{{Infobox automobile , image = , name = Hansa 400 / Hansa 500 , manufacturer = Goliath-Werke Borgward & Co. , production = 1933 – 1934 , predecessor = Goliath Pionier , successor =

Hansa 1100 Year 1100 ( MC) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 1100th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 100th year of the 2nd millennium, the 100th and ...

from 1934-1939 , class=

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 ...

, body_style = 2-door Sedan
2-door

Convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving ex ...

, engine = 398 cc /
494 cc two cylinder 2-stroke , layout=

RR layout In automotive design, an RR, or rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout places both the engine and drive wheels at the rear of the vehicle. In contrast to the RMR layout, the center of mass of the engine is between the rear axle and the rear bu ...

, transmission = 3-speed manual , length = {{convert, 3750, mm, in, 1, abbr=on , width = {{convert, 1360, mm, in, 1, abbr=on , height = {{convert, 1500, mm, in, 1, abbr=on , weight = {{convert, 620, kg, lb, , abbr=on (empty) , wheelbase = {{convert, 2400, mm, in, 1, abbr=on , track = , related = , designer = The Hansa 400 is 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 ...

made in 1933 to 1934 by Hansa Lloyd and Goliath Company, Borgward & Tecklenborg in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie H ...

, Germany. After about a year in production, it was replaced by the next model Hansa 500 with a bigger engine.

History

In 1933, as successor and to supplement the three-wheeled Goliath Pionier, Hansa Lloyd presented the four-wheeled small ''Hansa 400'' car. With this generation the single front wheel disappeared and two fenders beside the hood covered the wheels. After the Great Depression, during the emerging society of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, many people improved by the rising economy again, and the loud and weakly motorized small car was hardly in demand. Still within the first year of appearing on the market, or according to others in the second year, the successor ''Hansa 500'' with bigger engine appeared. He also did not let the design become a sales success. The magazine ''"Auto und Kraftrad" (Car and motorcycle)'' described the car as a "trimmed Goliath tricycle".

Engine, transmission and chassis

The two-cylinder

two-stroke engine A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being completed in one revolution of t ...

of the ''Hansa 400'' was built by ILO Motorenwerke, and installed in the rear and made 12 HP (8.8 kW) at 3600

rpm Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimension ...

and a

compression ratio The compression ratio is the ratio between the volume of the cylinder and combustion chamber in an internal combustion engine at their maximum and minimum values. A fundamental specification for such engines, it is measured two ways: the stat ...

of 5.6 to 1. With a bore of 61 mm and a stroke of 68 mm, the

engine displacement Engine displacement is the measure of the cylinder volume swept by all of the pistons of a piston engine, excluding the combustion chambers. It is commonly used as an expression of an engine's size, and by extension as a loose indicator of t ...

was 396 cc. The mixture was separated from a single

carburetor A carburetor (also spelled carburettor) is a device used by an internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the venturi tube in the main meter ...

made by Solex. The Hansa 500 had a drilled up engine from the same manufacturer with a capacity of 494 cc (bore × displacement = 68 mm × 68 mm) with 14 HP (10.3 kW) at 3600 RPM. Piston stroke length, compression and carburetor were the same as the smaller model. The maximum speed of the Hansa 400 was 40 MPH (65

km/h The kilometre per hour ( SI symbol: km/h; non-standard abbreviations: kph, km/hr) is a unit of speed, expressing the number of kilometres travelled in one hour. History Although the metre was formally defined in 1799, the term "kilometres per ho ...

), the Hansa 500 reached up to 44 MPH (70 km/h). All cars had a non-synchronized three-speed gearbox with stick shift in the middle, driving the rear wheels. The body was assembled on a front and rear forked central frame. The front wheels were suspended on two transverse leaf springs, as well as the rear pendulum on a swing axle. All four wheels were mechanically braked; the handbrake also worked on all four wheels. The

fuel consumption A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy but ...

of the Hansa 400 was 29 MPG (8 L/100 km) of two-stroke fuel, that of the Hansa 500 was 27 MPG (8.5 L/100 km). That was rather mediocre for such a small car; the 1934 Hansa 1100 managed 24 MPG (9.5 L/100 km) of regular gasoline, while being significantly larger and more powerful.

Body variations

Both types were as two-

suicide door A suicide door is an Car door, automobile door hinged at its rear rather than the front. Such doors were originally used on Horse-drawn vehicle, horse-drawn carriages, but are rarely found on modern vehicles, primarily because they are perceived ...

sedan available. The Hansa 500 was also available as a two-door convertible. The bodies consisted of one ash wood frame, covered with leatherette made by the Germany division ''Weymann-Karosserie'' of

Weymann Fabric Bodies Weymann Fabric Bodies is a patented design system for fuselages for aircraft and superlight coachwork for motor vehicles. The system used a patent-jointed wood frame covered in fabric. It was popular on cars from the 1920s until the early 1930s as ...

. The streamlined bodies had a rearward tilted vehicle front between the external headlamps. The fenders were swept backwards. In the same enterprise was a parallel production of a three-wheel freight car, the Goliath F400 with timbered wood body and its successor the Goliath FW400 with steel body. Each were produced also in the "200" single cylinder engine version.

Competitors

Standard Superior The Standard Superior was an automobile, produced from 1933 to 1935 by '' Standard Fahrzeugfabrik'' of Ludwigsburg, Germany, founded by motorcycle maker Wilhelm Gutbrod and unrelated to the Standard Motor Company of England. These small cars w ...

References

Werner Oswald: ''Deutsche Autos 1920–1945''. P. 150-153 Georg Schmidt: ''Borgward – Carl F. W. Borgward und seine Autos'', P. 61,224 Sedans Subcompact cars Rear-engined vehicles Pages with unreviewed translations