Popular Post stylez Posted November 18, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted November 18, 2014 Discussion thread - //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/45928-stylez-59-borgward-hansa-kombis-discussion/ Hi all, Discovered these on trademe a week or so ago, tried emailing the guy heaps of times with no reply. Figured he might have sold them but didn't give up. Managed to track him down through something he bought on trademe, luckily the guy still had his number. Went out to have a look and there was no way I could turn them down. They are 1959 borgward hansa 1100 kombi's , previously known as goliaths. The white one turns over, so should be a good starting point. It seems to be a bit rusty obviously, but they have been barn stored for somewhere around 15 years. They both seem to be complete which is great, advertised as one to restore and the other as a donor car as floor in red one is all but gone. The red wagon used to be the post wagon in Winton (small town near invercargill) some years ago, and still is red with a white roof. I'm not sure I've got the heart to pull a cool peice of history to peices, but work and costs may determine otherwise.... We shall see. Few photos as I'm yet to collect them. Not seen in photos : huge amount of parts, couple of gearboxes, spare head, motor parts chrome, lights, front axle, blah blah. Brilliant to have. The red one : What they look like in better shape : An interesting one built by Paul Bennet in AUS, not my cup of tea, but cool none the less. Plans are fairly undecided at the moment, I'd like to try and look through some newspaper records at the library and see if I can find a picture of the post wagon, I'm unsure if it ever had any other livery on it or just the red/white scheme. Depending on how bad the floor is and the rest of the rust is, there may be potential to restore it somewhat, even if only to display. Both are unfortunately de registered as you've probably assumed, so I'm not really looking forward to the re-vin process, but that's a long way off. Discussion - //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/45928-stylez-59-borgward-hansa-kombis-discussion/ 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylez Posted November 22, 2014 Author Share Posted November 22, 2014 Well, despite it raining 24/7 here, they've made it home. Supplied by E.H Melhop ltd is what the sticker announces. They began as an engineering firm in Invercargill, and were the first company to import Datsun cars into nz. They both appear to turn over by hand pretty smoothly. Hopefully the rain will slow some tomorrow so I can get out and get a better idea of things. One appears to last have been on the road in 1977 and the other sometime in the 80s. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylez Posted November 27, 2014 Author Share Posted November 27, 2014 So... Pulled up some of the old vinyl off the floor, unfortunately it was shagged, brittle as hell and heaps of holes and shit. Underneath, was damp and rusty.... Wire brushed a bit of it.. Found a few bits that will need attention, but amazingly from what I can tell so far the sills look pretty good. I'm wanting some help at this point. I want to do this car right, and not ruin it as it's pretty damn rare. I've got plenty of good panels to make a good car, no worries there. My obvious thought after finding this rust would be to just bite the bullet, strip it all down, body off and perhaps have the shell media blasted or something, then I can find any problems and correct them, and have a good solid base ? I'll admit, that frightens the shit out of me a bit because I don't have any experience with this kind of thing. But I'm keen. However, seeing as there's bugger all of these on the road, what do I do about window seals ? Is there some type of universal mounting rubber you can buy by the meter and join together ? I don't want to cut out the old seals (which are dry and cracked on the outside) and be stuck for the next 20 years looking for window seals! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylez Posted January 3, 2015 Author Share Posted January 3, 2015 So turns out red car was the one that turned over. The floor is rotten but not beyond repair as the sills are solid. After some head scratching I replaced some bits and bobs (dizzy, leads, plugs, points, condensor etc) And bugger me she fired up! Only had it running for a few seconds as it was off gas I poured into carb. I've got some fuel line so I'll hopefully video some running tomorrow. This thing has been sitting for 42 years!!! I also took some CLR to the body and then waxed it, got rid of heaps of surface rust, it's rocking some bad ass patina now. Some before shots : After a CLR and wax : Pretty happy with how that turned out. Keen to just roll it as is. Discussion thread here : //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/45928-stylez-59-borgward-hansa-kombis-discussion/ 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylez Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 Well it runs, if ya can call it that. It's excessively loud, possibly just because the exhausts have been cut off halfway down for some reason. And it doesn't seem to be happy, possibly stuck exhaust valves ? Or perhaps my firing order is wrong ? Maybe even just need to set the timing properly. Guess ill do that today. Any other ideas ? Video here : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eell6yEeAXI Guess I'll set valve clearances and check for stuck ones once she's cooled down, and maybe just TDC and time my dizzy to be sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylez Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 Got the valve covers off and found 2 stuck valves. Bugger. Been dousing them in penetrating oil but no luck thus far. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylez Posted January 15, 2015 Author Share Posted January 15, 2015 So something pretty cool happened yesterday. I emailed NZ Post a while back to see if any old records of it, but they said nothing came up, he said it may have been a private contractors car. I later got an email from his college who said he had found something. The RD Contractor that bought the Hansa new was Archie. He did about 8,000 miles and then sold it to Ray Cosgrove in 1960 when Ray took over the RD1 Winton contract. Ray says he did about 40,000 miles in it. Ray held the contract through until 31 December 2013, although his wife Debbie did the last 8 years or so. Ray has lots of stories to tell and says you are welcome to ring him on xxxxxxxxx Have your pen and paper ready. How cool is that! I'll ring him over the weekend and see what he has to say, hopefully he has a photo or two lurking around!! So so stoked! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylez Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 So, she runs. After a week and a half of spraying the stuck valves with penetrating oil, I fired her up and it doesn't cough and splutter anymore. Great news! I snapped a video of it idling, my cellphone makes it sound horrific. Anyway, appears the fuel lines might be blocked, I've just been running it from a can up until now. Guess ill whip out the hard line and soak it out, as the rubber line is seethrough and looks ok. It's probably at a joint anyway. Made some new valve cover gaskets too, as in the video it's pissing oil all over the exhaust out the right one After that I need to have a look at the radiator and such, and once it's running off the tank I might dare to sit in it and put it in 1st gear. Oh, and somebody has chopped the exhausts off right after the mufflers which are under the drivers door, hence it sounding like a tractor. I've got a full pair on the other wagon I can swap over. But for now the neighbours can enjoy this noise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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