It's a strange quirk of history that Hans Glas and his car company are much better known for their tiny Goggomobils than they are for their Italian-styled coupes. Maybe it's time to change that.
When our Euro Car Boy Peter Orosz said he was hitting the Villa d'Este and offered to grab a gallery of anything we'd want the Glas 3000GT was at the top of my list.
While BMW was just releasing the first Nueu Klasse vehicles that would eventually redefine the German automaker, down the street in Dingolfing Hans Glas was introducing the sexy 1300 GT and soon after the 2600.
Unlike BMW, which was mostly trying to market a brand of compact cars for a broad spectrum of Germans, Glas was aiming at the British automakers like Aston Martin with its sexy Pietro Frua bodied, V8-powered coupes. Glas couldn't compete, however, and BMW needed the production capacity so it eventually bought the rival company.
Before the Glas was completely disassembled, they produced a few cars with BMW drivetrains including this 1967 Glass 3000GT with a 3.0-liter BMW V8. In 1968, the car's final year, they'd add BMW badges.
But there's no doubt Glas lived on for a while. Just look at the BMW E9 and tell me you don't see the influence. And Dingolfing is still the largest BMW plant int the world, making more than 250K cars a year.
Photos: Peter Orosz