Cars owned whilst in BAOR

I thought that I would start this thread as it would be interesting to see what cars we owned whilst in Germany and all the trials and tribulations associated with owning them..
To star tthe ball rolling, the first car I purchased was a Borgward Isabella. A great car not chosen because of the make but what I could afford. The trick then to ownership was buy a new car and keep it in BAOR for I think 2 years to escape the purchase tax at home in the UK. Others were quite happy to buy an old German car and prolong its life on a shoestring. What about the rest of you

Well in the five years I was there I had two Opel Records and finished with a Vauxhall, to bring back to UK, funny thing was I drove back, car absolutely full, cigs and spirits hidden amongst all the household stuff, got through customs ok, as I was driving out of the port a red light came up in front of me, customs officer said, "you forgot to mention the car" well after checking, for whatever reason the numbers didn't tally, he just said "you better bugger off"

Les

We lived in Private Accommodation when first married, our Landlord, who liked a drink, owned a Borgward Isabella. I was his designated driver but could never manage the column change lever so, on the way back from the Pub, I was up and down the gearbox and he was rocking backwards and forwards calling me all the "Verdammte Englaenders" under the Sun. Happy Days!.

I feel pretty bad about it now but I actually drove around for over 18months on my BFG plates before registering, the CO would keep dropping hints until eventually I felt I had to give way

My Borgward cost me DM3200 and I used to save up DM50 each week. The ROE was around DM11.5 to the £ in 1962. Had the car for about three years and sold it in 1960 for £75 in Postal Orders to two young National Servicemen from 4 Div Sig Regt. Did quite a few miles in it, home to the UK four times - twice for a Weapons course at Hythe and my SSgt Course in Catterick. It was super reliable.

The Borgward Company of Bremen went bust in around 1962/3 but occasionally, you do see the odd one coming up for sale on ebay.

Whilst serving for a short time on detachment in Munster, used to drive around in a Simca 1000 that was a super little rear engined car, the French guy who owned it didn't like driving so when we went on trips to Holland I used to enjoy being asked to do the driving, a nippy little car, reminded me somewhat of the Mini

I remember the little Simca 1000 cars. A Cpl in the flat next to ours in Herford had one and it never gave him any trouble.

REME guy in the bottom flat had a black & white Ford Taunus 17M and after comparing notes etc decided to buy a new one. Timed it wrong for dodging the UK tax etc. Was 3 weeks off delivery when notice of a posting loomed. Originally Aden but changed to Singapore. That put paid to the new car. Managed to arrange the transfer over to a SSM Jagger who said "you buy me a set of seat belts and I will take delivery". Phewww!! that was a close one. If I had defaulted on the delivery I would become liable to one fifth of the car price.

Never mind, when I got to Singapore I purchased a second hand car out there. Coincidentally it was a Borgward but a combi (Estate).

When you talk of car buying, I did whilst at the airport Dusseldorf have the option of buying one of those dished roof Mercedes Sports, the owner funny enough had been posted to Singapore an it was literally going for very little money, think I could have made a killing back in UK, unfortunately I did not have the time left and the Tax I would have to pay was out of my reack at that time

First car that I owned in Germany was a '59 Beetle, it had a Swastika carved into the Steering wheel so, God knows who had it before be. The instrument panel was very basic, one red light and one green light but no fuel guage, VW thoughtfully provided us with a stick which had marks on it to tell you how much fuel was left in the tank, normally none!! It eventually burst in to flames one day going over the level crossing in Lippstadt, the battery, which was located under the rear seat, wasn't secured and the thing welded itself to the seat framework.

Sounds about right, one of the Corporals I was with brought a brand new one (late 60s) that was the same, dipstick, no radio and don't think it had a heater

Borgward

Seem to remember they had a wooden floor or chassis bit!

We had a WO2 Foreman of Signals (Pete Devanney) from Munster in 1962, collect a brand new Citroen ID19 from the factory in Paris. I think the price was around £700. Also, talking about the Simca 1000, I think they were one of the cheapest cars you could buy then - around £365.

Here is a photo of my old beloved Borgward Isabella. Great car and happy memories 1962-66

Very Nice Jimsigs1
Lovely car, would be worth something now

Les,

See one or two of these cars come up on the internet from time to time. Going for around £8500 upwards.

Someone mentioned the car had a wooden floor. Not so.

My old man had one of these sky blue was the colour

Yes a very nice car, don't know if it was just the way I felt about them but I really loved the Opal, G Motors but even though similar to the Vauxhall shape they just seemed to have a much better quality, much smoother ride

Les,

Great car and talking about Opel cars, I remember WRAC drivers with their staff car Opel Kapitans in 1952 up in Bad Oeynhausen, Rhine Army HQ. Apart from their shiny cars they also wore brown boots with gaiters.

OOOOh now that really sounds nice, makes me think of what I missed

I remember we used to look at the Borgward with some awe. It had lots of extras, I recall that other cars of the period didn't.

My first motor was the early model of the VW Variant, estate of course, needed the room in the back for kids & stuff.

Was it NSU or Auto Union that produced the Wankel-engined Ro80 ? (I don't think it was Audi at that point in time). One used to haunt our regiment, being bought by a series of mugs. It was a mechanical nightmare !

Yes it was NSU shame it had so many torque problems, seriously good idea just not carried on enough, I am surprised that with computers making things easier, that someone hasn't started on it again

Brum,



Norton motorcycles also had one of thos wankel engine thingies. Didn't go down too well, rather quirkie

Here's a picture of a Ford Taunus 17M. Nearly got one but was posted instead.The one I had on order was red with a black roof.

There's at least one Jap car happily running around with a rotary engine nowadays Les,

Sadly I can't remember the name but am confident someone here will know.

Well I think it was one of our Sergeants that had an RO80 , he swore by it for power but had lot's of problems I think with gearbox