Jottings 2009

 

 

December 2009

Robert Leitch has been in touch with some YouTube links with Isabella and a Ford Falcon cruising the Buenos Aires motorway network to a country and western soundtrack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lry8rTj9jiw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l3PeM8UrVM

Just Copy and paste the link into your Web Browser to watch.

 

And some other Borgward YouTube material:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCfnp9NUCtI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9ajlHMFr58

Just copy and paste the link into your Web Browser to watch.

 

Part of the Ludolf TV program from DMAX with Nick Driscoll and John Wallis.

http://www.dmax.de/video/die-ludolfs-fuenf-uhr-tee-mit-der-queen-teil-5/

Enjoy.

November 2009

The Club had a stand at this years Classic Car Show at the N.E.C. near Birmingham.

Norman William had his Isabella Saloon on display with Eddy Boyes and Ian Davison with there Coupés

On Friday Michael Gilmore with his wife, Jennie, Peter Grove with his friend Dave Jennings came and from Ireland Patrick Sheridan, Frank Fennell, Vincent Timothy.
Eddie Boyes with his wife, Val looked around and helped on Saturday.
John Wallis with his brother in law Graham Florence , Ian Davidson and his wife, Linda, helped on the club stand on Sunday.

Norman Williams held the fort on all three days.

The cars created a lot of interest and a few offers to buy were declined.

 

While at the N.E.C. on Sunday I met Seth Kennedy with his family, he has just bought a Combi found on eBay and has started sorting all the parts out prior to starting a its restoration.

Link to Seth's page

October 2009

I have been sent some pictures of a Hansa 1800 pickup owned by Chakraphol Chulajata who lives in Bangkok, Thailand.

This is a very rare car and Chakraphol would like to know more about the model please email him if you can help.

Chakraphol email address dekdeekub@gmail.com

 

Javier Goñi has sent some pictures of this years racing in Argentina. He is thinking of fitting a rear anti roll!

The car is running very well and is extremely fast. The rear does not lift but traction is lost in the corners.

 

 

 

September 2009

The 35th International Meeting in Münster page has been updated well worth a look.

Vincent Palmier bought a new Steering wheel in Münster and has removed his old one my making an extractor using Keith Whiting's technical tip.

Steering Wheel Extraction

Bella and Will Reed were married at St Andrews Church Chinner in Oxfordshire on 22nd August 2009

I have had a note from Bella...

The plan was hatched long before I had even met my Husband, let alone thought of marriage! Nick Driscoll showed me some pictures of his Borgward 'Isabella' coupé sitting in his mother's garden with serious repairs underway. As it is such a rare car and as my name is Isabella I commented that it would, one day, be a great wedding car. IT WAS PERFECT!!

As soon as Nick heard I was engaged that was it ...... he was on a mission to organise an Isabella Coupé for the big day.Some how Nick managed to convince Norman to use his beautiful example of the coupé to get me to and from the church. My husband William opted for the back seat, although it was a bit of a squeeze (after all he is over six foot!!!) he did it with the biggest grin and we left the church in great style.The car caused a great deal of interest amongst our friends and family. It was a big hit!Thank you Nick and Norman for all the time and effort you put into our very special day!

Many thanks Bella and Will.

 

Norman Williams stepped in at the last minute after it became clear Nick Driscoll's Coupé would not be ready on time.

Bella always wanted an Isabella as a wedding car so on August 22nd she had her wish.

Ludolf Brothers Visit Nick Driscoll

The Ludolf brothers Peter, Manfred, Uwe and (Horst-)Günter came to England to deliver a front grill for Nick Driscoll's Coupé. The brothers run a car recycling yard, they have collected between two and five million parts. The parts, stored in a warehouse are sorted by a homegrown "cluster principle" with only Peter Ludolf knowing which part is which pile. Each of the four brothers has a specific task. It's up to Peter to locate the desired part whether the customer is at the door or on the phone. Günter answers the telephone and passes on the questions to Peter. Uwe and Manni, "Power and Hand" - a nickname they gave themselves due to the division of labor while disassembling junk cars.


The brothers are big fans of Borgward cars so wanted to deliver the grill by hand.

Nick Driscoll being wired for sound.

The Ludolf's Arriving at Nick's in there 1957 Saloon.

Manni Ludolf.
John Wallis.
Günter Ludolf.
Uwe Ludolf.
Peter Ludolf.

The program is due to be shown on German DMAX channel as part of Season 7 this winter

http://www.dieludolfs.de/ The Ludolf's website.

August 2009

Ian Davidson has sent some pictures of his coupé at the Claygate Village Show.

Ian's Isabella Coupé came third in this year's show.

Michael Aspel tries Ian's Coupé for size

Walter Heale's Combi at Goodwood

" I was invited by the Goodwood Road Racing Club to display the car at their annual open day at the start of August , this was quite a privilege as they only choose a select number of members cars for display, as a thank-you we were given lunch in the Ballroom of the House... it pays to own a Borgward!.
The combi caused much interest and after a day or so of manic polishing presented well which is not bad for a car used every day!, there was a wide array of cars on display including Porsche 356 (in virtually the same colour as my combi) mercedes 190sl and the eventual peoples choice winner a Rolls Hispano suiza special !."
Walter Heale

Walter with his wife Louise and sister Florence outside Goodwood House.

 

Early Car Construction

Ollie has sent pictures of ULO 294 showing changes made during production of 1955 to 1957 Isabella's. There will be a section in Members Restorations when work begins.

The throttle linkage (as you will see from the photograph) is completely new to me as the throttle rod from inside the car comes forward to the engine horizontally and connects by a vertical rod to the linkage which sits on top of the rocker cover and connects to the carb.

Front seat rail

The sound proofing in the vehicle seems to have been constructed with the use of horse hair and not bitumen based materials.

Robert

July 2009

Ollie Richmond Jones has bought a 1955 Isabella 60.

This car was bought new by an airline pilot and driven over from North Africa many years ago.

The gar has been in a damp garage for over 20 years and needs a lot of work, it is the oldest RHD Isabella in the UK

Note the flat steering wheel and short gear change lever. To help fund the project Ollie is selling his running Isabella for £2500.

June 2009

The June meeting at Brooklands saw Ian Davidson winning third prize.

Danny Byrne with Allan Winn the Brooklands Museum Director and Ian.

Ian's Coupé

Walter Heale in his Combi XLN 158 and Nick Driscoll with his TLB 880

A very enjoyable evening was had by all.

Walter Heale on the track at Goodwood being chased by lesser cars!

Walter has now sold his coupé and Saloon(see Members Cars) but keeping the Combi.

 

 

 

 

May2009

Walter Heale has sent some pictures of his Borgward Fleet...

Thought I might send you some photos for the jottings page and or the owners cars page of the website, the coupe' now wears rather stylish thin band whitewalls and some period raised digit number plates while the newly purchased combi has had its wheels painted body colour (found a Dulux colour that matched) and whitewalls fitted , which I think looks much more period than before, the other photo shows my south african saloon which is a rust free very original car and I reckon an ideal race or rally candidate..as yet i am undecided about this car so it may well be for sale , although its quite fun having one of each isabella model!.

Walter

Enfield 2009

Peter Grove organized Enfield this year and we had 7 cars in total over the 3 days Peter drove his newly restored Coupé and his wife Christine drove their Big 6. Norman Williams and Dave Burt came down in saloons. George arrived for the 3 days in his original unrestored Combi. Des lukehurst joined the party on Sunday in his automatic Coupé and Nick Driscoll on Monday in his Combi.

Peter, Christine, Dave and Norman camped over the 3 days taking advantage of the glorious May weather.

The auto Jumble took about 2 hours to walk around. A very enjoyable weekend was had by all.

I have just had some emails from Doug Cherie Evanson from the west coast, Oregon USA. with some pictures.He is after some headlamp hoods, if you have a couple spare I will pass on the details.:-

John,
Little story with the purchase. Had seen a couple of Isabella coupés over the years on eBay, most were wrecks and real projects. Had been interested in them because our 9 year old daughters name is Isabella and my wife and I thought it would be kind of neat to have a car that bears the same name as our daughter. All that we had seen required more work than we had ability, time, money and space for. Found this one on eBay last month and the wife said "Go for it". So I did, and that is how we joined the Borgward world!

Regards from the colonies!

Doug

April 2009

Javier has just sent there pictures of his Saloon racing in Argentina last week. If any Borgward Club Member is visiting the country he would love to see you.

 

Peter Grove has his coupé on the road after a long absence he has owned the car for over 30 years.

Peter's car in the spray shop

March 2009

Obituary

Sadly, the Club has heard of the death of Derek Farr on Wednesday 18th of March. Derek was an active member of the Borgward Drivers' Club in the 1980s and ‘90s. He served in the positions of Events Secretary and Secretary.

He will be remembered as a friendly giant who always seemed to be in good humor with a ready joke. This made him a very approachable person. Classic cars were his enthusiasm and he was an active member of the Kettering Car Club. For a time he owned an Isabella Saloon, which is still running in the hands of Dave Burt. Derek's wife, Pat, was also into classic cars and drove an Austin 1100 and latterly, a Triumph Herald. She supported Derek at the AGMs by running a raffle to raise funds, as well as preparing tea and biscuits. In his latter years, Derek's health gradually deteriorated through suffering strokes. His funeral is at Kettering Crematorium on the 26th March. Derek was 71years old. He will not be forgotten. Our sympathies go out to Pat and the family.

 

Graham Mander's Cabrio is now had a fabric roof..

More pictures in Members Restorations.

Walter Heale has sent a picture from the Goodwood Breakfast Club meeting showing his car and another Borgward. Walter will be attending some more events at Goodwood and says its a great morning with cars, track and fry up! (see events page)

Feb. 2009

Javier has sent me a Youtube link showing an Isabella Saloon converted into a coupé by a Club Borgward Argentina member

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW44NrL6ZzE

Well worth a look

Norman has sent some pictures of Noel Gordon's recently fully restored Coupé. This car was in very poor condition when bought. I hope to have some more pictures of the car and work done soon.

 

 

Jan. 2009

Brooklands Museum's first meeting of 2009 Nick Driscoll's combi and Walter Heale's coupé came along to a cold but dry New Year's Day.

Nick and Walter

Cars in the Paddock outside the Club House

Robert Richmond Jones has sent me some pictures of the Borgward Driver's Club early days.

Dear John,

Hope all is well with you and yours and that you had a good Christmas. Attached are some photographs of the first AGM and Bob Brown’s 1957 TS Saloon. It was bought by his father brand new and he imported it in the 80’s and is identical to my car (flat steering wheel and round dials) although the Borgward badge on the wings is towards the front unlike mine. The colour scheme was authentic for Ghana (something to do with heat dissipation ?). I have also found an excerpt from Practical Classics, July 1981, recording the magnificent (but wet) day we all enjoyed thrashing round Goodwood, and “PO” showing a clean pair of heels to some fast and expensive exotica.


Borgward Drivers Club first AGM at Halfway Garages

Bob Brown's 1957 TS Saloon

July 1981 Practical Classics.

 

The 35th International Borgward Meeting is to be held in Münster just north of Essen on the 4th to 6th September 2009.

We will travel over from 3rd to 7th of September. These dates are provisional at the moment.