Glas (company)

Last updated
Hans Glas GmbH
Industry Automotive
Founded1883;141 years ago (1883) (as agricultural machinery)
Defunct1966;58 years ago (1966)
FateTakeover by BMW
Headquarters Dingolfing, Germany
Key people
Products Automobiles, Agricultural machinery
Glas Goggomobil 250 Goggomobil 250 Limousine.jpg
Glas Goggomobil 250

Hans Glas GmbH is a former German automotive company, which was based in Dingolfing. Originally a maker of farm machinery, Glas evolved first into a producer of motor scooters, then automobiles. It was purchased by BMW in 1966, mainly to gain access to Glas's patents; they were the first to use a timing belt with an overhead camshaft in an automotive application. Its limited model range was shortly phased out by its new parent.

Contents

History

Glas 1700 GT Cabriolet, 1965 Glas 1700GT 1965 1.JPG
Glas 1700 GT Cabriolet, 1965

Mechanic Andreas Glas (born 1857, son of Maurus who founded the first agricultural machinery factory in Bavaria in Freising in 1860) founded his own repair company for agricultural machines in 1883 in Pilsting. He named the company Andreas Glas, Reparaturwerkstätte für landwirtschaftliche Maschinen mit Dampfbetrieb (in English: Andreas Glas, repair-shop for steam-powered agricultural machines). During the summer periods about 16 people worked for him. In 1905 Andreas Glas' company built their first crop sowing machines (seed drill). He then had sufficient work to employ all his employees during the winters. The production of seed drills rose from year to year:

Winter period 1905/06 - 10 seed drills
Autumn 1906 - 20 pieces
Winter period 1906/07 - 40 machines
1907 - 60 pieces
Winter period 1907/08 - 254 seed drills.

1906 Andreas Glas partnered with a financer becoming Glas & Lohn and changed its brand name from Bavaria to Isaria; the partnership ended in 1911. 1908 Glas production moved to Dingolfing to overcome the mandatory rule which forbade non-local factories from participating in the important local agricultural machine exposition. The new factory started with 150 seed drills per year. The production count rose each year. 1920 Glas Werke AG became a share company partnering with Stumm Group. 1924 Hans Glas (1890-†1969) became CEO of Glas Werke AG. 1931 failure of the Stumm Group. 1933 Hans Glas bought Glas Werke by the shareholders

After World War II, the market for seed drills was declining, and the company began building little carrows and later working machines for bakers along with seed drills. 1949 Glas Werke becomes a family company renamed Hans Glas GmbH (Ltd) involving son Andreas (1923-†1990) and daughter Hertha.

Products

Goggomobil TS 250 Coupe. Goggomobil-1.jpg
Goggomobil TS 250 Coupe.

Glas were known for small cars like the Goggomobil. However, in 1964 the company introduced the Glas 1300GT coupe and later the 1700GT. The body was designed by Pietro Frua. However competition, mostly from British cars, was tough and in 1966 they released the 2600GT powered by a SOHC V8 engine, with a volume just under 2.6 litres. However this didn't help and later the same year the company was sold to BMW. The Glas models were kept in production by BMW, but fitted with BMW engines. The Glas 1300 GT coupe was fitted with a 1.6-litre BMW engine and renamed BMW 1600 GT. BMW also fitted a 3-litre engine and named it 3000 GT. This model kept the Glas name, but had a BMW logo in the front and rear. In 1968 BMW created their own large coupe, the BMW 2500 CS, and this meant the end for Glas. 277 copies of 2600 GT were made and 389 of the 3000 GT.

Scooters

Glas Goggo scooter with sidecar Goggo.jpg
Glas Goggo scooter with sidecar

In 1951 Andreas Glas (1923-1990), son of Hans Glas, saw the Vespa scooter from Piaggio in an agricultural machines exposition in Verona, Italy. He was so enthused that he began production of motor scooters that July.

The scooter debuted with a 125 cc motor, increased over time to 150 cc and 200 cc. Until 1956 46,181 motor scooters were built. Production of scooters stopped because of the Goggomobil cars.[ citation needed ] From 1953 on, load-carrying scooters were built as well. [1] With the 200 cc engine and 9.5 bhp,[ citation needed ] they had a load capacity of 200 kg. [1]

Cars

A 1966 Glas 2600 with Glas logo, nicknamed Glaserati Glas-v8-2.jpg
A 1966 Glas 2600 with Glas logo, nicknamed Glaserati
A 1968 BMW Glas 3000GT. Notice the BMW logo in the front, but that it otherwise doesn't look like a BMW. 1968bmwglas3000.jpg
A 1968 BMW Glas 3000GT. Notice the BMW logo in the front, but that it otherwise doesn't look like a BMW.

Absorption by BMW

In 1962 BMW released the BMW 1500. The popular four-door compact's success exhausted the production capacity of the Munich plant. In 1966 the management decided to buy Glas and absorb the Glas model line. [2] Most of Glas' existing lineup was retired, while some models ended up being badged as BMWs until the company was fully absorbed. It was reputed that the acquisition was mainly to gain access to Glas' development of the timing belt with an overhead camshaft in automotive applications, [3] although some saw Glas' Dingolfing plant as another incentive. However, this factory was outmoded and BMW's biggest immediate gain was, according to themselves, a stock of highly qualified engineers and other personnel. [4] The Glas factory began the manufacture of BMW front and rear axles until they could be modernized and fully incorporated into BMW. [5]

BMW immediately retired most of the Glas range, including all of the outdated microcars.

Changes under BMW

Closure

In the late 1960s BMW shut down Glas and built entirely new production facilities, which would eventually become an important production site. In June 1969, the final Glas vehicle, a Goggomobil, rolled off the production line. As of 2008, BMW's Dingolfing branch is BMW's largest factory in Europe, with 22,000 workers producing 5, 6 and 7 Series cars and as well as bodies for Rolls-Royce.

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The Glas GT is a sports coupé produced by Hans Glas GmbH at Dingolfing. The car was first presented as the Glas 1300 GT in September 1963 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, with volume production starting in March 1964. The much rarer cabriolet version appeared in May 1965 and a larger engined 1700 GT in May 1965.

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References

  1. 1 2 Torrey, Volta, ed. (April 1953). "Scooter to Tote Farm Loads". Popular Science . Vol. 162, no. 4. New York, NY USA. p. 100. ISSN   0161-7370 . Retrieved 2012-05-19. This three-wheel cargo scooter, powered by a two-cycle engine, can chug along hauling as much as 440 pounds of goods in the little van at the rear.
  2. ↑ "BMW take over Glas". Autocar . Vol. 125 nbr 3689. 28 October 1966. p. 955.
  3. ↑ Toronto Star 3 July 2004
  4. ↑ Becker, Clauspeter (1971), Logoz, Arthur (ed.), "BMW 2500/2800", Auto-Universum 1971 (in German), XIV, Zürich, Switzerland: Verlag Internationale Automobil-Parade AG: 73
  5. ↑ Becker, p. 74
  6. ↑ www.auto-historia.com.ar Archived 2009-03-25 at the Wayback Machine Isard Argentina S.A. (Spanish) - accessed 4 December 2008
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