Thursday, March 5, 2015

Explaining Borgwald

Once upon a time.....as corny as it sounds.....there was this car company in Germany named Borgwald.  Prior to WW I, they were in a position to take off and be noted.  Things soured in Germany after WW I because of the economy.  Somewhere in the middle of the 1920s.....Borgwald was at a point of failure.  For Carl Borgwald, there was only one thing to do.....design a radical car and move ahead.

The 1924 "Lightning Cart" was this radical car.  Three wheels.....two horse-power....it was a mini-racing type vehicle....."fun factor" was written all over the car.

Borgwald continued on through the 1930s, and emerged out of WW II with a fair amount of business.  The Isabella design came up in 1954, and became the 'ace' of the companies designs.  It was popular and had a sporty look to it.  

Air suspension and automatic transmissions were the novelty items that you could get with the Isabella.  

By 1961, Borgwald was in serious financial straits.  There are various arguments that a conspiracy helped to bring them down.....yet never proven.  Carl Borgwald?  He would die in 1963 and never see a recovery.  The odd thing about the demise of Borgwald as a car company?  Every single person or business that was owed money.....got paid.....in full.  There was no debts left on the table.  

So, Borgwald sat there for the past fifty years.....mostly as a historical type discussion.  They were known for innovation and daring engineering.  They designed cars that people beg to have. 

Well....it's an odd thing.  The big international car show for Frankfurt (later in the fall) is going to have a new Borgwald car for display.  The company, with some type of Chinese partnership, is going to begin a comeback.  The design or look?  No one knows.  In fact, it's fairly secretive and might end up being the biggest draw of the car show.  

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