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Jersey Airways – 1933 – 1947

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Jersey Airways was an airline that operated air services to and from the Channel Islands from 1933 until 1947, when it became part of British European Airways.

a1142_jersey airways_03History

Jersey Airways Limited was formed by W L Thurgood on 9 December 1933. The first commercial service took place on 18 December, with a passenger service from Jersey to Portsmouth. In the absence of a proper airport, the aircraft used St. Aubin’s beach at West Park, St. Helier, and the airline had its maintenance base at Portsmouth Airport, (moving to Southampton Airport in 1935). On Sunday, 28 January 1934, the first flights began from Heston (with a special bus connection from London) to Jersey, in March 1934 flights began from Southampton, and during summer 1934, a service was operated
to Paris. In its a1142_jersey airways_01first full year, Jersey Airways carried 20,000 passengers, using a fleet of eight DH.84 Dragons, each capable of carrying eight passengers.

On 1 December 1934, Channel Islands Airways was registered as a holding company for Jersey Airways Ltd. and its subsidiary Guernsey Airways Ltd. which had been formed a week earlier. Shares were bought by the Great Western Railway and the Southern Railway. This allowed expansion, and in 1935, six four-engined DH.86s and two DH.89 Dragon Rapides were introduced, to replace the Dragons. On 8 January 1935, a service began to Rennes, in France, although on 29 March 1935 it ceased. In April 1936, a Plymouth-Jersey service began, and in 1938 to Exeter, Dinard and Shoreham.

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Jersey Airport opened on 10 March 1937, and Jersey Airways was able to operate a fixed timetable that no longer depended on the state of the tides. This also meant the company obtained the mail-carrying contract, freight traffic increased, and night flights could begin.

a1142_jersey airways_02Meanwhile, in Guernsey, things were at a less advanced stage, and most air services were those by flying boats and amphibians. Guernsey Airways was very much smaller than its sister company in Jersey. Two Saro flying boats were used: Windhover (G-ABJP) and Saro Cloud (G-ABXW), named “Cloud of Iona”. In May 1939,Guernsey’s new airport was opened. On 8 May 1939, Guernsey Airways began a service to Southampton, using a DH.86A (G-ADVK) and a DH.86B (G-AENR), later joined by a DH.95 Flamingo (G-AFUF). In June 1939, the prototype Flamingo (G-AFUE) was evaluated by Jersey Airways, but further orders for the type were frustrated by world events.

At the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939, flights to the Channel Islands ceased. In a1142_jersey airways_04November 1939, services resumed from Shoreham, under the direction of National Air Communications. On 13 June 1940, all scheduled air services between the United Kingdom and the Channel Islands were suspended. The following day, Jersey Airways began flying its staff and equipment to the United Kingdom mainland, and on 18–19 June 1940, the DH.86 fleet was used to evacuate 320 islanders to the mainland, before German forces occupied the islands on 1 July 1940. One DH.86 (G-ADVK) was on overhaul at Jersey at the time, and was abandoned; the rest of the fleet was impressed into RAF service.

Following the liberation of the islands in 1945, Channel Islands Airways resumed scheduled services in June 1945, using ex-RAF DH.89A Dragon Rapides. Jersey Airways and Guernsey Airways flights then terminated at Southampton and at Croydon. In May 1946, a Bristol 170 Wayfarer (G-AGVB) was loaned to Channel Islands Airways.

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De Havilland DH.86 Express, G-ACZN, Channel Islands Airways – Jersey Airways

In 1947, the British government nationalised the UK airlines, including Jersey Airways, to form British European Airways (BEA). The Channel Islands authorities resisted this move, feeling that it was unacceptable to be dictated to by the British Government, who had no legal jurisdiction over the islands. However it was made plain that flights from the Channel Islands would not otherwise be allowed to land in England, and consequently on 1 April 1947, the airline staff, the eight Dragon Rapides and their routes all became parts of BEA.

Text from Wikipedia


Filed under: Article, Aviation, British, The forties, The thirties Tagged: British European Airways, Jersey Airways

Rainbow Island – The Movie

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Rainbow Island –
screen play by Walter DeLeon and Arthur Phillips; based on a story by Seena Owen; music and lyrics by Burton Lane and Ted Koeller; directed by Ralph Murphy for Paramount. At Loew’s Criterion.

Lona . . . . . Dorothy Lamour
Toby Smith . . . . . Eddie Bracken
Pete Jenkins . . . . . Gil Lamb
Ken Masters . . . . . Barry Sullivan
Doctor Curtis . . . . . Forrest Orr
Queen Okalana . . . . . Anne Revere
High Priest Kahuna . . . . . Reed Hadley
Alcoa . . . . . Marc Lawrence
Executioner . . . . . Adia Kuznetzoff
Miki . . . . . Olgan San Juan
Moana . . . . . Elena Verdugo

The same mad formula for comedy which heretofore has been used to great advantage by Paramount in its memorable “Road to —” films is given a fair going-over in the latest of that studio’s musical shows, a gaudy item called “Rainbow Island,” which came to Loew’s Criterion yesterday. Only this time a new pair of comics, Eddie Bracken and Gil Lamb, are filling the zany roles formerly apportioned to Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, and Barry Sullivan is an adjunct who makes romance with the invariable Dorothy Lamour. But the same sort of nonsense is in order, the same sort of florid burlesque. If only the script were better and Bracken and Lamb were Crosby and Hope—.

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Well, everything can’t be expected. And there is certainly enough moonshine here to dazzle the risibilities of the average seeker of escape. For Bracken and Lamb are funny fellows (who only pale by comparison) and Miss Lamour — back a1143_rainbow island5to saronging — gets the most out of what she has. Likewise, for visual entertainment, there are other characters, also in sarongs, who do a great deal with their resources to adorn the back—and foreground.

The present excursion finds three sailors—the Messrs. Bracken, Lamb and Sullivan—cast away on a South Pacific island found only on the charts at Paramount. Here the suspicious natives discover that the Bracken phiz bears a truly amazing resemblance to the high man on their totem pole, and they enthrone Mr. Bracken, temporarily, as the materialization of their god. Unfortunately, this deity is supposed to possess none of the appetites of man, and the lives of Mr. Bracken and his fellows depend upon his proof of godly abstinence. What with the islands’ abundance of food and other tempting things—well, you can see the dilemma and also the line of the film.

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Mr. Bracken makes a very balmy comic, and when he is on the screen there is constant cause for amusement, if only to look at him. His qualms in the face of a1143_rainbow island4native menace, his dubious displays of pomp and his general all-around dopiness are masterful scoops of burlesque. A scene in which Mr. Bracken, as the god, gives paternal advice to a maiden on how to please a husband is truly side-splitting stuff.

Mr. Lamb is also amusing, but in a less sheepish way. Indeed, his butts of angular clowning are occasionally too blunt to be enjoyed. Mr. Sullivan fits into the picture as a romantic second-lead should, and Miss Lamour moans one song, “Beloved,” and generally keeps out of the main road. There is a good bit of wiggle-dancing and other Technicolored side-shows in this film. But it is mainly the job of Mr. Bracken that makes it worth going to see.

Also on the bill at the Criterion is “Target Japan,” a two-reel Navy film, which explains—with battle scenes—the general strategy of our Pacific war through Guam. It is an eminently timely picture, although it fails to reveal anything about the war which the average news reader does not already comprehend.

Movie review by Bosley Crowther – The New York Times, October 26, 1944


Filed under: Actors, Actresses, Article, Movies, The forties Tagged: Dorothy Lamour, Rainbow Island

Loch Lomond Steamers

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Marion Steaming on Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond is the largest expanse of freshwater in the British Isles. The loch is 22½ miles long, its greatest breadth near the southern extremity is about 5 miles and its greatest depth 623 feet. The River Falloch enters Loch Lomond from Glen Falloch at the head of the loch and the River Endrick near Balmaha in the south-east. At Balloch which is situated on the southern shore, the River Leven connects the loch to the Firth of Clyde. The Loch Lomond steamers apart from the second-hand P.S. Princess Patricia and P.S. Queen Mary, were built at various shipyards on the upper and lower Clyde and, with the exception of P.S. Maid of the Loch which was dismantled and re-assembled because of its large size, were either sailed or hauled up the River Leven to enter the loch.

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Loch Lomond Steamer Prince of Wales in Loch Lomond Company Colours

The first steamer appeared on Loch Lomond in 1818 just a few years after Henry Bell’s pioneering steamship The Comet was launched in 1812. David Napier inspired by Bell’s Comet built the Marion, a 60 ft. wooden steamer, and plied the loch carrying tourists. Loch Lomond and The Trossachs were made popular by the works of Sir Walter Scott such as his novel Rob Roy and his narrative poem Lady of the Lake published in 1810. A few years later a group of businessmen established The Loch Lomond Steam Boat Company buying a rival steamer, The Lady of the Lake. Competition was fierce with a succession of companies being formed and new and bigger steamers capitalising on the newly emerging tourist trade. With the arrival of the railways in Balloch in July 1850, the steamers connected with the passenger trains making Loch Lomond accessible for many people.

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An early 20th century holiday snap with a note on back:
“Photo taken on a Loch Lomond steamer. On camp stool my dear wife, with Grace and Wilfred on either side.”

Cruising remained popular and The Loch Lomond Steam Boat Company was eventually taken over by the North British Steam Packet Company. Through a succession of acquisitions and nationalisation of the railways, the last steamer, Maid of the Loch, transferred to Caledonian MacBrayne and was withdrawn from service in 1981. Maid of the Loch, the last conventional paddle steamer to be built in Great Britain has been in the ownership of The Loch Lomond Steamship Company, a registered charity, since 1996 and is undergoing renovation with the aim of returning the Maid to steam operation in 2013.

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Maid of the Loch at Balloch pier

 


Filed under: Article, Holidays, Maritime history, Retro technology, Transportation, Traveling Tagged: Loch Lomond Steamers, SS Marion, SS Prince of Wales

German Vintage Humour

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Naturphänomen
Reiche Erbin: "So oft ich’s beim Baden auch versuche, ich vermag mich nict über dem Wasser zu halten."
Herr: "Merkwüedig – ein Goldfisch der nicht schwimmen kann"

Natural Phenomenon
Rich Heiress: "Whenever I too try bathing, I can not manage to keep
myself afloat."
Man: "Strange – a goldfish who can’t swim"


Filed under: Humour, Illustration, Vintage Tagged: German humour, Old comics, Old jokes

The Little Red Van

Joe Bowler – American Artist & Illustrator

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    Born in Forest Hills, New York in 1928, Joe began to draw when he was three. His first illustration for a national magazine was published by Cosmopolitan when he was nineteen. While working as an apprentice at the prestigious Charles E. Cooper Studios, Inc. he had the opportunity to learn the craft from some of the finest artists in the profession.

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    At Cooper Studio, Joe was inspired by the illustrations he saw being done by the top artists in the field. During the day Joe’s time was spent cleaning palettes and brushes, matting paintings and running errands. He did his own work in the evenings, sometimes working all night. After being there about six months, Coby Whitmore brought Joe an illustration for matting. Coby saw a sample illustration Joe had been working on the night before and asked if he could take it with him to Cosmo to show the Art Director. Upon Coby’s return, he told Joe, Cosmo had bought the sample and to bill them for $1,000. Earning $35 a week at that time, it seemed like a fortune. Within six months, Joe’s illustrations were appearing in three major magazines. Coby became a mentor and friend to Joe, a friendship that lasted a life time. 

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   Bowler contracted polio in 1958, while on vacation in Europe. The polio initially effected all of his muscles  and he spent 7 years working with a physical therapist, Henry Stano. Though the recovery was long and painful, about three months in, Joe regained the use of his hands and arms and got back to the job of being an illustrator, that is painting. It was a turning point in Joe’s life, not only in his physical capacity  but his attitude and approach to painting.

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    Joe was elected to the Society of Illustrators in 1952.  In 1967 The Artists’ Guild of New York named Joe their Artist of the Year. By this time, magazines were commissioning him to do portraits of well known people. These included a 1968 McCall’s fashion article portraying eight presidential candidates’ wives; the August 1971 issue of Ladies’ Home Journal cover portrait of Rose Kennedy; The Saturday Evening Post cover of Julie and David Eisenhower.  In 1992 Joe was inducted into the Illustrators Hall of Fame.

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Text from joebowlerchronicles.com


Filed under: Art, Article, Illustration, Paintings, People Tagged: American artists, American illustrators, Joe Bowler

And Now For a Little Stage Nostalgia

Lucky Sod!


I Really Hope….

Saturday Quiz: Guess That Ass

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Let’s see how well you have studied classic celebrity backsides visitors.
The question is simple; Who’s famous ass is this?

Tip: her more famous sister drowned mysteriously in 1981

And last weeks ass belonged, as many of you guessed, to a young Brigitte Bardot


Filed under: People, Photography Tagged: Guess That Ass, Saturday Quiz

Bought Myself A Christmas Present Today :-)

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Ever since I read about this publication I’ve wanted it and as I was out shopping for presents for my daughters and grandchildren today, there it was, at a reduced price. My heart made I jump, I grabbed it quickly, it was the only one left in the shop.

I didn’t bother to get it wrapped because I wanted to start reading it at once and for the last couple of hours I’ve done just that.  Sitting in my best easy chair with a cup of Darjeeling first flush Tiger Hill (my best tea) at my side, Loreena Mc Kennitt’s “A Mediterranean Odyssey” on the player and the mobile phone off, reading about de Dienes first meeting with Norma Jean in 1945. Magic, pure magic.


Filed under: Literature, People, Photography Tagged: Andre de Dienes, Marilyn Monroe, Norma Jeane Dougherty

F**c You Rudolph :-D

The Sunday Comic – Method In Madness

This Week’s Girlymag Article – We’ve Just Met A Girl Named Maria

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 A digital recreation of an article published in Eve magazine No1 from 1962

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Angelo Saxons pride themselves on their cultural contributions to the world. The British consider that they are carrying on the tradition of their ancestors by maintaining these standards in all forms of the arts and sciences . Little did we know when we met lovely Maria Clarance in London, that we were going to have to prove that we too are trying to maintain not only a distinct artistic and individual photographic style, but interesting and lively Iiterazy, copy as well. Maria Clarance made these demands of us, and since we wanted to use her services as a model, we were willing to submit to her … request.

Read the whole article and see all the pictures HERE

Warning: Nudity do occur in this article. If you are under age or live in a country where watching images of nude women for some reason  is against the law  I take no responsibility if you click the link above. In other words you’re flying solo from here on – Ted ;-)


Filed under: Article, Glamour, Models & starlets, Nudes, Pinups, The sixties Tagged: 1962, Eve Magazine, Girliemags, Glamor models, Maria Clarance

Rosa Luxemburg – German Revolutionary Agitator & Marxist Theorist

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Double photo of Luxemburg and her comrade Karl Liebknecht
(also murdered in the 1919 uprising)

German revolutionary agitator and Marxist theorist Rosa Luxemburg was born March 5, 1871. Luxemburg was murdered during the Spartacist uprising in Berlin in January 1919, when right-wing Freikorps militiamen crushed the attempted revolution.

“Freedom is always the freedom of the dissenter.” -

   Rosa Luxemburg


Filed under: People, Photography Tagged: 1919, Berlin, Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, The Spartacist uprising

How To Make The Perfect Cup Of Tea.

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In 1946 George Orwell famously wrote an assay about how to make the perfect cup of tea. His essay contained very important rules about making tea, such as…

“One should drink out of a good breakfast cup — that is, the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one’s tea is always half cold before one has well started on it.”

The problem is that nearly 50 years later many people are still, still, getting tea wrong. Very wrong. Every time. Especially Americans. So to settle this once and for all, here is a guide of what you shouldn’t do when making tea.

Write these rules down. Immediately.


Rule No 1 – Do not leave the kettle alone when boiling tea.

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Leave the kitchen whilst boiling the kettle so you can do something else? No. You are making a British cup of tea. You are an ambassador for the tea. You are expected to wait next to the kettle at all times.

Why? You have to wait for the “ticking noise”, six seconds after the kettle has done that bubbling noise (the ticking is always much later than you ever intended). When it has gone off, wait a tiny bit so it is over-boiled. Then it is ready. You must be ready.

If you aren’t ready, you have failed.


Rule No 2 -  Do not brew the tea for fewer than 3 minutes.

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Some say 3 minutes. Some say 180 seconds. Please aim for somewhere around the middle. It is critical that you brew between these times and not a second less. Oh and warm the pot immediately.

And when you are brewing it, leave that teabag alone. Put it in and leave it. Do not squeeze it. Do not dip it. Do not stir it. Do not wring it. Abandon it. If you squeeze, dip, stir or wring it during the brewing period you have offended a British person.


Rule No 3 – Do not leave the teabag in the mug.

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People tend to have floating tea bags whilst drinking their tea for two reasons. The first reason? We have no time. We now live in a cash-strapped iPhone minimalist design society. The second reason? It is fun. Pressing the top of the teabag back into the mug after it has floated to the top, just so it can gobbbbbblooooobbbbbbblleee topsy turvy.

But there are logistical problems. How do you deal with that squelchy bag at the bottom of every mug after every cup? And how do you tip the tea down into your mouth without the tea bag falling into your face resulting in first-degree burns? Think about it.


Rule No 4 – Do not ever use any of these (unless life or death).

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If you ever give any of these to a British person by choice you deserve never to speak to one again.

Sure, the taste of real milk compared to this milk isn’t that different and yes, we all had to use these milk sachets when we were students because we were poor. We’ve all had that low period in our lives where we’ve gone to the local Wetherspoons pub and nicked 40 Millac Maids at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Seriously. It’s fine.

But offering a British person now? In the sanctuary of their office or in the privacy of their own home? How dare you. How dare you! Hang your head in shame.


Rule No 5 – NEVER put the sugar teaspoon into the tea.

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Why? Because you will contaminate the sugar. Contaminate the sugar!

You must tip the spoonful of sugar you are intending to to use into the mug from the spoon. You then must return your spoon into the packet of sugar and repeat until you have the allocation of sugar you need in the mug. Once you have done this, it is then completely suitable to then stir the tea until all of the sugar has dissolved. And you must stir. Keep stirring!

If you haven’t done this, then you have failed.


Rule No 6 – Never use a different type of milk than anticipated.

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Using semi-skimmed milk even though you have been told to use skimmed milk?What are you? A criminal? Using skimmed milk instead of semi-skimmed milk? I can’t believe you are suggesting that. It’s just utterly insulting.

Using 1% milk because that was the only thing that was left in the shop? STOP. It is just hurting so much right now.

Also, never decide to use Earl Grey teabags instead of English breakfast if there aren’t any English breakfast left. This is an insult. Instead, you must leave the house and head to the nearest shop that sells the correct teabags posthaste — even if it is 3 o’clock in the morning and the store is in another country. British people don’t expect anything else.


Rule No 7 – Never ever EVER pour the milk in first. EVER.

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Why should you never put the milk in first? Because the tea will never get to a tea colour. It will just stay a milk colour. The milk colour! You’ve just poured your colleagues or your other loving half a pint. A pint of milk! Well done, you.

Oh so you will go back and rectify this in the kitchen will you? OK. How do we sort this out? Make the tea all over again? Nah. That will take a lot of time. Like all of three minutes. “I know,” you decide in your inspired wisdom “I’ll go and pour more hot water into the mug.” Nope wait…. hang on a minute, it’s just looking more and more like milk. OH GOD watery milk.


Rule No 8 – NEVER EVER use a microwave to reheat your tea.

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Seriously? You might as well cook a whole roast dinner in there from scratch.

You disgust me.


Rule No 9 – And clean the shit up afterwards.

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YOU HAVE DRUNK TEA. YOU HAVE ENJOYED TEA.
YOU WILL NOW CLEAN UP.

Only if you follow these rules then you can enjoy tea.

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Text and images from buzzfeed.com


Filed under: Article, British, Food & drinks Tagged: Drinking tea, Tea

One Way To look At It

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Christmas time is here, by golly,
Disapproval would be folly,
Deck the halls with hunks of holly,
Fill the cup and don’t say "when."
Kill the turkeys, ducks and chickens,
Mix the punch, drag out the Dickens,
Even though the prospect sickens,
Brother, here we go again.

On Christmas Day you can’t get sore,
Your fellow man you must adore,
There’s time to rob him all the more
The other three hundred and sixty-four.

Relations, sparing no expense’ll
Send some useless old utensil,
Or a matching pen and pencil.
"Just the thing I need! How nice!"
It doesn’t matter how sincere it
Is, nor how heartfelt the spirit,
Sentiment will not endear it,
What’s important is the price.

Hark the Herald Tribune sings,
Advertising wondrous things.
God rest ye merry, merchants,
May you make the Yuletide pay.
Angels we have heard on high
Tell us to go out and buy!
So let the raucous sleigh bells jingle,
Hail our dear old friend Kris Kringle,
Driving his reindeer across the sky.
Don’t stand underneath when they fly by


.


Filed under: Humour, Lyrics, People Tagged: A Christmas Carol, Tom Lehrer

I Guess It Is Time for A Couple Of These Now ;-)

The Goggomobil T 700

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Digital StillCamera
The Glas Isar is a small two door four seater car produced by Hans Glas GmbH at their Dingolfing plant. The car was first presented as the Goggomobil T600 in September 1957 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, with volume production starting in August 1958.

Initially Glas described it simply as a “big Goggomobil”, but in Autumn 1959 it was rebranded as the Glas Isar. At the same time a kombi (estate car) version joined the range. A minor facelift occurred in August 1960 and the Isar continued in production till the end of Summer 1965.

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Origins

The car that appeared at the 1957 Frankfurt Motor Show was a prototype which in the event differed significantly from the car that entered production the next year, in that it used front wheel drive. In most other respects, notably regarding the two cylinder boxer engine and the overall shape of the car, only minor stylistic changes differentiated the cars that went into production in 1958 from the 1957 prototypes.

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The front wheel drive prototype was unstable, however, because of the way the engine was set far ahead of the front axle, and high above the front-wheel drive a1159_goggomobile t700_04power train, in what was a relatively light weight car. Setting the engine further back in relation to the front wheels would have involved a level of re-engineering for which neither time nor money were available. The decision was therefore taken to switch to a rear wheel drive configuration. The late decision led to issues with the gear box, however, which could not be redesigned at this stage and was simply switched round to allow for the fact that the drive shaft pointed in the opposite direction to that previously envisaged. For the driver, this gave rise to a back to front gear change, with first and third speed gear level positions nearer the driver and second and fourth positions facing the front of the car.

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The late switch to rear wheel drive threatened to reduce luggage space while freeing up space under the bonnet/hood above the low profile boxer engines, and the manufacturer took the opportunity to reposition the spare wheel to a location under the bonnet/hoot in a cradle above the engine.

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Goggomobil T 700

By the time volume production commenced in August 1958, the T600 had been joined by the more powerful T700. In this car the 688 cc boxer motor developed a maximum power output of 22 kW (30 PS) at 4,900 rpm, which provided for a top speed of 110 km/h (69 mph) and reduced by a third the acceleration time to 100 kmh (62 mph).

Text fro wikipedia


Filed under: Article, Automobiles, The fifties, The sixties Tagged: German cars, Goggomobil T 700, Micro cars, mini cars

I’m Quite Sure A little …..

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