Rare Rides: A 1967 Glas 2600 V8 (and Future BMW Coupe)

Corey Lewis
by Corey Lewis

Today’s Rare Ride is a German V8 luxury coupe that was designed in Italy and hails from a brand unknown to many. It’s a Glas 2600 V8 from 1967.

Hans Glas GmbH (the company’s eventual name) was founded in 1883 by mechanic Andreas Glas. The brand began as a simple repair shop, branching out to farm equipment circa 1908. During its time as farm equipment manufacturer, the company moved locations a couple of times and fell into the hands of CEO Hans Glas, who renamed the company after himself in 1933. After starting scooter production in 1951, Hans Glas built its first cars in 1955. Beginning with the Goggomobil micro car, Glas quickly branched out into the luxury world.

By 1966 Glas had introduced a V8 luxury coupe called V8, 2600 V8, or 3000 V8, depending on who was asking. Glas hired Italian firm Pietro Frua to create the body work; the Italians put the coupe’s body on top of the company’s existing 1700 sedan.

Frua was instructed to design the new car as frugally as possible. This meant components were borrowed from other manufacturers: headlamps from a bus, window winders from a Mercedes-Benz SL, and door locks from a Porsche. For the engine, Glas used its existing 1.3-liter inline-four twice. The resulting engine was a 2.6-liter V8. Boasting dual overhead camshafts and two timing belts, the engine made about 148 horsepower.

Coupes were built by hand at the Glas factory in Dingolfing, Germany. Body panels were individually fitted and labeled with a serial number, and thus were not interchangeable between cars. The coupe, built with the 2.6-liter in 1966 and 1967, offered up a 3.0-liter version of the same engine in 1967 and 1968. But by then, Glas was no longer running the show.

You see, BMW had taken an interest in its competitor. BMW’s new 1500 sedan was popular, and production capacity at the automaker’s Munich plant was full. In 1966, the Roundel purchased Glas and took over its factory for extra capacity. The majority of Glas models disappeared within a year following a short term of confused identity where they wore BMW badges. The V8 carried on in its larger engine form, and was sold from late in 1967 through 1968 as the BMW-GLAS 3000 V8.

BMW closed down Glas entirely by the end of the Sixties, choosing to rework and expand the factory at Dingolfing. Today, that factory produces the 5, 6, and 7 Series, as well as Rolls-Royce bodywork.

Today’s Rare Ride is an exceedingly rare 2600 V8 produced after BMW took ownership of Glas, but before the larger 3.0-liter engine and BMW badge were implemented in the same model year. Located in Switzerland, this last gasp of Glas asks $92,000.

[Images: seller]

Corey Lewis
Corey Lewis

Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.

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  • HotPotato HotPotato on Oct 08, 2019

    Beautiful in a delicate old timey European way.

  • SCE to AUX SCE to AUX on Oct 08, 2019

    I think I would love the sound of a 2.6 liter V8. That's a stately car.

    • SCE to AUX SCE to AUX on Oct 08, 2019

      Here it is, in 3.0 liter form: "https://youtu.be/JHNNo_RpolE" I love the gears on the carburetor! Now I know where the shape of the M1 came from. Interestingly, the tail lights remind me of the Mustang II or the Celica GT of the mid 70s. Great find, Corey!

  • ToolGuy This is the kind of thing you get when you give people faster internet.
  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
  • Carson D The UAW has succeeded in organizing a US VW plant before. There's a reason they don't teach history in the schools any longer. People wouldn't make the same mistakes.
  • B-BodyBuick84 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport of course, a 7 seater, 2.4 turbo-diesel I4 BOF SUV with Super-Select 4WD, centre and rear locking diffs standard of course.
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