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Pebble Beach Horch auto


Paul Mihalka

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Paul Mihalka

http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1085484&icid=autos_947&GT1=22008

 

A beauty! My great grandmother had a chauffeur driven Horch 4 door sedan. I rode in it as a kid. Sorry if this sounds like a bit of bragging or something, but it's simply history.

Mr. Horch had to sell his company including the usage of his name. So he founded a new car company and called it AUDI. "horch" in German means "listen", and Audi is about the same in Latin. Audi became one of the 4 brands that formed Auto Union, with Horch, Wanderer and DKW.

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What pleasure and memory you must have of such an experience. My Dad had a fully restored 1930 Packard Boattail Speedster (16 valve) and I often wished I'd known what it was like in it's day.

The Horch, at Pebble Beach, is spectacular. Thanks for sharing, Paul.

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Paul Mihalka

"Paul, I remember a car in the 50tees called a Borgwart. It was a beautiful car, looked sporty and also came in cabriolet version.

Wonder what happened to that company?"

 

You should not have asked me that question. Borgward was a old time German car brand, before WW II under the name of Hansa. It was owned and directed by Mr. Borgward. After WW II they had a very successful model, The Borgward Isabella. It came in a sporty two-door four-seater and the convertible. Very pretty and fast for it's times. Later the factory failed in Germany, was purchased and exported to Mexico where they built a few years, then they closed.

I had a four-seater. It was my every-day car and I also raced it. It was very competitive against the Alfa Romeo Guliettas and other 1500/1600 cc cars. I had some good successes winning my categories. The end was sad. On a long distance three day highway race in Venezuela I went off the road probably doing a couple of sommersaults over the nose. My co-driver was very badly hurt but recuperated after a few month. I didn't need a bandaid. In the same spot after our accident (cars were started one by one a minute apart) a AC Bristol left the road, turned over, and both occupants died.

 

The Borgward in nice shape:

 

Borgward3.jpg

 

BORGWARD-PG2.jpg

 

borgwardaragua10002.jpg

 

After my flying exercise:

 

BORGWARD-ElNacional-1.jpg

 

Borgward_crash.jpg

 

 

 

 

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It's only a few months since I met a very well-kept Borgward Isabella on a local road. I knew what it was as it approached, but couldn't really believe my eyes. It could well be the one on this photo.

 

A good friend of mine back in the 1960s had a Lloyd, which was another of the cars from the Hansa-Lloyd group. A few years ago he bought an old one with plans to restore it, but never got around to it, and sold it again to a collector.

 

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Paul Mihalka

Arne, Thanks for the picture of the Borgward, that is exactly the car and color that I had. I suggest to everybody to not only look at the linked Borgward picture, browse the picture stream it is in. Very interesting! :grin:

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That Horch: magnificent. The thirties produced the most beautiful automobiles ever (IMnotsoHO). Pierce Arrow, Duesenberg, Isotta, Bugatti, the lovely little 36 Bentley two-seater, even Buick and Packard. Lord, they were beautiful!

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Paul Mihalka
Paul, in the pic of your wrecked car, is that a Lotus Elite next to it?

Nope. A AC Bristol with a modified nose.

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Wow, Thanks for the pics Paul and for the explanation. Yes I thought the Borgwart was quite advanced for is time and the cabriolet was a looker. As a teenager, I remember they just faded away.

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Paul Mihalka
btw Paul, for some reason I think Horch also had a motorcycle, true or false?

I don't remember ever reading about or seeing a Horch motorcycle. May be you think of HOREX, which was a popular German bike.

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