Hagerty Inc.
04/23/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 04/23/2024 07:18
Final Parking Space: 1959 Borgward Isabella Coupé
Last week, we admired a majestic 1984 Mercedes-Benz S-Class in a Colorado car graveyard, adding to a collection of Final Parking Space machines from (West) Germany that includes BMW, Volkswagen, and Ford-Werke. Plenty of lesser-known German manufacturers have sold cars in the United States, of course, and today we've got a discarded example of one of the best-looking cars to come out of Bremen: a Borgward Isabella Coupé, photographed in a self-service yard just south of Denver, Colorado.
Murilee MartinCarl Borgward came up in the Bremen car industry, rising through the ranks at Hansa-Lloyd and selling cars badged with his own name starting in 1924. After World War II, he began building Lloyds, Goliaths, and Borgwards, with the Borgward Hansa his first postwar model.
Murilee MartinIn 1954, the Isabella replaced the Hansa, though Hansa Isabella badging was used for a while.
Murilee MartinThe Isabella sedan came first, followed by convertible and wagon versions in 1955. The Isabella Coupé appeared in 1957, and production continued in West Germany until the company went (controversially) broke in 1961. Borgward production using the old tooling from the Bremen plant resumed in Monterrey, Mexico, in 1967 and continued through 1970.
Murilee MartinThe Isabella sold reasonably well in the United States, considering the obscurity of the Borgward brand here. For the 1959 model year, just over 7500 cars were sold out of American Borgward dealerships.
Murilee MartinThe U.S.-market MSRP for a 1959 Isabella Coupé was $3750, or about $40,388 in 2024 dollars. The base 1959 Porsche 356 coupe listed at $3665 ($39,472 after inflation), while a new 1959 Jaguar XK150 coupe cost $4500 ($48,465 in today's money).
Murilee MartinMeanwhile, GM's Chevrolet division offered a new 1959 Corvette for just $3,875 ($41,734). The Isabella Coupé faced some serious competition in its price range.
Murilee MartinThese cars haven't held their value quite as well as the 356 or Corvette (though nice ones do change hands for real money) and restoration parts are tougher to source, so there are affordable project Isabella Coupés out there for the adventurous. A 24 Hours of Lemons team found this '59 and raced it several times with the original drivetrain, winning the coveted Index of Effluency award in the process.
Murilee MartinNot bad for a race car with 66 horsepower under the hood… 60 years earlier.
Murilee MartinThe Fistful of Cotter Pins team members were kind enough to give me the MotoMeter dash clock out of their race Borgward. The mechanism is bad but the face still looks good when illuminated in my garage.
Murilee MartinThe clock in this car has experienced too many decades outdoors in the harsh climate of High Plains Colorado to be worth harvesting for my collection.
Murilee MartinThe engine in this car is a 1.5-liter overhead-valve straight-four with a distinctive carburetor location atop the valve cover.
Murilee MartinThe transmission is a four-speed column-shift manual.
Murilee MartinThe odometer shows 55,215 miles, and that may well be the actual final total.
Murilee MartinThis car was in the Colorado Auto & Parts "private reserve" yard, off-limits to customers for many years. Then that lot was sold, and many of its former inhabitants were moved to the regular U-Pull section. We've seen some of those cars in earlier episodes of this series, including a 1958 Edsel Citation, a 1963 Chevrolet Corvair Monza, and a 1963 Chrysler Newport sedan.
Murilee MartinThe good news about this car is that CAP will sell you the whole thing, being a non-corporate yard owned by the Corns family since the late 1950s. You'll be able to check out the famous radial-engine-powered 1939 Plymouth, built on the premises, in the office when you visit.
Murilee MartinThis car appears to be a bit too rough to be economically viable as a restoration, but there are still plenty of good parts to help fix up nicer Isabellas. Or you could make a race car out of it, which we recommend.
Murilee MartinI like to use ancient film cameras to shoot junkyard vehicles, and I took a few photographs of this car (and many others) with a 1920s Ansco Memo.
Murilee MartinThis double exposure (always a hazard with century-old cameras) came out looking interesting, and the Isabella was an appropriate subject.
[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin[Link]Murilee Martin***
Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don't miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.