The best of Bremen

This picture was sent over to us with a plea for more information. All the info that came with it is that the cars were a Lloyd and a Borgward. And that it probably was a PR picture.

Lloyd

With that as a starting point, we thought clues had to be in the car’s origins and the licence plate is another giveaway in that direction. ‘HB’ is for Bremen or Bremershaven, which happens to be the place of birth for both cars: the Lloyd 14/24 Bus that, we reckon, has to be of 1908 vintage as the rest of the registration suggests. That must make it the first, or at least one of the first, Lloyd vehicles built, or probably one of the eldest surviving fuel-powered Lloyd vehicles, as the company built electric buses before 1908. Lloyd became Hansa-Lloyd after a merger in 1914. Borgward came in the picture in the late-1920s when Hansa-Lloyd was taken over and the car seen here appears to be a Borgward Hansa RS racer.

Borgward

All pretty straightforward isn’t it? Perhaps not, as we’re not too sure which model the Borgward exactly is. The RS racers with their much-tuned 1500 engines came in the early 1950s and with their four-in-line with double overhead cams and 16 valve engines (!) they proved to be potential winners. The engine was even used in Formula 2 up until the late 1950s and early 1960s – by which time it was still competitive to make the late Stirling Moss win the championship (in 1959). By that time a 1500 RS had also made it to the ’53 Carrera Panamericana and in a great number of ‘Bergrennen’ closer to is Bremen home. But what struck us is that the car seen on this picture is different to the other ones seen on the photographs that we could find, notably with the extensions above the front wheel arches. A special car? It would explain perhaps the reason for taking this PR picture in the first place?

Words by Jeroen Booij. Picture sent in by Piet Geirnaert.

Gepubliceerd:

maandag februari 1st, 2021

Stef Van den Bergh

31 Januari 2021, 19:20

The car on the scrapyard picture is indeed a 1950 Borgward Hansa 1500 INKA. It was the first postwar car that broke 12 international records. The engine and chassis are said to be identical as the Sport Cabriolet.
The picture is an original Borgward Werkfoto.

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Gerd Klioba

18 April 2020, 10:49

The scrapyard picture showing the Lloyd bus.

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Gerd Klioba

18 April 2020, 08:27

The bus is a 1908 Lloyd 15/35 PS, according to Hans W. Mayer's Lloyd book. It was restored by Borgward apprentices on the occasion of Carl F. W. Borgward's 65th birthday on November 10th, 1955. So the picture was most probably taken shortly afterwards. Have a look at the bald trees. The race car is a Borgward 1500 RS in its 1955 version. The body is identical to the well-known 1954 Panamericana car, except for a different front with now upright headlights, a smaller air intake and the chrome strip above the front wheel arches. The Lloyd bus still exists.

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Michael Schlenger

18 April 2020, 09:58

Georg, is it possible that the Lloyd bus was rebodied later? In my opinion , it would be absolutely unusual that a production had such a "cowl" or "torpedo" as early as in 1908.

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Gerd Klioba

18 April 2020, 10:48

I don't know when or by whom the coachwork was done. The bus itself is hardly mentioned in literature and then only in connection with Borgward's 65th birthday. Astonishing for such an old car publicly known since the 1950s. Even online you only can find a reference by a company which restored its carburator, a set of pictures taken at Schuppen Eins in Bremen in 2018 where it is labeled as a Hansa-Lloyd Typ 14/24 (sic!) and a still from a 1957 IAA documentary. Below I have attached a picture from Peter Michels' book "Vom Blitzkarren zum Großen Borgward" where you can see the unrestored Lloyd bus in the background together with the wrecks of the Borgward Hansa 1500 Typ Inka racecar, the 1953 Borgward 1500 RS and the 1950 Borgward streamline prototype which lead eventually to the Hansa 2400.

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Michael Schlenger

18 April 2020, 01:05

I strongly doubt that the Lloyd car was manufactured as early as 1908, even if the mock-license plate may suggest this. Actually, production cars from Germany were equipped with such a "cowl" panel between the engine hood and the windshield (or "torpedo") starting only in 1910, after it had proved its worth with sportscars during the Prince Henry runs in 1908/09. It wouldn't be the first time that datings of cars from the early days of motoring prove unreliable. For reference, I've attached an original advertisement from my collection showing a Lloyd car from 1910.

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The best of Bremen

Lloyd

Borgward

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