Microcar Package: Three 1959 Lloyd 600s
I can picture a car hauler heading down the freeway loaded with three 1959 Lloyd 600 microcars all in a row. At around 11-feet in length each, it wouldn’t have to be that big of a trailer but it would sure be a sight. These three small project cars are listed here on craigslist in the Alden, Wisconsin area and the seller is asking $5,500 for all three cars, but they may be interested in trades. Thanks to Ikey H. for sending in this tip!
These appear to be at least two different models of the Lloyd 600 from what I can tell. The middle car, the faded red one with the white top, looks like a Lloyd Alexander TS to me in the opening photo, the top model. The TS has a curved grille and some suspension, engine (or, carburetor) upgrades as well as features like windshield washers. The red TS with the white top is the first one of these cars that I would start on, but that’s just me.
You can see the trunk on the TS, and also the TS badge on the back of the red car. I believe that the other two Lloyd cars for sale here are base Lloyd 600s, as opposed to the slightly-upgraded Lloyd Alexander (which had trunks) or the Lloyd Alexandra TS with a rounded grille and other upgrades like a 4-speed instead of a 3-speed manual. It’s hard to tell the condition of these cars, rust-wise, but you can see that at least one of them has heavy surface rust on the body. I’d be worried about the underside especially if they have been Wisconsin cars for a few decades.
The seller says that this is the only car that runs and drives and I believe that it’s a base Lloyd 600. They’re correct in saying that it has a 600cc engine – or actually a 596cc two-cylinder with 19 hp. The Lloyd Alexander TS should have an upgraded carburetor and around 25 hp, but it doesn’t run.
This Lloyd 600 doesn’t run, either. These are front-wheel-drive cars which were fairly unusual in the late-1950s. Lloyd was a company under the Borgward umbrella and the 600 series of cars were made until 1961. There are no interior or engine photos which is always disappointing but it’ll take a dedicated Lloyd 600 fan to take on these project cars so maybe it doesn’t matter. Have any of you owned a Lloyd 600?
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Comments
Had a Lloyd Alexander TS
.4 speed column shift 2 cylinder air cooled front wheel drive car. Very advanced for the 50s.Drove it a couple times. A lot of fun until a snowstorm crashed the barn down on top of it. Only have the horn button now
My dad had a Lloyd station wagon when I was about nine or so. The little car was amazing in the snow and ice. We lived at the bottom of a hill and when we received a snow storm the thing would go right the hill when the big heavy American cars couldn’t.
That tall, delivery van looking thing in the back? Yea, that’d be of more interest to me!
Studebaker mail van.
https://barnfinds.com/1-of-1-mail-truck-1963-studebaker-zip-van/
I was wondering about that van as well. Looks like a Messerschmitt in front of it.
These things look fun. And they are less than an hour away from me. hmmmm… I might be taking a look at these.
I have 3 of these things. They are super cool little cars. Rust is their main problem. The red and white one is a TS as mentioned. They had rear a arm suspension with coil springs whereas the regular 600’s had leaf springs. They also had a more fancy interior, additional trim on the side of the body and roof also. The other 2 are regular 600’s with slider windows. So they are a bit older – maybe 56 or 57? All are US spec cars. If I had the space I’d be on the phone with him right now!
I’ve only owned two. One was a one-owner -54 LP400S with wood frame for the body and a 400cc two stroke. It otherwise looked very similar to the 600. I also briefly owned a station wagon. These Lloyd were practical in that you could just unbolt the roof and rear end and switch to the station wagon body panels instead.
For a time I also kept a Lloyd 600 engine all cleaned and polished as a living room sculpture. Yes, that was before I had a wife. But the 600 engine is quite an engineering marvel. Very much contradicting to the rest of the car that makes a Radio Flyer buggy look like hi-tech engineering.
Anyway- yes, the red/white car is an early Alexander TS. I’m a bit puzzled by the taillights, I didn’t think any Alexander TS came with these. The rust covered one a fairly late 600 (note tailfin rear lights) and the brown car presumably an early 600 guessing -56.
Finally, as I actually drove mine a bit I can say that the old German proverb was positively true : Wer den tod nicht scheut fährt Lloyd!
The TS is missing the factory tail lights and front signals, same with the brown one. The rusty car still has the bases attached for the fin style lights. For whatever reason Lloyds always lose their front and rear turn signals.
I dunno, to me it looks like the brown car has the older low mounted tail lights (and the rust covered car has older front fenders with low turn signals)
Talk about obscure !
Good luck unloading them
Keeping a “cleaned and polished” Lloyd 600 engine as sculpture per Beyfon seems entirely reasonable. It is a SOHC air cooled 4 stroke, hardly what one expects to find in a car for the proletariat.
For those who don’t have first hand experience of a Lloyd 600 or wish to know more the English language Lloyd Cars site offers a treasure trove of articles and data:
http://lloydselig.com/index.shtml
The Literature tab has contemporary magazine articles from Modern Motor, The Autocar, and Motor Trend providing views from three continents.
The Gallery tab has a Cross Section Drawings page with multiple “thumbnails” to be enlarged so that one can see the details and read accompanying data.
The Borgward bankruptcy, of which Lloyd was a part, reminds one of Preston Tucker’s challenges.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borgward
I think Lloyd is still in business, think shipping containers ,Lloyd heid on a few years after the bankruptcy. While Borgward disappeared