Today's #MotorMonday post takes us for a ride in a 1960 Borgward Isabella. This automobile was produced by the German auto-manufacturer Carl F. W. Borgward GmbH and featured a clock and cigarette lighter, both novelties for automobiles at the time.
Production of the Isabella ended following a corporate bankruptcy that ended the line in 1962 at the company's German plant in Bremen, and in 1963 in the company's Argentinian branch. A wreath displayed on the final car on the model's production line declared the model "too good for this world".
This item is part of Hagley Library's collection of Z. Taylor Vinson collection of transportation ephemera (Accession 20100108.ZTV). For over sixty years, Zachary Taylor Vinson (1933-2009), a senior lawyer with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1993-1995 president of the Society of Automotive Historians, and 1995-2009 editor of Automotive History Review amassed a large and comprehensive collection of printed material documenting on the history transportation, particularly automobiles.
Our Digital Archive offers a small selection of materials from the Vinson collection documenting the history of the automobile and transportation. Click here to view them online.