A highly unusual two stroke car

I noticed for sale a few weeks ago a 'Goliath 700' car on Ebay that needed total restoration.

It was a 1954 model and if I wasn't financially strapped at the minute, I would have bought it.
The car only made £670 and although it needed total restoration, it looked like a good base.
Biggest problem I had was I would've had to have had it transported which would have added £400 onto the price as the car was in England.

I wouldn't think there's great availability of parts around nowadays for these, particularly without a knowledge of German as undoubtedly that where the lion's share of the parts will be.
I'm sure a Wartburg or Trabant engine could be made to fit into one of these to the detriment of originality.

For those who don't know what a Goliath is, read on:

Goliath was a German car marque that originated in 1928 in the city of Bremen.
Its founder's were Carl Borgward and Wilhelm Tecklenburg and Goliath was a subsidiary of the Borgward group.
The company made small 3 & 4 wheeler cars and light commercial vehicles and used two stroke engines up until 1957.
The Goliath was the first mass produced car to use fuel injection ( Bosch) and the only two stroke car ever to use it which makes these cars pretty unique in the world of two stroke cars.


In 1931 Borgward acquired the Hansa company and made cars under the names of Goliath, Borgward, Hansa and also Lloyd.


The first Goliath car  was the pionier launched in 1931.It was a 3 wheeler with a one cylinder engine.


The Goliath GP 700 first appeared in 1950 and was made until 1957.
As the name suggests it had a 700cc engine which was a two stroke, twin cylinder unit.
It was water-cooled and mounted transversely with front wheel drive.( very dkw like).

a pristine example of the Goliath Gp 700

From 1952, Bosch fuel injection was fitted as standard and put out 29 Hp.
Also from 1952, this car was available with an all syncromesh four speed gearbox, which later became standard and was very much ahead of its time in 1952.
The 1950-1952 early cars were carburettor powered and produced 25 Hp.
The standard cars had a top speed of 63 mph.


There was a 900cc engine later available (Gp 900)and a Gp 700 Sport model made from 1951-53 that had its engine enlarged to 845cc and had a claimed top speed of 78 mph. Gorgeous looking car it was too.
it produced 32 Hp. The bigger engined variants were two cylinder units as well.

rare Gp 700 Sport.Note the peugeot like lion symbol on front grille.

The Goliath factory was destroyed in WWII but production started again in 1949.

Perhaps no surprise that the car that sold on Ebay was bought by a German buyer, who had it transported back. Just shows how rare these cars are today and the effort some enthusiasts are prepared to put in to juat get their hands on one and restore it.