The Goggomobil Dart was a
microcar
Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are oft ...
which was developed in
Australia by Sydney company
Buckle Motors Pty Ltd. and produced from 1959 to 1961.
The Dart was based on the chassis and mechanical components of the German
Goggomobil microcar
Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are oft ...
, which was a product of
Hans Glas GmbH
Hans Glas GmbH is a former German automotive company, which was based in Dingolfing. Originally a maker of farm machinery, Glas evolved first into a producer of motor scooters, then automobiles. It was purchased by BMW in 1966,
mainly to gai ...
of
Dingolfing
Dingolfing is a town in southern Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the Landkreis (district) Dingolfing-Landau. Dingolfing is home of a BMW assembly plant.
History
The area now called Dingolfing was first mentioned in ''Tinguluinga'' in the ...
, in Bavaria, Germany. The car featured an Australian-designed fibreglass two-seater open sports car body without doors, the whole package weighing in at only .
It was powered by a rear-mounted twin-cylinder two-stroke motor available in both 300 cc and 400 cc variants,
and had a small luggage compartment built into the nose.
The Dart was designed in 1958 and went on sale the following year,
with around 700 examples produced up to the time that production ceased in September 1961.
Production specifics
The Dart came standard with Goggomobil’s 293cc parallel twin (producing 15 hp and 20 ft.lb.), but their 392cc unit (20 hp/24 ft.lb.) soon became available as an option. Top speed was approximately 60 mph (96 km/h) for the 293cc cars, and about 65 mph (104 km/h) for those equipped with the 392cc engine. There may only by 50 of them left currently. Dimensions were 3.0m long and 1.3m wide
Popular culture
The Goggomobil Dart is mentioned in the 1990s
Yellow Pages
The yellow pages are telephone directories of businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to Telephone direct ...
ad in which
Tommy Dysart
Thomas Gibson Dysart (24 December 1935 – 7 June 2022) was a Scottish-born Australian actor, known for his appearances on television dramas and comedies and in character roles in films and miniseries.
Early career
Dysart graduated from NIDA ...
says the famous line "G, O, G, G, O... No! No! Not the dart!"
Dysart would play off the fame of this role in future ads for Shannons, in which he plays a character who is especially interested in finding the best car insurance for his treasured Goggomobil Dart.
A documentary which was released on 8 September 2019 titled ''
D'art'' is about an artist who paints
paper planes (paper darts) on the Goggomobil Dart as the canvas. The movie was received with positive reviews.
In 2020 ''D'art'' was selected for the 'Melbourne Documentary Film Festival'
File:Goggomobile Dart rear.JPG, Goggomobil Dart rear
File:1960GoggomobilDart-interior.jpg, Interior
See also
*
List of microcars by country of origin: A
References
External links
{{Commons category, Goggomobil Dart vehicles
Article reproduced from ''Modern Motor'' 1959 about the prototype Goggomobil Dart
* title=D'art, via=www.imdb.com
Microcars
Cars of Australia
Roadsters
Rear-engined vehicles
Cars introduced in 1959