By: Rénald Fortier
Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation
In search of… the Glas Isar / Isard T700, an automobile previously known as the Goggomobil T700
One of the advertisements published in Québec newspapers to promote the new Glas Goggomobil T700 automobile. Anon., “Advertisement – Eugène Roy Limitée.” La Presse, 1 April 1960, 39.
Guten morgen, my reading friend. May I welcome you to the first full week of the new fiscal year?
And yes, my reading friend, the title of this issue of our blog / bulletin / thingee was inspired by that of an American television series, In Search of, mentioned in a July 2019 issue of our fascinating, yes, yes, fascinating blog / bulletin / thingee, but I digress.
Have you ever heard of the Glas Goggomobil T700, an automobile later known as the Isar / Isard T700? No? That’s what I thought. I myself did not know a thing about it before stumbling (Ouch! Sorry.) on the advertisement above, which appeared in the 1 April 1960 issue of the famous daily La Presse in Montréal, Québec. A careful reading of the following peroration will therefore be a pleasant form of enlightenment.
If I may recycle a quote from Princess Irulan, a minor character from Dune, a rather disappointing science fiction film from 1984, a beginning is a very delicate time.
I would like to start the history of the T700 by going back in time, by row boat, to 1883. A manufacturer of agricultural machinery was then born in the German Empire. Andreas Glas, Reparaturwerkstätte fur Landwirtschaftliche Maschinen mit Dampfbetrieb, because this was apparently the name of what was then a repair shop for agricultural steam engines, went on its merry way without disturbing anyone. The items produced in a few hundred thousand copies from 1905 onward were Isaria brand seeders pulled by horses or tractors.
The firm, which changed its name more than once, survived the First World War, the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Second World War. The occupation of eastern Germany by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics after this conflict, however, no longer allowed Glas Werke Aktiengesellschaft, a company name adopted in 1920, to sell the bulk of its production. With sales of seeders dropping, the firm had to produce other items. This being said (typed?), its financial situation was not necessarily promising.
Around 1950-51, the grandson of the firm’s founder made a trip to Italy. There, Andres Glas discovered the brand new Piaggio Vespa scooter, one of the most important achievements of Italian engineering of the 20th century. He was literally bewitched by this vehicle mentioned in an August 2018 issue of our blog / bulletin / thingee. Returning to West Germany, Glas began developing a scooter, the Goggo. If this popular little vehicle produced from 1951 onward by Hans Glas Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, a company name adopted around 1949, did not have the elegance of the Vespa, and far from it, it was nevertheless one of the first, if not the first scooter produced in Germany after the Second World War.
At least one version with a sidecar, and would you believe that sidecar is a very French expression, unfortunately accepted, of the Goggo was made. There was also a 3-wheeled version used for deliveries. The last Goggo hit the road in 1956 and yes, I realise very well that this sentence could inspire a smile.
I see a hand shaking frantically in the ether. You obviously have a question, my reading friend. What was the origin of the term “Goggo,” you say? According to an urban legend of the region where the Glas Werke / Hans Glas factory was located, in Bavaria, one of the West German federal states, a maid who worked for the Glas family called Andreas Glas’ second son “Goggi.”
Such a nickname is not necessarily as unique as you might think. Toward the end of the 1960s, the owner of an airplane supply company, Charles Raoul “Gogi” Goguillot of Yarrow / Chilliwack, British Columbia, developed an aircraft which reproduced, at a 7/8 scale, the silhouette of one of the most famous fighter aircraft of the First World War, the British Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5. He accomplished this task with a friend, Daniel “Big Dan / Dan” McGowan. The first two examples of the reproduction they designed, one of the first of its type but by no means the last, flew in 1970.
When presented in early 1970s editions of the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the S.E.5 replica caused a sensation. So many people asked for plans that Goguillot and McGowan had a set of plans made. Several hundred of these sets were sold through a small company, Replica Plans Incorporated. Examples of the replica flew / fly in Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, etc.
Both the EAA, the largest light aviation organisation in the world, and the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In, today’s EAA Airventure Oshkosh, the world’s largest airshow, were mentioned in some issues of our blog / bulletin / thingee since September 2017.
Goguillot later became general manager, and a very good one he was, of the Canadian Museum of Flight in Langley, British Columbia. He retired in 2003. Goguillot died in July 2007. He was 78 years old.
Would you believe that the collection of the superb Canada Aviation and Space Museum, in Ottawa, Ontario, includes an S.E.5? You should, of course. I would never betray you, but I digress.
The very success of the Goggo encouraged the father of “Goggi” to invest part of the profits of the family business in the design of a slightly more ambitious road vehicle, a 4-seat (2 adults and 2 children) microcar, the Goggomobil. As you probably know, said Goggomobil was not the only microcar produced in West Germany in the 1950s. If you are as good as good as gold or, more likely, if I feel like it, yours truly could pontificate on at least 1 of these vehicles in the more or less distant future, but back to our story.
Would you believe that Glas, the person, or Hans Glas, the firm, looked into the possibility of producing under licence the microcar designed by another West German, Hellmuth Butenuth, before deciding to proceed with the Goggomobil? He / it liked the latter’s Econom Teddy but thought it was a tad too small. An automobile called the Teddy, you say? An automobile called the Teddy, say I. Isn’t that adorable? You know what? Yours truly will write an article on this microcar at some point in the near future, but back to our story.
A typical Glas Goggomobil automobile, Vallendar, Germany, July 2008. The sun visor and headlight screens were / are not standard issue. Wikipedia.
The first Goggomobil hit the road in 1954. The various versions of this microcar were quite successful, indeed very successful in West Germany and elsewhere in Europe, in nearly 60 countries on all continents except Antarctica, it was said, with people or families with limited incomes. Would you believe that a small number of Goggomobils were driven in the United States and Canada / Québec? There were even some in Australia. An interesting detail, at least for yours truly, Hans Glas briefly considered, around 1957, the possibility of producing the Goggomobil on American soil.
The last example of this family of microcars hit the road in 1969. The growing prosperity of the average consumer and her / his desire to own a relatively spacious automobile mostly explained this situation.
I will not tell you anything you did not know, my reading friend of encyclopedic knowledge, by saying (typing?) that a Québec journalist / radio host / actor very well-known at the time, Joseph David Lucien Miville Couture, took possession of a Goggomobil in the autumn / fall of 1957. He said he was delighted by his small vehicle, his third automobile in fact. It must be nice to have money. Hello, boss lady, hello.
A brief digression into a tragedy if I may. In late July 1944, the Société Radio-Canada, a crown corporation mentioned a few times in our you know what since September 2018, offered to its listeners a (unique?) radio program entitled Les Ailes glorieuses. This docudrama recounted the last flight of the crew of a Royal Canadian Air Force Consolidated Canso maritime reconnaissance amphibian shot down by the German submarine it had attacked over the Atlantic, on 24 June 1944. Two of the eight crew members died while awaiting rescue. The pilot, David Ernest Hornell, died soon after. He received the Victoria Cross posthumously.
The small team which produced this docudrama included members of the Québec artistic community who were among the best known of the 20th century, including Couture and Jean Duceppe, born Jean Hotte.
Yours truly wonders if the reference to the glorious wings (“ailes glorieuses”) referred to a book entitled Les Ailes glorieuses: Roland Garros, René Fonck, Charles Lindbergh, Paul Codos, written by aeronautical journalist and author Jacques Mortane, born Joseph Jacques Philippe Romanet, and published in France in 1936, but back to our story.
In the spring of 1959, the exclusive distributor of the Goggomobil in Canada was a hardware store, Quincaillerie Eugène Roy Limitée of L’Assomption, Québec. The latter offered fast service and spare parts to his Québec and Ontario customers. Indeed, one could eventually list at least a dozen dealers in Québec, but none in Sherbrooke, the homecity of yours truly. I am saddened by this, but back to our story again.
Hans Glas produced a small number of Goggomobil mini-trucks between 1956 and 1965. The West German postal service, or Deutsche Bundespost, used the majority of these reliable, economical, and, let’s face it, adorable little vehicles. They were painted yellow by the way.
The Goggomobil saga embarked on a new path in 1958 when an Australian, William Francis Buckle, walked through the doors of Hans Glas’ offices. This son of the founder of Buckle Motors (Trading Company) Proprietary Limited, who became the big boss after the death of his father, was interested in the use of fibreglass as a material for making automobile bodies. Between 1957 and 1959, his firm built about 20 examples of a sports car, the Buckle Sports Coupe, using the chassis of a car made in the United Kingdom by Ford Motor Company Limited, the British subsidiary of Ford Motor Company. Buckle now believed that a well-designed microcar would sell very well in Australia. He assessed the types available and chose, you guessed it, the Goggomobil.
Before yours truly forgets, please note that Ford Motor and Ford Motor were mentioned in December 2018, February 2019 and June 2019 issues of our blog / bulletin / thingee. Ford Motor, the American firm in this case, was also mentioned in May 2019 and March 2020 issues of this critically important publication, but back to our Australian friend’s stay in West Germany.
The negotiations turned out to be a tad difficult. You see, Buckle did not speak German and no member of the Glas family really spoke English. The 2 parties finally managed to conclude an agreement, however, according to which Hand Glas would ship Goggomobil chassis to Australia. Buckle Motors (Trading Company) would mount fibreglass bodies on said chassis and sell the cars thus created in Australia. The firm soon prepared its molds, using a sedan and a coupe shipped by ship. These “Go-Gos,” as they were nicknamed, did not sell too badly in Australia.
A sportier 2-seat convertible version, christened Dart, was more successful. At the time of its launch, it was the cheapest sports car in Australia. Sales were so spectacular that Buckle Motors (Trading Company) could not always keep up with demand. A few hundred Darts were produced between 1959 and 1961.
The fibreglass body of the Dart, greatly simplified when compared to that of the 2 previous derivatives of the Goggomobil, included 2 main elements, a top and a bottom – a bit like the Beehoo / Magna Amphicat, an all-terrain vehicle mentioned in a January 2020 issue of our blog / bulletin / thingee. The Dart having no door, one had to be a wee bit agile to board one of these vehicles. Such an exercise could potentially be a little, uh, embarrassing for a female Homo sapiens wearing a miniskirt.
Buckle Motors (Trading Company) also produced a small number of very ingenious / innovative vans. These Carry All Vans combined the lower body of the Dart with a large cargo area that included a side door similar to that of a roll top desk. Said door could be used from the sidewalk of a street.
During the 1960s, Buckle Motors (Trading Company) may well have been one of the largest manufacturers of fibreglass sports car bodies in the world, an honour it shared with Dawri Coachcraft Incorporated, a Canadian-born firm based in the United States since 1957 mentioned in an October 2019 issue of our blog / bulletin / thingee.
It should be noted that Buckle sold his company to investors based in Hong Kong / Xiānggǎng, in 1961.
Would you believe that a firm created for that purpose, Isard Argentina Sociedad Anónima Comercial, Industrial y Financiera, produced a small number of Goggomobils between 1958 and the late 1950s or early 1960s? In Spain, Munguía Industrial Sociedad Anónima produced a slightly larger number of Goggomobils between 1962 and 1966.
In 1959, the Associated Corporation of Industries (India) Private Limited (ACI), an Indian firm which apparently still existed in 2020, submitted to the Indian government a project to produce Goggomobils in India. This microcar could indeed help give wheels, so to speak, to the Indian middle class. Indeed again, the Goggomobil sparked some interest in government. A photograph actually showed / shows the first Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, taking a look at one of these vehicles. While it was / is true that ACI initiated the creation of a network of dealers in a few large Indian cities, the fact was / is that the project soon fell through.
This being said (typed?), the Goggomobil may, I repeat may, have inspired the designer of one of the versions (1960? 1970?) of an Indian microcar, the Meera. A more or less self-taught engineer, Shankarrao Kulkarni, began working on a hyper-economical vehicle around 1945. Meera Automobile and Engineering Industries Private Limited completed at least one 2-seat prototype around 1949. A 3-seat microcar followed in 1951. Its designer modified it in depth in 1960. At least one last prototype of the final version of this microcar appeared in 1970. The interest shown by local and / or regional authorities having failed to avoid getting bogged down in the Indian national bureaucracy, no version of the Meera was mass produced.
The Goggomobil may, I repeat may, have also more or less directly inspired the father of another Indian microcar. Before going any further, yours truly must point out that there was nothing very happy about the history of this vehicle.
Said story began in the early 1960s in the United Kingdom. One of the 2 sons of the daughter of the aforementioned Nehru, Indira Priyadarshini Nehru Gandhi, was then studying in that country. Sanjay Gandhi, a young man who was slightly unruly, loved automobiles. This passion led him to become an automotive engineer. Gandhi returned to India in 1968. He carried with him the idea of designing a simple, reliable and economical 100 % Indian microcar for the country’s middle class – an admirable idea.
In 1971, the government led by Gandhi’s mother, who was then Prime Minister, approved the project. Maruti Motors Limited was created in June. Gandhi was its managing director. The very small team he led completed a prototype, or even 3, in 1971-72, using elements from at least one road vehicle (motorcycle? automobile?).
The Vehicle Research and Development Establishment, a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organization, a government agency, assessed a Maruti a little later. Its engineers concluded that this vehicle was not suitable for the road.
Gandhi, already accused of corruption and other illegal activities, found himself attacked from all sides by the press and opposition parties in the Indian parliament, the Bhārat ki Sansad. Also accused of corruption and other illegal activities, the government led by his mother was also attacked from all sides. It declared a state of emergency in June 1975, thus initiating the transformation of India into a quasi-police state. Having shelved the Maruti production project, Gandhi took an increasingly important and controversial / bad place in the political life of India.
In January 1977, his mother announced that a general election would be held in March, which turned out to be a disaster for her and her party. The new government immediately ordered a report on Maruti Motors. Said report was so damning (threats, money laundering, influence peddling, illegal imprisonment, corruption, blackmail, etc.) that it resulted in the closure of the firm.
Gandhi died in June 1980, in a plane crash while performing low-level aerobatic maneuvers. He was barely 33 years old.
His mother having returned to power in January 1980, the Indian government nationalised the assets of Maruti Motors in 1981 and founded Maruti Udyog Limited. Said government then entered into negotiations with a few well-known automobile manufacturers. It finally concluded a cooperation agreement with the Japanese industrial giant Suzuki Kabushiki Kaisha in October 1982.
A brief digression if I may. By 1989, Canadian Airmotive Incorporated of Richmond, British Columbia, was completing the development of a small engine derived from an automobile engine designed by Suzuki. The subsidiary of Full Lotus Manufacturing Incorporated, a well-known manufacturer of inflatable floats for light / private aircraft also based in Richmond, hoped that its T-90 engine would be of interest to light / private aircraft manufacturers. Indeed, at least one aircraft manufacturer said it was interested in the new engine. Technical problems unfortunately put an end to the project.
In late 1991, Canadian Airmotive completed the American certification process for the CAM 100, a derivative of another automobile engine. Designed by another Japanese giant, Honda Giken Kōgyō Kabushiki Kaisha, said engine was mounted on a vehicle known to all, the Honda Civic. Canadian Airmotive wanted to sell the CAM 100 engine to homebuilders. You will remember that the term homebuilding refers to the construction of aircraft by individuals working at home using plans or kits more or less ready to be assembled.
The form, sorry, the firm moved to Almonte, Ontario, around 1992, and became Canadian Airmotive Limited. Having taken control of it in 1994, Firewall Forward Aero Engines Incorporated of Algonquin Highlands, Ontario, continued production of the CAM 100. Better yet, it began production of a more powerful engine, the CAM 125. Firewall Forward Aero Engines and Canadian Airmotive still existed as of 2020.
At the risk of attracting the wrath of colleagues whom I very much appreciate, yours truly wonders whether the aforementioned Canada Aviation and Space Museum should consider the possibility of thinking of acquiring an example of the CAM 100 or the CAM 125. Just sayin’. End of digression. Hello, boss lady, hello.
As fascinating as the saga of Maruti Udyog, a saga which continues in this year 2020, it undoubtedly exceeds the framework of this issue of our you know what. The smoke coming out of your ears also approaches a level of toxicity that yours truly does not wish to exceed. So back to our story.
May I risk further stirring up your anger by mentioning that a West German mini utility vehicle whose prototypes, known as the Piccolo, hit the road around 1970-71, included a number of elements (chassis and engine apparently) of the Goggomobil? Produced in small numbers in 1973-74, in West Berlin, a western bastion right in the middle of East Germany, by Automobilwerk Walter Schätzle Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (AWS), the Shopper was an angular and not very elegant 2-seat vehicle with lots of free space in the back for purchases. Designed to be easy to assemble and repair, it aroused real enthusiasm. In 1970-71, almost 20 000 people said they were ready to buy an assembly kit. The Shopper unfortunately turned out to be too expensive to buy. It also seemed relatively unsafe in a collision. The number of customers being lower than expected, AWS went bankrupt in 1974. Now back to our story.
The very success of the Goggomobil encouraged Hans Glas to launch a larger 4-seat automobile, the Große Goggomobil – a risky project considering the size of the firm. And yes, my reading friend, the automobile in the advertising visible at the beginning of this article was / is a particular type of Große Goggomobil.
The vehicle unveiled during the 1957 edition of the Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung in Frankfurt am Main was a front-wheel drive automobile with an in-house designed engine, a first for Hans Glas, which turned out to be a wee too unstable, the automobile, not the engine. The firm was forced to transform the Große Goggomobil into a rear-wheel drive automobile. Having no time to modify their vehicle’s gearbox, engineers installed it back to front so that the drive shaft pointed to the rear.
And yes, my discombobulated reading friend, the 4-speed of the gearbox of the Große Goggomobil’s gearbox were reversed from normal – at least in its initial version. I kid you not.
The first production version of the Große Goggomobil hit the road in June 1958. This small, economical vehicle included a number of innovations, including a steel monocoque structure and a wraparound front windshield. It was also more spacious than several German automobiles in the same category.
The Große Goggomobil was renamed Isar in the fall of 1959. It was later renamed Isard. The transition from Isar to Isard was said to be due to the fact that the term Isar sounded slightly strange / odd / funny in at least one foreign language, a significant factor for a small firm wishing to export its production. This being said (typed?), yours truly would be negligent if I did not mention that, in French from France, the term “gogo” means lubber-head / sap / sucker / wall banger / etc.
What is a little curious in this aspect of our topic of the week is that yours truly came across an advertisement published in a May 1959 issue of the aforementioned daily La Presse in which one can read the terms Goggomobil, the little one and not the big one, and Isard.
It may also be that the name change was intended to avoid any association between the period of prosperity then experienced by West Germany and the dark years following the end of the Second World War, a period during which microcars like the Goggomobil were the only types of automobiles that typical families could afford.
It may finally be that that the name change was intended to distance vehicles produced from 1959 onward from those produced in 1958-59. You see, the somewhat too rapid development of the Große Goggomobil gave rise to small glitches: deformations of certain parts of the engine housing which greatly increased fuel consumption and deformation of the monocoque structure which could lead to cracks, or even a popping out of the front windshield from its frame – a nasty surprise for people whose car was driving, oh so cheerfully, at high speed, behind a Große Goggomobil. These glitches proved quite expensive for Hans Glas, both in terms of money and damage to its reputation.
This being said (typed?), Hans Glas manufactured nearly 87 000 Große Goggomobil / Isar / Isard between 1957 and 1965, including more than 14 000 station wagons.
Would you believe that the aforementioned Isard Argentina produced a small number of Isards between 1959 and 1965? Better yet, the latter was one of the most popular automobiles in Argentina during the 1960s.
Hans Glas started production of a family of 4-seat automobiles a bit more spacious than the Isard in 1962. Available in sedan and convertible versions, the 04 sold rather well. Indeed, the firm’s workshops were apparently so busy that a hatchback version of the 04 had to be produced in Italy, by Carrozzeria Maggiora Società per Azioni. The version in question may, I repeat may, have stimulated the little gray cells of a team of engineers from the German automobile manufacturer Bayerische Motorenwerke Aktiengesellschaft (BMW) which soon introduced its own hatchback automobile.
Hans Glas’ management was aware that the small size of the firm did not allow it to compete with the giants of the German automotive industry. It had to bet on the quality and / or the uniqueness of its products, and not on their quantity.
As early as 1962, Hans Glas decided to start producing small sports cars. Its management contacted all known Italian designers. Only Pietro Frua, one of the greats of the profession, showed interest and...
And yes, my perspicacious reading friend, it was indeed Frua who had organised the production of the aforementioned hatchback version of the 04 by Carrozzeria Maggiora. May I continue now? Thank you.
A bit similar to that of an automobile introduced in 1961 by Auto Costruzioni Ferrari / Società Esercizio Fabbriche Automobili e Corse, the body designed by Frua for the 00 sports car was stunningly beautiful. Yes, yes, stunning. Its in-house designed engine also gave it good performance. Let’s be brutal: the 00 caused a sensation at the 1963 edition of the Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung. The first 00s arrived at dealerships in July 1964. A convertible version seemed to be available from that very time.
Small black clouds did not take long to appear, however. Wishing to minimise the production costs of its new 4-seat automobile, Hans Glas had the bodywork of the 00 manufactured in Italy. The limited quality of the work done by Carrozzeria Maggiora, the open air storage in West Germany of many bodies and a somewhat inadequate painting process caused the first 00s to have rust problems. Carrozzeria Maggiora and Hans Glas eventually put everything in order, however.
With the versions of the 00 selling pretty well in Europe, Hand Glas tried its luck in the United States. Hans Glas Corporation imported a number of vehicles which soon met with some success.
A brief digression if I may. The importer who financed the arrival of a few hundred 00s in California, Maximilian Edwin “Max” Hoffmann, was the very person who had managed to convince a well-known West German automobile manufacturer, Mercedes-Benz Aktiengesellschaft, to start the production, in 1954, of the sports car of the 20th century, the legendary 300SL, the road version of its W194 racing car. And yes, the 300SL was the first gullwing automobile.
You will remember that we met a little-known gullwing automobile, the Aluminum Model Toys Piranha, in a May 2019 issue of our you know what. This being said (typed?), the best known gullwing automobile was / is of course the De Lorean DMC-12 seen in 3 very popular American movies premiered in 1985, 1989 and 1990. Do you know their titles? No? No! Shame. Don’t you believe in the power of love?
In September 1964, Hans Glas launched a new family of automobiles available in sedan and convertible versions. Their body was again designed by Frua. They were actually slightly modified versions of a prototype designed for a West German firm, Carl F.W. Borgward Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung Automobil- und Motor-Werke / Borgward-Werke Aktiengesellschaft, which had gone bankrupt, a very controversial bankruptcy by the way, in 1961. The 1700 was one of the best vehicles produced by Hans Glas.
A small detail if I may. Walter Schätzle, the designer of the aforementioned Shopper microcar, was a former Borgward automobile dealer. Ours is a small world, isn’t it, my reading friend?
Hans Glas launched its last family of automobiles in 1966. Nicknamed Glaserati because their bodies closely resembled those of the automobiles of the Italian firm Maserati Società per Azioni, which was not surprising given that Frua was the stylist of both firms, the 2600 and 3000 coupes were magnificent. Their performance may have left something to be desired, however. In fact, one wonders if Hans Glas did not go too far in launching these automobiles, as well as the 1700, given its rather limited resources and aging tooling.
Aware that the financial situation of the firm was precarious to say the least, a situation aggravated by a recession in West Germany, the management of Hans Glas resigned itself to accepting an offer of purchase from BMW brokered by the government of Bavaria. The contract between the 2 firms was signed at the end of December 1966.
The production of almost all Hans Glas automobiles ended during the second half of 1967. BMW tried to revive the Glas 00 and 3000 in 1967-68, but their fairly high selling price discouraged the vast majority of potential customers.
The Hans Glas saga did not end there, however. The distributor of BMW cars in South Africa, Hannes Pretorius, organised the transfer of the production tooling of the Glas 1700 to that country in 1967 or 1968. The first vehicles arrived at dealerships around November 1968. While it is true that the vehicle sold rather badly, it was equally true that the assembly line in the apartheid paradise did not stop its activities until 1975.
A second assembly line, installed in Southern Rhodesia, another hell or, more precisely, an autonomous African colony of the United Kingdom whose very small and racist white population unilaterally and illegally declared its independence in November 1965, without the British government lifting a finger to prevent it from happening actually, produced a number of Glas 1700s, known locally as Cheetah, for a few years.
What happened to the staff and factory at Hands Glas, you ask, my concerned reading friend? Fear not, say I. BMW transformed the old factory into one of the most modern production sites in West Germany. Said site was / is the largest BMW industrial complex in the world as of 2020.
Do you want to end this issue of our you know what, my reading friend? Me too.
See ya later.
Take care of yourself, my reading friend.
Rénald Fortier
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