The Goggomobil originated from Germany and was designed by Hans Glas. After the Second World War, the Glas company became the market leader in farm machinery production. They then produced motor scooters from 1951 to 1955, the Goggo Roller. In 1955 production of the first Goggomobil began and in 1965, over 300,000 vehicles had been produced and Goggomobils were exported to 68 countries.

The first models were released in 1955 and were fitted with 250cc and 300cc two cycle (2 stroke) twin cylinder engines. They seated two adults and the advertising for the cars showed two children in the back seat. The cars were originally sedans, a very pretty Coupe , a carry all van and utility produced at some later stage. Later models also were fitted with a 400cc engine. The Goggo continued production by Glas until the mid 60's when it was sold to BMW and some of the later larger Goggos were Bimmer badged Eg the 770cc model.

Their Australian history in summary, is that they were assembled by Buckle Motors in Sydney, but fitted with a Fibreglas body. Buckle Motors were in the 50's producing a fibreglass sports coupe which was powered by a Ford Zephyr 2553cc engine. These bodies were of a very high quality.
 
I suppose that Bill Buckle saw the market for a small car as it seemed to be the European rage at the time, with cars such as the Fiat 500, the NSU Prinz, Meschersmidt, Lloyd Hartnet, Renault 750 (4CV), etc. Goggo models produced here were direct copies of the German Sedan and Coupe with variants such as soft top versions of both of these models. The more popular model was the "Dart", a pretty little sports car version designed along the lines of the "Lotus" sports cars of the late 50's, and a carryall van, quite different to the German brother with more of a VW Kombi shape.

The demise of the Goggo in Australia was the English Morris Mini 850, which was released in about 1961 and was very close to the price of the Goggo, as well as many of the other mocro's, providing four full sized seats and better performance, and you did not have to worry about a petrol/oil mix.

There are quite a few Goggos still in Australia as the bodies did not deteriorate because of rust. The major rust problem was the Chassis cum floor, which was imported from Germany as was all of the running gear. The major resurgence of the Goggo in Australia I think, has been the Telecom add for the Yellow Pages where a Scotish Australian is looking for parts for his Goggomobil - "Gee-Oh-Gee-Gee-Oh". He also says "No not the Dart", so every goggo owner gets the "Gee-Oh-Gee-Gee-Oh" and "not the Dart" whenever they have the car out.

Possibly the other reason for the resurgance is that people my age used to own one (or two or three - -) Goggo's in their youth and now can afford to spend time and money restoring them. My first car was a Dart which my parents bought for me in 1964 , a second hand 1960 model. Our Dart is restored to the same colour as my original one. Being a 1960 model it has the 400cc engine and therefore is a bit more driveable as it has the higher top speed. It cruises nicely at 90KMH (55 MPH) but will go up to 110KMH (70 MPH) with a little downhill run. Cathy drives it at 100KMH (60MPH) when on the open road - she only knows of two speeds.