The Bremen Classic Motor Show has a lot to offer every year. Attention is often paid to the special themes, but don't forget that the numerous clubs also provide excellent and sometimes very rare material. This year the Lloyd club brought an exotic to Bremen, home of the brand. We paused a little longer at the Lloyd Alexander Frua, a fine haircut and a real child of the XNUMXs.
Germany and other European countries got into the lead up to the sixties. Mass motorization had already been started for a while. In the XNUMXs, buyers didn't just unleash the demand for motor rollers. They also developed a desire for smaller cars. Borgward subsidiary Lloyd set a footprint in the growing small car segment with the Alexander. Due to the ever-increasing prosperity, the cautious need to make distinctive carts based on an existing model also grew. Numerous Italian design houses and car artists have made this successful. So is Pietro Frua, who made it a habit to provide his creative services to the German car manufacturers, having previously shown his skills at Ghia.
Frua designs independent coaches
The Lloyd Alexander Frua was one of the first designs after the Italian resumed his independence. Lloyd boss Carl Borgward saw that the market for the little ones started to shrink towards the end of the fifties. In the meantime, the Arabella was still under development. To keep the Alexander attractive, Borgward thought that a coupe would be an enrichment for the program.
Drawing to the spirit of the times
Pietro Frua went to work, and designed a coach that fits perfectly in the style of modern coupes. Continuous gutters, small wings, large panoramic windows and arrow-shaped flanks gave the Lloyd Alexander Frua its own look. Frua developed an interior with four seats. The future driver also looked out at a dashboard with round clocks, which was hidden behind a three-spoke steering wheel. The finish was luxurious and high-quality.
Technical basis of Alexander TS
The technical basis was that of the Alexander TS. It meant that the coupe from Frua got a 596 cc two-cylinder four-stroke engine (25 HP). With overhead camshaft, which was driven by a chain. The chassis consisted of longitudinal arms and coil springs behind and transversely placed springs at the front. This resulted in a nice car, which had style characteristics of the Renault Floride and the later Volvo P1800. That was no coincidence, because the Floride was signed by Frua at Ghia. Furthermore, the Swede Petterson - who had been employed by the independent Frua - had been important in the development of the P1800, which took place at the same time as the design of the Alexander Frua. If you see the rear of the Lloyd Alexander Frua, you can't ignore some of the style features of the later introduced Volvo.
No Leukoplast Bomber
Ghia-Aigle took care of the construction of the trolley in Switzerland. The Lloyd Alexander Frua only left the band 49 times. So a rarity. So we found one copy in Bremen. When we look at the state of the Alexander Frua it is a small miracle that the cart still exists. Various rust spots and holes tell us that this coupé did not get a Leukoplast coach, but a sheet steel bodywork painted in red with a white roof. Furthermore, the patina smells and radiates towards you. It reinforces the character of the survivor, who is not yet being restored. The Lloyd, by the way, misses its striking split bumpers, both front and rear.
No expense
The car was therefore only built 49 times, and one of the reasons is that more and more more powerful motorized cars in the smaller class came onto the market in the late XNUMXs. In addition, the Lloyd Alexander Frua was not a bargain. And the development and design did not make any savings on costs. Under the auspices of Borgward this happened more often in those years, it was one of the reasons that Borgward was declared bankrupt in the first half of the sixties.
One of the sixteen
Borgward was perhaps too much a fan. One of the proofs we saw in Bremen. How many are left of the Lloyd Alexander Frua? Reportedly there are still sixteen. It is a miracle that we saw this special car during the Bremen Classic Motor Show. The patinated pearl was therefore one of the surprises during the event in the German Hanseatic city.
Nice article! What strikes me about the model is that (on the first b / w photo) it strongly resembles the Renault Floride. In any case, I will not get a Volvo out ...
The competition has killed Borgward, the banks have refused loans under pressure from the German car-producing colleagues and deliberately pushed Borgward out of the market….
Is right. That manufacturer came from the south of Germany. The Borgward factories were forcibly transferred to the Bremen senate by the banks. Johannes Semler - chairman of the supervisory board of BMW - was appointed as remediator in 1961 and played a major role in the removal of Borgward from the market. Carl Borgward was not known as someone who had developed his administrative discipline well. It played into the hands of the competition. Special: there was a credit balance when the bankruptcy was settled. Sensitive history.