When I first saw this poor, weathered little thing for sale on eBay, it brought me back to a time long ago when I made a unique automotive discovery . . .
Just east of the town of Mount Freedom, New Jersey there was what looked like a little abandoned village hidden in a large wooded area. It bore a remarkable similarity to another abandoned village in N.J. known as Feltville (pictured above). There was a dusty road down the center, with small vacant and disintegrating cottages on each side.
One fine summer day in 1986, I’m exploring this hidden place that almost nobody knows about, and somewhere off the beaten path I find what looks like a vehicle of some kind, overgrown with weeds. I’m thinking maybe it’s a golf cart or something, but no–it’s an actual automobile!
It’s got a name on the back: GOGGOMOBIL. That’s a curious name for a car–sounds like a toy or maybe something from a cartoon. But this “car” is rather toy-like and cartoonish. You can practically put your arms around it!
What struck me as fascinating and creepy at the same time was its “surprised mouth” grille that was remarkably Edsel-like. I didn’t think anybody would want to copy the Edsel’s looks. It just added to the mystery.
But it turns out the Goggomobil is a real car–I found it pictured (minus the Edsel grille) in a library book entitled AUTO PARADE 1961. Goggomobils are made by a company called “Hans Glas Isaria-Vertriebs-KG” which is located in the town of Dingolfing, Germany (southern Bavaria).
The specs are: 2 stroke, 2 cylinder, air cooled 24 cubic inch engine (20 horsepower) with 4-speed manual transmission. 10″ wheels; weight 1014 lbs. Length = 119.5″; Width = 53.9″; Wheelbase = 70.9″. Top speed = 65 MPH. Sort of a high-powered, super-luxury go-kart which, at age 12, I would have loved tooling around in!
The interior here looks about as trashed as the one I found in the woods. You have to wonder why it was left there so many years before. If the little houses were vacation cottages, then maybe someone went vacationing in his Goggo, a major (or even minor) mechanical problem occurred, and the owner decided to just leave it behind, get a ride to Morristown (where there are many car dealerships), and buy something new. A dead Goggomobil several years old probably had zero resale value anyway!
So the poor little Goggo, forsaken and all alone, was left there to rot for ever and ever. (Or at least until the land was cleared for development decades later).
On the other side of Sussex Turnpike from the abandoned village sat this bedraggled 1958 Buick. It actually ran, but wouldn’t go into reverse. The owner offered to sell it to me for $200 in 1986–I declined. The car disappeared shortly thereafter. I suspect it became crusher meat.
Same view of where the Buick sat–nothing remains. The property was redeveloped as a post office and shopping plaza. The buildings of the little abandoned village have also been cleared away. (Image from Google Street Views).
On the other side of the size spectrum, we have this 1961 Imperial. We’ll let the seller describe it:
“The spider man special. I have no idea what the previous owner thought when he had this car. I needed a parts car as at the time, I had 3 imperials. In the end, used the bumpers off of it and sold the rear lights. Everything else is how I found it. Yes, that’s the gas tank inside the trunk for some random reason. There is weird spider man stuff all over the car. You do keep the spider man toys in the back window.”
There’s a long-legged red spider painted on the hood . . .
. . . and the trunk. As the seller says, you get the Spiderman toys thrown in for free!
While he had the red paint out, the prior owner “got creative” by picking out various details in red.
Here’s where things get weird. We all know that custom upholstery work and restoration is time consuming, requires great skill, and is expensive. So imagine a guy walking into an upholstery shop and saying, “Yeah, I want custom seats in two-toned black and red, with evil-looking Spiderman eyes in the headrest, and spiderweb stitching on top of the seat. And red piping. It’s gonna be so cool!”
I guess this is a “thing”. Reminds me of an otherwise pristine ’59 Chevy Biscayne 4-door on eBay with–that’s right–marijuana leaves embroidered into the seats and door panels. Who would think of doing that? The asking price is an unbelievable $34,995–I don’t know what he’s smoking (uh, actually I do!)
A few years and lots of $$$s later, and this Imperial is total junk. And to think this once-dignified car started out something like the ad below. What would the original owner think of his car with all this spidey-stuff all over it?
Real spider webs under the hood complete the look.
Well, there are a lot of strange cars, and a lot weird stories and mysteries that go with them. In this way, cars resemble people. Luckily, Curbside Classic is here to present these stories and pictures for your edification. So stay tuned–there’s so much more out there!
I run in to one guy in particular at several shows each year. He has quite a collection of offbeat VWs, but he brought his latest acquisition to the Gilmore’s German show this year. He said he wanted to be the first to bring a Goggo to the German show, but someone else beat him to it a couple years ago. So, I challenged him to be the first to bring a DKW to the German show.
Some Dynaflow cases used from ’58-60 had inconsistent quality casting that left them prone to internal breakage in a spot that prevented reverse from engaging. The factory fix was to replace the transmission, but this only made sense when the car was fairly new and had some value.
A local transmission shop came up with another fix as the cars aged. They fabricated a weirdly shaped support that bypassed the broken internal case and transferred the force of reverse engagement to a stronger part of the case. This part could be installed without removing the transmission – a big job on the old Buicks. Gave new life to a few Buicks that would have been otherwise economically unrepairable. Old mechanic trivia for the day.
There were at least two Goggomobils in the village I lived in as a kid in Germany until at least the late 1970s. They drove around, were used as normal cars and were perhaps a bit curious but not significantly so. They fit far more into the normal land- and road-scape than for example a Nash Metropolitan fit into the US at the same time. Or the Subaru 360.
Glas is a quite well known manufacturer not just in Germany but worldwide, they were eventually taken over by BMW, we’ve featured a couple of them here as I recall.
As you probably know, Gogos could be driven without a proper automobile license; all they needed was a Type IV license, which was much easier and cheaper to get. It was not uncommon to see elderly folks still driving Gogos and other Type IV license (250cc) cars for a very long time. But in more recent years there are more modern sub-cars available for them.
The Goggomobil looks more Alfa than Edsel to my eyes
Gogomobile made famous by the TV telecom advert in Aussie the cars are quite rare
The coupes had the Alfa-inspired grille; the sedans not.
Wow, those seats ! .
-Nate
> Gogomobile made famous by the TV telecom advert in Aussie the cars are quite rare
Do you mean this one?
I found a trashed and wrecked Goggomobile in Germany back in 1975, and I pulled all the emblems and rear air grill. I still have the “G” emblem and the surrounding cast metal part, as well as the “grill”. If someone with a car needs them, they should contact me.
Also of note: In the early 1990s I was part of a large group of Europeans and their cars, that came to the US to drive across the country using Rt 66. We started the tour at the Washington Monument in DC, drove the cars to Chicago, and picking up Rt 66 they all drove to Santa Monica, CA before shipping the vehicles back to their homelands.
One couple brought a little Goggomobile coupe like the one pictured here, but in restored condition. Every morning of the trip this couple left early, typically about 5am, and they were often the last ones to arrive at the next campground, well after the sun went down. As far as I know, they didn’t have any problems with the car, but with a top speed of about 35 to 40 mph, it took them much longer than most of the other vehicles.
I am not sure the 61 Imperial could ever be considered as really all that dignified. Still, it is a shame when someone takes a tired but serviceable car and eliminates almost all of its value to anyone by the kinds of mods done here.