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Lloyd (automobile)

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Lloyd Motoren Werke G.m.b.H.
IndustryAutomotive
Founded1908
Defunct1963
FateBankruptcy
HeadquartersBremen, Germany
ProductsAutomobiles
ParentNorddeutscher Lloyd

Lloyd Motoren Werke G.m.b.H. (Lloyd Engine Works) was a German automobile manufacturer, created in 1908 and owned by the Norddeutscher Lloyd shipping company. The factory was in Bremen. The company operated under a variety of different names throughout the decades, but their products were nearly always badged with the Lloyd marque. Originally a manufacturer of luxury cars, the company was folded into the Borgward Group in 1929, with the brand not used on passenger cars again until 1950. Production ended for good in 1963, although a successor company continued trading until 1989, selling replacement parts, as well as manufacturing engines for snowmobiles and boats.

The German Lloyd marque had no connection with the British Lloyd Cars Ltd company active between 1936 and 1951.

1908–1937

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The first cars were licence-built Kriéger electric vehicles. Petrol-engined models followed in 1908, using 3685 cc engines, but few were made. The Belgian electrical engineer, Paul Mossay, was employed for four years as chief engineer, designing both engines and electric vehicles.[1]: 78  In 1914, the company merged with Hansa to become Hansa-Lloyd Werke AG. The company was never on a sound financial footing and changed names and badging on a number of occasions.[2] Most of the Hansa/Lloyd cars made during that period were branded as "Hansa". The "Hansa-Lloyd" name mainly attached to commercial vehicles, with the exception of the Treff-Aß and the Trumpf-Aß. The company was integrated in the Borgward group after the purchase of Hansa by Carl F. W. Borgward in 1929, and car production ceased.

Until 1937, the Hansa-Lloyd brand was used on a number of commercial vehicles (trucks and buses), from the one-ton "Express" to the five-ton "Merkur". They were largely replaced by Borgward-branded vehicles, but a few models were sold in 1938 with just "Hansa" badging.[3]

1950–1963

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Lloyd LP 300 (Leukoplastbomber)
Lloyd LP 400 S 1954
Lloyd LP 400 S 1955
Lloyd LP 600
1959 Lloyd 600 Kastenwagen (panel van)
Lloyd Alexander TS
Lloyd LT 600
Lloyd Arabella de Luxe

Lloyd as a stand-alone name only entered mass-production of cars and light trucks in 1950, when the company became Lloyd Motoren Werke GmbH – still in Bremen. The very first cars (the Lloyd 300) were wood- and fabric-bodied. Between 1953 and 1954, thin, rolled steel gradually replaced the original fabric shell (Lloyd 400), but wood framing was still used within the doors and elsewhere.

The Lloyd 250 was called "Prüfungsangst-Lloyd" ("Lloyd for exam nerves") because they appealed to drivers who had older driving licenses and could drive the car without having to pass the new test for drivers of cars with a cubic capacity of over 250 cc, a test which was introduced in a legal reform in the mid-1950s. With an engine producing only 11 PS (DIN), the Lloyd designers saw a need for saving weight, and thus offered the LP 250 without a back seat, bumpers, hub caps or trims. However, most buyers ordered the LP 250 V with those features as optional extras.

Overall, the vehicles filled the need for small, cheap cars, which were characteristic of post-war Germany, and they provided a comparatively high standard of comfort and reliability. For several years in the 1950s, they rose to third place in the annual licensing statistics, behind only Volkswagen and Opel. In spite of that success, there was little prestige gained in driving a Lloyd. In the vernacular, the Lloyd 300 was called "Leukoplastbomber", due to the owners' habit of repairing nicks in the fabric of the body with sticking plaster called Leukoplast. A contemporary derisive verse went "Wer den Tod nicht scheut, fährt Lloyd" ("He who is not afraid of death, drives a Lloyd").

Pietro Frua designed a coupé based on the Lloyd Alexander, which was presented at the Turin Motor Show in November 1958.

The parent company failed in 1961 but cars were still made up to 1963. By that time, the LP 900 was named "Borgward Arabella" instead of "Lloyd Arabella".

Models

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Type Body style Period Engine cubic capacity hp (DIN) Gears Speed
Lloyd LP 300 saloon 1950–1952 2 cylinders
two-stroke
293 10 3 75 km/h (47 mph)
Lloyd LS 300 / LK 300 LS: estate car
LK: van
1951–1952 2 cylinders
two-stroke
293 10 3 75 km/h (47 mph)
Lloyd LC 300 coupé 1951–1952 2 cylinders
two-stroke
293 10 3 75 km/h (47 mph)
Lloyd LP 400 saloon 1953–1957 2 cylinders
two-stroke
386 13 3 75 km/h (47 mph)
Lloyd LS 400 / LK 400 LS: estate car
LK: van
1953–1957 2 cylinders
two-stroke
386 13 3 75 km/h (47 mph)
Lloyd LC 400 convertible 1953–1957 2 cylinders
two-stroke
386 13 3 75 km/h (47 mph)
Lloyd LT 500 van / 6-seater minivan[4] 1953–1957 2 cylinders
two-stroke
386 13 3 75 km/h (47 mph)
Lloyd LP 250 and 250 V saloon 1956–1957 2 cylinders
two-stroke
250 11 3 75 km/h (47 mph)
Lloyd LP 600 saloon 1955–1961 2 cylinders
four-stroke
596 19 3 100 km/h (62 mph)
Lloyd LS 600 / LK 600 LS: estate car
LK: van
1955–1961 2 cylinders
four-stroke
596 19 4 100 km/h (62 mph)
Lloyd LC 600 convertible
"Cabrio-Limousine"
1955–1961 2 cylinders
four-stroke
596 19 4 100 km/h (62 mph)
Lloyd Alexander saloon or
estate car
1957–1961 2 cylinders
four-stroke
596 19 4 100 km/h (62 mph)
Lloyd Alexander TS saloon or
estate car
1958–1961 2 cylinders
four-stroke
596 25 4 107 km/h (66 mph)
Lloyd LT 600 van/minivan
pickup truck
1955–1961 2 cylinders
four-stroke
596 19 4 85 km/h (53 mph)
Lloyd Theodor LT 600 RV 1955–1961 2 cylinders
four-stroke
596 19 4 85 km/h (53 mph)
Lloyd Arabella saloon 1959–1961 4 cylinders
four-stroke
897 38
1960–1963 also 34
4 120 km/h (75 mph)
Lloyd Arabella de Luxe saloon 1960–1961 4 cylinders
four-stroke
897 45 4 133 km/h (83 mph)
Lloyd EL 1500 electric van electric - -
Lloyd EL 2500 electric van electric - -
Type number of cars built
Lloyd 300 LP, LS and LC 18,087
Lloyd 400 LP, LS and LC 109,878
Lloyd 250 and 250 V 3,768
Lloyd 600 LP, LS and LC, Alexander and Alexander TS 176,524
Lloyd Arabella and Arabella de Luxe 47,549

Australian production – The Lloyd-Hartnett

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The Lloyd 600 was assembled in Australia by a company formed as joint venture between Carl Borgward and Laurence Hartnett in the late 1950s.[5] The car was introduced in December 1957 as the Lloyd-Hartnett and a total of 3000 cars were built before production ceased in 1962.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Desmond, Kevin (2019). Electric Trucks: A History of Delivery Vehicles, Semis, Forklifts and Others. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-3618-4. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  2. ^ von Fersen, Hans-Heinrich (1971), Klassische Wagen [Classic Cars] (in German), vol. 1, Stuttgart and Berne: Hallwag, ISBN 9783444101168
  3. ^ Toxopeus, Evert. "Hansa-Lloyd Trucks". Nederlandse Borgward site. Archived from the original on 2016-12-28.
  4. ^ "Vor 20 Jahren: Test Lloyd LT500 (ie a page of extracts from the same magazine's edition of exactly twenty years earlier)". Auto Motor u. Sport. Heft 9 1974: Seite 20. 27 April 1974.
  5. ^ a b Davis, Pedr (1986), The Macquarie Dictionary of Australian Motoring, Sydney, NSW: Macquarie Library, p. 278, ISBN 0949757357
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