5k: Shards of History: 1965 Glas 1300 GT
Hans Glas GmbH is a now defunct automobile manufacturer based out of Bavaria. Glas was originally founded as an agricultural repair shop, but years later was building its own small sports coupes and was purchased by BMW to gain access to its patents and large manufacturing facility in the town of Dingolfing. Today the Dingolfing factory builds BMW 5, 6 and 7 series automobiles, so in essence the Glas 1300 GT is the spiritual ancestor to the BMW 6-series. Find this 1965 Glas 1300 GT project for sale in Houston, TX currently bidding on ebay for $5,233 with a few hours to go.
This Glas GT is truly a pandora’s box for the next person who tries to restore it – not from what will come bursting out from the depths, but from what is missing. Luckily the Glas shared many suspensions parts with the Opel Kadett A so some “new” parts are available, but the Glas 1.3 liter inline-4 is an odd beast indeed – engineered by Glas and equipped with a flexible timing belt and overhead cam to produce 75 horsepower.
The logical competitor to the Glas 1300 GT is the Triumph GT6, but the GT6 has a great aftermarket support mechanism and you can get mail order catalog full of Triumph parts or order them online from any number of retailers. Restoring a GT6 is the equivalent of preparing a simple dinner at your local mega-mart, but the parts availability of the Glas is similar to trying to prepare a gourmet meal for two shopping in the lobby of a Motel-6. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of whole-fat goat milk, but maybe I can use these two vanilla coffee creamer packages…excuse me concierge, do you have any fresh un-ground nutmeg?
See a better odd-ball rare project for a tempting price? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com
You overstate the difficulties restoring this. All the parts appear to be there, along with a decent number of spares. It won't be a case of throwing old parts out and replacing them with new parts. The new owner will need to actually *restore* the old parts. Or maybe in some cases replicate using the originals as patterns. But that is not so difficult.
As for engine parts, you might be surprised how easy it is to find common replacement parts for rare engines. There are only so many ways you can make a valve or a piston. So you find something that is close, and you do a little machining to make it right, and you are away.
No, it's not as easy as going to the specialist on the web, ordering a complete front suspension kit and having it arrive on your doorstep. But it is profoundly satisfying.