As a poster child for misplaced optimism, it would be hard to better the Glas 2600 V8. Estimates vary as to how many of these Pietro Fruastyled coupés were built between its pre-emptive 1965 Frankfurt launch and spring '68 demise we'll settle for 657 production cars, split 264:393 in favour of the 3-litre version built after BMW gobbled up the Dingolfing-based company in 1967. Suitably modernised, the Bavarian plant would be the home of the 5 Series post-1972. But as well as increased production capacity and manpower-BMW captured fresh technical talent in the form of gifted Glas chief engineer Karl Dompert, and some valuable patents: the great claim to fame of this now almost-forgotten independent German manufacturer is the invention of the toothed nylon timing belt.
What BMW didn't want to do was to keep making Glas cars. When it took over, only the faithful little Goggomobil was making money, and it was the last of the range to get the chop.
Hans Glas GmbH had been a family affair, with 4000 employees. It had ridden the wave of the post-war German economic miracle but ended up building too many different models while lacking the capital to scale up production and pose a real threat to more established makes.
Bu hikaye Classic & Sports Car dergisinin August 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Classic & Sports Car dergisinin August 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
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A Breath of Fresh Air- Alfa Romeo's exotic, V8-powered Montreal was like nothing the marque had made before, but can it compare with a Porsche masterpiece, the 911S 2.4?
The stereotype of the ItaloGermanic automotive rivalry is that the Latin car will be brilliant to drive, but poorly built and ergonomically flawed, while the Teutonic will be the opposite. Yet these 2+2 sports coupés both ran against orthodoxy. In the Montreal, Alfa Romeo created an outlandish-looking two-door more comfortable, more powerful and more refined than anything it had produced for decades. Meanwhile, Porsche continued to refine its back-to-front, austere and increasingly aged 911. Neither took a traditional development path, but both created thrilling and individual cars that have echoed through the decades.
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ICON.
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