CarBrandLogos archive · Borgward · 1954

BorgwardIsabella

A codename that stuck, and the last car a great German independent got right.

Photo: Reise Reise · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in Borgward history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Borgward Isabella, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

The name was an accident. Borgward's engineers used Isabella as an internal project label, the press picked it up before launch, and the badge went on the car because there was no arguing with it. What arrived in June 1954 was the replacement for the Hansa 1800 and the most complete thing the Bremen firm ever built: unitary construction, all-independent suspension with swing axles at the rear, and a 1493 cc four making 75 hp — genuinely strong for a 1.5-litre in the mid-1950s — driving through a four-speed manual.

Borgward Hansa 1500 Isabella · Lothar Spurzem · CC BY-SA 2.0 de

Design and engineering

It was quick, it handled tidily, and it was more modern than the equivalent Opel or Ford. Saloons, cabriolets, estates and a pickup all followed, but the car that made the reputation was the TS Coupé of 1957, a low two-door with a wraparound rear screen that looked far more expensive than it was and remains the Borgward most people can picture. Production was ambitious enough to extend beyond Germany, with assembly in Indonesia, Mexico and Argentina.

Isabella Coupé Cabrio

In production

The Isabella sold strongly through the second half of the decade, but it was propping up a group that also had to pay for the Lloyd and Goliath marques and the money-losing big saloons. In 1961 the Bremen state government, which had guaranteed Borgward's loans, forced the company into liquidation — a decision still argued about, since a later audit suggested the business was solvent. Isabella production limped on into 1962, and one of the few German carmakers that could plausibly have grown into a fourth force alongside Volkswagen, Mercedes and Opel simply stopped existing.

Borgward-Isabella-innen · Wittkowsky at German Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

1954–1962

Engine

1493&nbsp

Body

2 door saloon

Technical specification

The Isabella, in detail.

Production: June 1954–1962
Body style: 2 door saloon ; cabriolet ; station wagon ; coupe (2+2) ; cabriolet (2+2) ; 2-door pickup
Layout: FR layout
Engine: 1493 cc 75hp straight-4
Transmission: 4-speed manual
Assembly: West Germany: Bremen-Sebaldsbrück ; Indonesia: Surabaya; Mexico: Monterrey; Argentina: Buenos Aires
Manufacturer: Carl F. W. Borgward GmbH