Roger's 1959 Borgward Isabella TS sedan PROJECT

This underappreciated German marque may be forgotten, but not by Roger Day, whose long-standing affection for the marque has resulted in this striking restored sedan. The following is Roger's story of how he rescued and restored a rare Borgward Isabella TS sedan.

My interest in Borgwards began in my childhood, when I spent many hours playing in my Father's 1957 Goliath 1100 Station wagon, which was permanently parked (read: abandoned!) in the driveway. The Goliath was unregistered by 1971 and taken to the crusher ten years later because of a new local law which required all unregistered cars to be removed, or the owner would face heavy fines, even if the car was parked on private property, like our Goliath. To give you a little back ground on the Goliath, they were all front wheel drive cars using a 4 cylinder 1100cc boxer motor. The early models were 2 stroke. By 1959, the Goliath's were restyled and renamed Hansa.

I brought my first Borgward Isabella in the mid-90s after seeing an article on an Isabella coupe which was owned - and still is - by Ray Harrison, then President of the Australian Borgward Car Club (ABCC). At that time, a coupe was out of my price range, so I brought an Isabella sedan.

That car was incomplete and very rusty, so I made the decision the wreck it. A couple of years later, Ray mentioned two 1959 sedans that had come up for sale from a deceased estate in Gippsland, Victoria. The cars had been sitting for over 8 years since the owner has passed away and were in need of a total restoration. However, I had to buy both cars as they were not to be sold separately.

An initial inspection revealed that both cars had potential and would make a good base for a restoration project once you looked past the surface rust with paint peeling from an early re-spray gone wrong, as well as damage from the leaky roofs of the sheds where they had been stored. Both vehicles had been parked with the hand brakes on, so as a result, the rear brakes were seized on which presented some problems in moving them! An engine was out of one of the vehicles, but the other car seemed compete.

After a little bit of mucking around and dropping a new battery into the car which was complete, it started! With the brakes freed up (by removing the brake drums) this car was driven onto a trailer. The complete car was the one I ended up restoring which I started in 1999 some 3 - 4 years after buying them. A few years after I finished the restoration, I ended up selling the incomplete sedan. The Isabella restoration was total - from the ground up. This was pretty daunting as I'd resprayed a couple of cars, but never tackled a full restoration.

I ended up removing everything that I could unbolt from the main shell and stated the slow process of stripping the old paint and rust and preparing the body for repainting, which I did in my garage. The original colour of the car was a metallic grey, but I decided to go with the colour the car had last been sprayed, being a bluey/green metallic. I have no idea where this colour originated from, but I was fortunate in being able to get it matched.

Although these cars are rare in Australia, there is still a good supply of parts available and I was fortunate to purchase a lot of spares from Ray Harrison. At the same time as I was undertaking my project, Ray was wrecking another Isabella sedan which had a rebuilt motor in it, so after some negotiation, I purchased that motor and some other bits and pieces. Without Ray's help, I wouldn't have been able to complete the restoration. Some front end parts were available from Tony Noonan at 'Obsolete Parts' in NSW. There is also a good source of reproduction parts available from Germany, including all rubber seals.

The biggest problem was trying to find a replacement windscreen. The factory-fitted screen was the old toughened glass type, which was well past its used by date - there was no way it would pass roadworthy. I soon discovered that not only were there no moulds left in Australia, but there was also misconception over the Coupe windscreen and the Sedan windscreen being the same - they aren't. In the end, I had to have a new mould made. Peter from Moran's in QLD helped me with this. I sent him up an old screen and he made the mould. The new screen fitted perfectly.

The Isabella has full independent suspension, four wheel drum brakes and a 4 cylinder 1500cc OHV engine producing an amazing 75 bhp. These cars will cruise at 70 mph without any problems at all. I have driven the car from Melbourne to Canberra's German Autofest and wouldn't have any hesitation on driving the car anywhere in any temperature, although I believe some members of the Borgward club have experienced problems in hot weather, especially when sitting in traffic. I'm planning on taking it over to the Adelaide next year and do the Bay to Birdwood run. The only downside to the cars is the level of road noise. I have added extra sound deadening which helped, but it is still far from quiet.

I finished the restoration in just over 3 years. I had the Isabella fully registered in Feb 2002, so after 27 years, she was finally back on the road. I believe the Isabella had only travelled about 114,000 miles from new before it was laid up in 1975, but I have no way of really confirming this other than the speedo reading and the fact the front end still had the original ball joints fitted.

After completing the restoration, I started a similar resto job on a 1959 Isabella 'Combi' (the station wagon version of the Isabella sedan), which I purchased in 2003. The wagons are very rare in Australia, and I believe there is only one other here, which is still registered and on the road. It has apparently had the same owner since 1962. Unlike my sedan, the Combi was very rusty. So far, I've had to replace a good portion of the floor on both sides, front and back, along with both sills. The car was also missing most of its original trim and brightwork. I must admit I've been dragging my feet a little on the wagon's restoration and it's still to be completed. I've stopped setting myself a finish date for this project, as something always seems to get in the way of working on it!

Another future project is a 1951 Borgward Hansa 1500 (forerunner to the Isabella). These cars are as rare as hen's teeth. The ABCC knows of only two others in Australia - one is missing its motor and gear box, and the other has been converted to Holden running gear and was only imported from South Africa in the last 10 - 12 years. It's my understanding that only a handful of the Hansa 1500s were original imported to Australia in the early 50's.

The Isabella was a more successful model for Carl Borgward, especially abroad, which was crucial to the company's survival. It is also worth noting that when the Hansa 1500 was released in 1949, it was Europe's first all-new production car, ie. it wasn't based on a pre-war design. Although my '51 Hansa isn't 100% complete, it is mostly there, with the exception of some huge holes where the floor used to be!

In addition to these I also have the following: a 1959 Hansa 1100 wagon ; 1961 Volvo 1961 B16 (both in need of restoration); and a restored 1938 Pontiac.