Hans Glas GmbH is a former German automotive company, which was based in Dingolfing.

History

Winter period 1905/06 - 10 sowing machines

Autumn 1906 - 20 pieces

Winter period 1906/07 - 40 machines

1907 - 60 pieces

Winter period 1907/08 - 254 sowing machines.

Since 1905 Glas had a branch office in Dingolfing. He started to produce in Dingolfing in 1908 with 150 sowing machines per year. The production count rose each year.

After World War II, the market for sowing machines was getting smaller and smaller. So the company had to decide what it would produce in the future. It decided to build little carrows and later working machines for bakers next to the sowing machines.

Products

Scooters

Andreas Glas made a trip to Verona, Italy. There he saw the Vespa scooter from Piaggio and asked himself whether his people could build a motorscooter. He was so enthused with this vehicle, that he also wanted to produce a motorscooter in his factory. Production started in July 1951

The scooter had 125 cc motor in the beginning. Then 150 cc and 200 cc in the end. Up until 1956 46,181 motor scooters were built. Then production of scooters stopped because of the Goggomobil cars. From 1953 on, load-carrying scooters were built as well. They had the 200 cc engine and 9.5 bhp. They were able to carry 250 kg.

Cars

• Goggomobil T250, T300, T400, Sedan (1955-1969), Coupé (1957-1969), Transporter (1957-1965)
• Glas Isar T600, T700 (1958-1965)
• Glas 1004, 1204, 1304 (1962-1968)
• Glas 1300 GT, 1700 GT (1963-1967)
• Glas 1700 (1964-1968)
• Glas 2600 V8, 3000 V8 ("Glaserati") (1966-1968)

At the end of 1966 Glas became a part of BMW. The 04-type, the GT and the 1700 sedan were given BMW badges in the last year of their production.

The GT was reengineered and so it was built with a BMW-engine and a -rearaxle and sold as BMW 1600 GT until 1968.

The V8 got a bigger engine constructed by Glas and was also sold until 1968 as BMW-GLAS 3000 V8.

The 1700 sedan was built and sold by a South African importer with several changes as BMW 1800 SA until 1974.

The Goggomobil T300, T400, T400 Coupé (renamed Sport), Glas Isar T700 and the Glas 1204 where licensed for manufacture in Argentina during the 1960s.

BMW and Glas

In 1962 BMW released a new model: the BMW 1500. This car was very compact although it had four doors. This is only one reason why this car was so popular. A lot of customers decided to buy this car and the company could draw a lots of profit and became a very prosperous car manufacturer. Because of this success the production capacity in the plant in Munich was exhausted very soon and the management decided to buy the Glas GmbH in Dingolfing. Until then the Glas GmbH produced the Goggomobil and the new designed models Isar and V 8. In the late 60s BMW shut down Glas GmbH and built entirely new production facilities which would eventually become a very important production site. As of 2008, BMW's Dingolfing branch is the largest factory of BMW worldwide: 22,000 workers produce 1,300 5-, 6- and 7-series cars as well as car bodies for Rolls-Royce.