Reprinted from MINUTIA, The Magazine of the Microcar & Minicar Club, Inc. vol 4-4, Fall, 1995
In recent years there has been a great resurgence of interest in small cars. The two most popular (from the point of view of a reader of MINUTIA and a member of the Microcar and Minicar Club) are the BMW Isetta and the Messerschmitt. Yet there are a wide variety of other cars that also deserve some air time. While perhaps not as "fashionable," they too served a role in automotive history and have earned a warm spot in many hearts. Here is my experience with one of the other cars, or at least how I became involved with one small car make.
I came of driving age while living in Tyler, Texas. At that time, if one took a drivers' education class in school (eighth grade--if I can remember that far back), you could get a license at the tender age of fourteen and a half. This I did. But, alas, I had no car to drive to school. My mode of transportation was the humble bicycle. On my way to school I'd pass the house of a classmate. The back of his house edged onto a forest, and within a grove stood two small cars that I took an immediate liking to. O n several occasions, he drove one to school. It had a sunroof, which made a lasting impression upon me, and for some reason I now associate the cars with springtime. I never was able to find out what the name of the car was then, but fate would later step in.
But there the connection with the car ended, at least for awhile. In 1967 I moved to Massachusetts, where I could not drive for a few months because in Massachusetts I was underage! But life went on, I did get a drivers license again, I finished high school, entered college and was fortunate to be accepted into a student exchange program to Freiburg, Germany. There, I had my second encounter with the minicar from my childhood.
It was 1971, I was a "poor" student in Germany. I did have access to a VW van, but I lived in a dorm, where other poor students lived, and where one poor student can pass possessions on to another poor student.
On my way to school one day I saw a familiar car, which brought back the earlier memories from Texas. It was for sale, but beyond my price range. It was then that I finally discovered what the name of the car was--Lloyd. At least now I'd know what to look for.
Later that week, I was walking by the same car--it still had not sold--and I noticed people getting into it. I asked them about it. They wanted 200 Marks (about $57 at the time). I offered 150 Marks. They graciously said no, but took my name and address. A few nights later, I heard a knock on my dorm room door. The owners were there, and said the car was mineÑif I still wanted it. As the old proverb goes--be careful what you wish for, you might actually get it! And so I did.
While not remembering the specifics, I conjecture that this was a 1956 or 1957 model year Lloyd sedan (LP600). It was a three-speed with unsynchronized transmission and did not have outside trunk access--but it was fun, and a great car for a student. It was easy to park (and hide behind most cars). Thus I got to own one of my first large toys.
But even toys need to be worked on, and this was no exception. I was fortunate to find someone who wanted to work on it, and enjoyed it as much as I did. When my year in Germany was up, I gave the car to this person, who by that time had changed the cylinder heads and had actually taken the Lloyd, with his growing family, up one of the high mountains in the Black Forest.
My life drifted away from Lloyds, back to the US, where I finished school, worked in the Òinsurance industryÓ for two years (it was a good experience, but I have done my time), went back to Germany, then to West Lafayette, IN; Rochester, NY; Madison, WI; and finally northern Virginia. In the days in Madison I got married, and during a Christmas party (1992) hosted by my wife's employer, we sat with one of my wife's colleagues, whose husband, Brian, collected Mustangs. In addition, he also owned a couple of BMW Isettas. At that party I began to think that perhaps I too could restore cars, and in particular Lloyds. But Brian had not seen any Lloyds advertised in Hemmings Motor News for a long time.
But why now, after some 20 years without a Lloyd (or any hobby car) would I get interested in cars again? It was true that I now had space (a carport). But most importantly, I was looking for something to do with my hands, in some sense to be therapeutic against the trials and tribulations of work. And, with my interest, what better car than a Lloyd. My wife, Heasoon, however, had never known of this latent tendency I had. She was extremely concerned when I mentioned this possibility. Since there was no real car on the horizon, however, she thought she'd humor me--perhaps I'd snap out of it.
Then the February, '93 issue of Hemmings came out, with a Lloyd convertible for sale, and I had to call. The seller of the car sent me some pictures, and put me in touch with Rich Bachmann and the Microcar and Minicar Club. The pictures truly reflected what the seller had been telling me--the car needed work, and to a skeptical spouse, the pictures did not make my task of buying it any easier. After many long conversations with my wife, who did not believe that IÕd be able to restore anything (and thought it all a big mistake to have taken me to that Christmas party), and after her many long conversations with colleagues at work (Heasoon was looking for sympathy--but found none--actually she found more support for letting me get a car--"at least you know-where he is at night, honey"), she agreed to let me get the car, along with a parts car.
Then the fun began. How does one get a car from New Jersey to northern Virginia? Through the contact at the Christmas party, I located a person, Mike, who worked several jobs, and never seemed to sleep. We agreed to rendezvous at 3:30 am at a Holiday Inn off the "beltway" in Maryland. There was some confusion about where exactly we were going--Mike thought I was going to Newark as in Delaware, and didn't understand that it would take so long to get there. He finally understood it was New Jersey I was talking about. My wife agreed to drive me to the Holiday Inn (her contribution--never let it be said that she did not help).
The trip did not start well--within about 30 minutes of leaving with Mike, the tailpipe of his flatbed broke. He did manage an "on the spot" repair job. We got to the cars by 8:30 am. They did indeed look like the pictures (and given what I know now--I do wonder whether I'd still do what I did). The convertible needed a floor and a top, but the panels were in relatively good shape. And, to the amazement and amusement of all, the motor ran. I did purchase the cars, and thanks to Mike, we got them both on the flat bed. What a sight, driving down the road with these two old cars (but with a better repaired tail pipe on MikeÕs truck at this point). It was a lovely day--really the first nice spring day we had that year (it was April now), and that took me back to the Texas spring and the Lloyds I had seen there.
We got the cars to my place, and put them in the carport. Mike drove off just a few minutes before my wife returned from work. She was horrified--junk in the driveway--and I was really going to fix these things up???? She insisted that I go get some car covers to hide the junk (I did, of course), and the restoration project got underway--slowly.
In the meantime, I had been collecting some literature about Lloyds: sales brochures, owners manuals, shop manuals and parts books. I actually enlisted the help of a friend, Fred, to help with the restoration (in particular to lift the engine out of the car), as well as to go on junkets to car shows, in particular Carlisle. We were disappointed in not seeing any Lloyds there, but we did have a great time. The weather was wonderful, and I got to collect more literature.
During this time, the convertible was slowly coming apart, rusty bolt by rusty bolt. I was trying to determine whether to sand-blast the parts or have them chemically dipped. I was also looking for people to help with the restoration of the floor (most car body shops donÕt like to deal with restorations, and those that do charge a lot). Thanks to Brian I located another one of his friends, John, who also seemed to do at least 2 jobs. John came over to look at the car. He liked it, but quickly dissuaded me from the notion that this was a summer restoration, even a year restoration, but heÕd be willing to do it. I was happy that I had found someone to work on the car, and Heasoon was puzzled why I was so happy--it would take "forever" to finish. But, onward and upward. I still had to dismantle the rest of the car.
In August, the next level of Lloyd excitement began. I convinced my wife to go to a local car show (she had actually helped with some of the dismantlingÑtaking the glass out of the window). We went to the Laurel "Love Those Bubble Cars" show, which is part of a much bigger car show. There were about 10 Microcars and Minicars, and among them was a Lloyd Station wagon, owned by Bill Berger, a Club member. The car was in very good shape, it was for sale, and the price was very attractive, especially considering the spare parts. Heasoon said that based on what I had paid for the junk in the driveway, I should get this. She had begun to see that this hobby did in fact have a positive effect on me. My rationale was that it sure would be good to have a template for building the floor of the convertible (the parts car that came with the convertible did not have much of a floor left). After some consideration, we offered to buy the car, which, because of my work schedule, we did not get until October.
Also in October, 1993, Fred and I went to the annual Microcar and Minicar Club meet in New Jersey. It was fun to see the various cars and to finally meet Rich Bachmann. Rich had been a source of information, and continues to be. He told me about Oldtimer Markt magazine, a German publication (I'm glad that my German has gotten some use). It was through that magazine and their listing of clubs that I came across two clubs in German that I am now a member of: Borgward-Club Frankfurt-Wurzburg, and Lloyd Freunde Nord. In each case, the individuals involved have been extremely helpful and full of great information. In particular Karlheinz Harzer of the first club and Reinhard Bodenburg of the second have been invaluable contacts. (For your information, the Lloyd Freunde Nord club claims to have 212 members with some 294 Lloyds, about half of which are still registered and on the road. Certainly more than I have ever seen in one place.
But back to the projects. Right after returning from my parents at Thanksgiving, 1993, I got a call from Bill. He had gotten a letter from someone he had met about 4 years earlier. Her husband had been interested in motorcycles and air-cooled engined cars. Before his death he had actually purchased several Lloyds. The question to Bill was, would he like to buy these from her? The cars consisted of a Station Wagon and a Sedan. My wife was concerned now, but Fred, Bill and I went to take a look anyway. The woman, Margie, lived north of Baltimore, so it was a bit of a drive, but it turned out to be worth it. The Station wagon body was in excellent shape. The downside was that there was no front end to be found, and not much of the motor left. The sedan was an Alexander TS that needed some (but not a great deal of) floor work, and needed some panels replaced Ñbut the replacement panels were there. The cars had been garaged for a long time. The trip was fun, but now--what to do? After some thought (it didn't take too much), I made an offer. My wife let me proceed with an offer that would make me the proud owner of 5 cars, this based on a promise that I'd sell one after I put the spare parts I had into making it a running car. Also, she had decided to be a visiting lecturer at a Korean University for the months of February to June, 1994, so she wouldn't be there to see any of this (so she thought).
For those of you on the east coast during the winter of 1993/94, you probably recall that every three or four days there was another snow or freezing rain storm. Where Margie lived, there was no way to get a truck into the area to get the cars. We had to wait until March, when Rich came down from NJ, and Fred and I went up from DC. It was great fun--I brought an extra front end, with wheels and tires--and tools. And of course I drove a U-Haul and an enclosed trailer (theoretically it was large enough to fit one of the cars). The plan was to load one car onto the truck, the other into the trailer. Getting the one on the truck, with planks from Rich, worked well. Getting the other on the trailer did, in fact, work, but it was tight. Backing up the truck and trailer was hard, and the only way we succeeded was by having someone else do it. The cars traveled well, and came off the truck every easily.
So what, might you ask, has happened to these cars?
The convertible was disassembled and it was dipped in solvent (and we found more holes than we knew about). I made a template of the floor from Bill's car, had a metal cutter cut it and fold it, got all of this to John's shop. After about 16 months the floor was in, all the panels primed, and I picked up the body. It still needs to be smoothed out for a final painting. Also, I need to dismantle the front end and other suspension pieces, get them sand blasted, painted, and put back together. The motor needs to be rebuilt, an exhaust system built, and brakes done, and all put together. After that, I'll need to get plans for the top (I'll be seeking help from Germany on this--since I know of a car there).
The parts car was disassembled and parted out!
The station wagon I got from Bill needed very little work. I did find a place in Florida (Keppich Exhaust) that made an entire exhaust system based on the pieces I sent them. I also had the seats upholstered. It biggest problem was finding fabric to match, but with the help of my wife, we overcame that problem. Finally, I put in new motor mounts. This was well worth the effort as it makes the car much quieter. Thanks to Fred for his help here.
With the station wagon I got from Margie, the engine was rebuild, an exhaust system put on, the transmission reshimmed and cleaned. The car was sold to another member of the Club to finish the restoration on.
The TS, after cleaning acorn shells out of the carburetor, runs, and runs quite well. It needs to have the part of the floor done, and the body need to have the panels replaced. However, rather than start this, the big effort will be put in on the convertible.
In the meantime, Heasoon and I have moved to San Diego, so much of the spare time is spent setting up shop again (building shelves and emptying boxes....)
I haven't addressed the question of what a Lloyd is. There are many books that do just that--in as much detail (or as little) as anyone might want. Many of the references are in German. But suffice it to say, it had a lot of features we now take for granted, and was made to compete in the economic and social climate in post World War Germany. It aimed at competing with VW, and for a while it did, but time changed faster than the Lloyd did.
Lessons:
1 Your work is helped tremendously by having a very understanding spouse (thanks Heasoon).
2 Restoring old cars is a great hobby!
3 It is therapeutic--doing something with your hands.
4 You do meet interesting people, and can share experiences.
5 It's worthwhile learning a foreign language--you never know when it will come in handy--but it certainly has here.
6 It's worthwhile having owned a VW, or any car for which you can easily find parts--it is hard to really hurt such a car.
7 You should be prepared to spend a long time repairing/restoring the car, especially if you are working full time.
8 This is not a cheap hobby.
9 Build good relationships with the local mechanics, the folks at the machine shops, the folks at Midas, folks at the tire stores. They are a tremendous source of informationÑand actually enjoy doing things out-of-the-ordinary.
10 Do wear eye protection, and I have found the latex gloves worth the money.
11 Do belong to an auto club-it is not expensive, it keeps the hobby alive, it helps share experiences and information.
12 It's worth having spare parts and a parts car.
13 Most people in the car business take your word that you'll buy it, but some don't. It is worth sending money to hold the verbal commitment.
14 If you are planning to use a trailer, get some practice backing it up.
