Know Thy Germans: Glas 2600 V8; AKA The Glaserati!
First of all, the actual name of the company isn't Glas; it is, "Andreas Glas, Reperaturwerkst tte f r landwirtschaftliche Maschinen mit Dampfbetrieb." In English that means, "Andreas Glas, repair garage for agricultural machines supported with steam engine." Which is so old-school it kinda hurts. Second, in 1966 BMW purchased Glas, retooled the mighty Dingolfing factory for future highly precise production and then eliminated Andreas's namesake. Still, for a short time in the midst of the swinging 60s, Glas was producing some legitimate German/Italian hotness. Starting with the puny-engined 1300 GT Coupe in 1964, tiny Glas called upon the man who penned both the Maserati GT350 and the first-generation Quattroporte, Pietro Frua, to get them out of bubble-car hell. More after you jump.
The 1300 and later 1700 GTs were tightly sculpted and swift-looking playas, but strong (and fast) competition from the Brits was killing the 75hp 1300cc I4 wannabes. Being German, Glas quickly stuffed a SOHC 2.6 V8 (created by mashing two 1.3-Liter four-bangers together) under the hood. The new engine kicked out 140hp, which in 1966 (and in a 2,000lbs. car) was entirely respectable. More importantly, Glas again had Frua pen the body and the resulting car, the 2600 GT, was so sextastic it got nicknamed the Glaserati. High praise indeed. After the takeover, BMW shoe-horned in a 3.0-Liter mill and tacked on some sorry looking propeller badges to produce the 3000 GT. Sadly for Glas, in 1968 the historic BMW 2500 was launched (which would eventually be stroked out to 2.8-Liters and imported into the states as the Bavaria) and Glas the brand was killed off fo'evva. Still, Dingolfing's sacrifice has resulted in vehicles such as the E39 M5. Or better yet, the M Coupe. All energy flows according to the whims of the Great Magnet.
Das Web-Portal f r GLAS, Goggo und Goggomobil; Fahrzeuge, Fahrer und Liebhaber [glasclub.com]
Related:
Goggomobilimpressionen: Goggomobilamino!!!; More: Know Thy Germans: BMW 328 Roadster and Coupe; More: Know Thy Germans: BMW 503 Coupe and Convertible [Internal]