anything that VW put out at the time.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2020, 10:15:35 AM by goodfellow »

Offline torqueman2002

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Re: Cars from the '60s
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2020, 11:02:38 AM »
Yes, the Isabella was made by Borgward. I had 2 in the late 60's/early 70's!

My dad bought an Isabella TS (touring sport?) 2-door sedan, which I 'inherited' my sophomore college year. It had been stranded in the garage with a broken left rear coil spring (IRS).

The support for the IRS rusted and allowed the spring to deflect outward. For about a month there was a strange scrape followed by a sproing sound each time my parents would pull into the drive way. Then one day, it was scrape, bonk and it sagged low on the rear where I was seated. They were only able to pull it in the garage - the wheel rim had finally wore through the spring!

I was given the car for college, if I could get it out of the garage. That's where the 2nd Isabella came in - a wagon owned by a buddy of my dad's. It was also parked in a garage, not running. It became the donor for the black TS.

I have a lot of stories about my (mis)adventures in the TS, like the 1st drive with all my friends down the main street of Syracuse, where the gas tank strap let go!

That car presented a lot of 'learning' opportunities, and was probably very influential in several job choices/opportunities.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2020, 11:06:59 AM by torqueman2002 »
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Offline goodfellow

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Re: Cars from the '60s
« Reply #3 on: January 18, 2020, 11:27:30 AM »
What a great story TM -- not too many folks in the US can say that they owned a classic Borgward in their lifetime. Off topic, but I recall reading somewhere that the brand (Borgward) is back on line, and producing cars again. Not sure what/if there is a tie back to the original lineage, but very interesting indeed.

Offline stokester

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Re: Cars from the '60s
« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2020, 02:02:12 PM »
I knew it would not take long for this gang.

The radio I repaired was out of a 1959 model and was a vibrator-driven  :-\ Motorola 5/6/7M series radio which was a common during that period with many install kits for various models.  A highly prized radio for early VW owners commonly referred to as the "Big M" because of the faceplate.

This is Frank's 1959 Isabella and the radio.
Nick
Yorktown, VA