A Brief History of the Marque
In 1921, German entrepreneur Carl F.W. Borgward (1890-1963) established the Bremer Kuhlerfabrik Borgward & Co., an automotive
radiator company in Bremen, Germany which were supplied to Hansa-Lloyd. He also designed a two-horsepower, three-wheeled courier motorcycle called the Blitzkarren
(Lightning Cart), powered by a DKW 300ccc twostroke engine, and later the Goliath three-wheeler which, by 1925, was used by the German and Polish postal service for mail deliveries.
The Goliath Pionier (Pioneer) was a three-wheeled two-seater available in coupé and convertible versions introduced at the 1931 Berlin Motor Show and produced until 1934. Available with JLO single cylinder engines of 198cc and 247cc, some 4000 of these were built. Designed to take advantage of the tax-free status give to three-wheelers during that period of the Reich, the law was changed in 1933 and as a result the three wheelers were dropped from the range. Borgward introduced a Hansa four-wheel version.
Borgward also designed and produced microcars, numerous automobiles including sports and racing cars, and during the war years military trucks, half-tracks and military tractors.
Postwar, Borgward was detained for some time due to his Nazi connections. By 1948 he was back at work, producing among many interesting machines a three-wheeled speed record car which reportedly took 38 records in France in the Sidecar Combinations category, beginning in August 1951 at Monthléry. The machine met with a dreadful accident at the Hockenheimring late in the year and the rider, Hugo Steiner, was killed.
Sources: Andrew Aborygeniusz, wikipedia.com, et al.
