“A Goggomobil is a so-called dwarf car from Germany with an air-cooled two-stroke engine and a carburetor. Technically, it was actually a kind of covered motorcycle. I had the most powerful T400 variant with 400 cc, but they were also available with only 250 cc. The twin-cylinder was located in the rear, just like the fuel tank. From the driver’s seat, I could reach the fuel tap precisely. The tank sometimes ran empty while driving, so I could quickly turn it to the reserve position… By the way, extremely dangerous.”
How did you end up in that dwarf car?
“My then-girlfriend lived in Göttingen (D), while I still lived with my parents in Yde, in the tip of Groningen. To visit her, I had to rely on the train. That was an extremely long journey and also very expensive. As a surprise, my father had managed to get the Goggomobil, so I could visit her with it. I jumped around his neck with joy at my new freedom and felt like a real big shot with that little thing.”
A lot had to be adjusted before you could hit the road with it.
“The car was driving around on the grounds of a nursing home and was limited to 20 km/h via a welded-shut third and fourth gear. So I became the first owner to take it on public roads. That gearbox had to be freed up again, and the car was re-inspected so it could get a license plate. In the photos, I see different license plates. I suspected that initially, I put a plate on it that was still in the shed, so it wouldn’t be so obvious that it hadn’t been inspected yet and I could drive it.”
Tell us about that vacation with your good friend Bert.
“My father would have been extremely worried, so we told the story at home that we were going camping in Monschau. But the trip actually went to Lake Garda. My mother knew that, but kept her mouth shut. The first stop was at my grandparents in Cologne and then Monschau. From there, we sent a postcard home saying everything had gone well and that we were having fun in Monschau. Then we drove straight through to Lake Garda in 36 hours, where my girlfriend Karin was also on the campsite with her parents. There, I sent another card of the beautiful lake to my grandparents in Cologne. I shouldn’t have done that, because it was delivered just when my parents happened to be visiting them. At that moment, my father also knew exactly where I was with the Goggomobil.”
The car held up, but you made a terrible impression on two girls with the Goggomobil. Tell us!
“We were going to a dance club that evening. My girlfriend also brought a girl for Bert, so there were four of us. To be able to drag the tent, luggage, and bottles of two-stroke oil on vacation, I had left the back seat at home, so I had laid a few blankets in the back for the ladies to sit on. Upon arrival, their beautiful white summer dresses turned out to be covered in tar and evaporated gasoline. I could have sunk through the floor. We immediately turned back to the campsite, and there was no more dancing that evening.”
The car came to a rather inglorious ending?
“I eventually sold it to the farmer’s daughter who lived across from my parents in Yde. After two days, the thing broke down: she had put regular gasoline in it instead of mixed fuel. My old pride ended up in the chicken coop as a plaything. I think those animals enjoyed it for many more years.”