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Thanks for that interesting bit of history David Brower!INTERESTING STORY OF MEXICO's FIRST CAR .
BORGWARD WAS A GERMAN CAR MAKER LOCATED IN BREMEN , GERMANY .
THEY BUILT SOME TRULY FINE CARS GOING BACK TO THE 1920's AND INCLUDED
THE GERMAN LLOYD AND GOLIATH VEHICLES , OF WHICH I HAVE OWNED 5 .
WITH A COMBINATION OF BAD PRESS AND THE COMPANY BEING OVEREXTENDED WITH TOO
MANY MODELS IN PRODUCTION , THE COMPANY WENT BANKRUPT IN 1961
THIS IS WHERE IT TAKES AN INTERESTING TURN . AT THE 1963 BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS ,
THE PARENT COMPANY WAS SOLD TO ....... MEXICO !
THE FACTORY ASSEMBLY LINES WERE DISASSEMBLED AND MOVED FROM BREMEN , GERMANY
TO MONTERREY MEXICO . THEY HAD A NEW BORGWARD CAR IN PRODUCTION BY 1966 .
THIS IDEA WAS DOOMED FROM THE START FOR THE SIMPLE REASON THAT THE MEXICAN
WORKERS AT THE TIME DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO BUILD CARS . THEY WERE LITERALLY HIRED
FROM THE FIELDS AND COULD NOT READ BLUEPRINTS , ESPECIALLY IN GERMAN .
IT WAS OVER BY 1970 . THE LEARNING CURVE FOR THEM WAS JUST TOO GREAT
VW IN THE MEANTIME MADE A MUCH BIGGER INVESTMENT . THEY OPENED THEIR FIRST MEXICAN PLANT
A YEAR LATER BUT TOOK THE TIME TO SEND GERMAN WORKERS THERE AND TEACH THE MEXICANS
HOW TO DO THE JOB .
THE VW GOT OFF TO A SLOW START BUT BY THE TIME THE BORGWARD PLANT WAS CLOSING IT's DOORS
HAVING BUILT JUST 5000 ISABELLAS , THE VW PLANT HAD PRODUCED 150,000 CARS !
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