Barndoor Coachbuilders #5: Göppel

[AustroBus]

The series continues!

I am especially proud that i could solve the mystery behind this particular coachbuilder.
The riddle haunted me for years and i really spent lots of time following plenty of leads to find out in which coachbuilding workshop these buses had been bodied.

Here are the previous topics about other coach built barndoor buses:

#1 Coachbuilder: Hans Kohlruss
#2 Coachbuilder: Karl Schreiner
#3 Coachbuilder: Unknown ones
#4 Coachbuilder: Kastenhofer

I am very proud to inform you about a new Barndoor Deluxe Coachbuilder that i already discovered a while ago! This time it is a german one:

Göppel Karosseriebau - Augsburg

The company existed from 1923 to 2014 and mainly built bigger buses for public transport in cities – or longer travels. Its first workshop was based in Augsburg, Bavaria.

Here is an official photo - already published in a magazine in October 1951 (!) showing one of their converted Volkswagen Buses.

This pic shows the very same bus:

Interesting details:
- no VW emblem on the front – but 5 to 8 horizontal deluxe trim lines
- decorated doglegs/fenders – painted in a different color + chrome frame
- 2 front roof skylight windows
- 3 big skylight windows on each side – next to the sunroof
- unusual side windows behind the B-pilar. The penultimate window is longer, has a shiny frame and is a pop-out window.
The last window reaches all around the corner – just like a corner window of an official VW Deluxe – but it already starts earlier (about at height of the air vents)
- the all around deluxe trim is not placed on the belt line. It is located slightly underneath, iss maller and has no inlay.
- only 7 instead of 8 lower air vents!
- custom read bumper
_________________
Blog website:www.austrosplit.com
1967 Deluxe VW Bus - Resto Thread

Barndoor Coachbuilder Topics:
"Hans Kohlruss & Co"

[AustroBus]

Two more official Göppel VW display buses

Looks like the last one wasn't a panel, but a standard window bus - as there are no upper air vents visible!
_________________
Blog website:www.austrosplit.com
1967 Deluxe VW Bus - Resto Thread

Barndoor Coachbuilder Topics:
"Hans Kohlruss & Co"

[AustroBus]

Other vintage pictures

5x „Der Mittelberger“ - from Vorarlberg, Austria:

Other Göppel buses:

(the bigger bus is no Göppel build - but made by Gebr. Ottenbacher - Biberach)

The bus pictured in the last photo looks different. No front roof windows, slightly different shaped fender trims.
AND - it also seems like it was a regular window bus and they just added a small window above the air vents.
_________________
Blog website:www.austrosplit.com
1967 Deluxe VW Bus - Resto Thread

Barndoor Coachbuilder Topics:
"Hans Kohlruss & Co"

[AustroBus]

Further info

This was just a little summary of my Göppel research. For much more interesting content and some other pics, please visit my website.
I divided the parts of my research in different chapters and listed the links below:

INTRO ✯✯✯ Overview: Göppel coachbuilder
• Characteristics of a Göppel Barndoor Deluxe
• Brief overview of early Göppel company history
• Official Göppel VW Bus photos
• Other vintage photos showing Göppel buses
• Comparison: Göppel DLX vs. Dr. Oetker advertising panel

I hope you’ll enjoy it and have a good read. I am already looking forward to some investigation work on the next coachbuilder that i discovered... stay tuned

Cheers.
Alex
_________________
Blog website:www.austrosplit.com
1967 Deluxe VW Bus - Resto Thread

Barndoor Coachbuilder Topics:
"Hans Kohlruss & Co"

[RockStock]

Just to say top work, Alex
Keep it up

I really like these funky Göppels
The nose treatment, the arches and the large roof windows
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-StockRocks-

[finster]

what's with the ?s is that because the o in goppel has an umlaut?
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"we're here on Earth to fart around" kurt vonnegut

nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect...

[AustroBus]

[finster]

those dingbats seem to have gone away!
the wheel arch treatment reminds me of this dr oetker bus - not a fan of the look myself...

_________________
"we're here on Earth to fart around" kurt vonnegut

nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect...

[AustroBus]

[RockStock]

For comparison, here are a couple of other rear arch treatments

_________________
-StockRocks-

[busben]

[finster]

just came across this photo on f'book and it's the bus as shown above in the same position but with signwriting on it. seems to be a bit of colourisation going on but I think the signwriting might be retouched onto the photo...

_________________
"we're here on Earth to fart around" kurt vonnegut

nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect...

[djfordmanjack]

seems legit. The coachbuild style appears to fit the typical Bodensee area /Vorarlberg, Southern German style. with the large sky lights and the rather square arrangements and aluminium trim.
Unteruhldingen certainly is in the area of pre historic 'Pfahl bauten' in the Bodensee, that's BC dated pole houses or rather remnants in the lake that river Rhine springs from. the pre historic sites are still there, only a few meters under water level.

That said, it certainly would be easy to fake such lettering on a dead on longside view like that. AI easy does it.
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Hotrods, Fords, Veedubs and Triumph Twins !
52 Barndoor DLX Coachbuild project
54 Oval project
55 Wolfsburg panel project, og paint Taubenblau L31
62 Dickholmer, Seeblau L360
63 1500 Notch, og paint Rubin Rot L456
67 1500 Käfer, og paint Lotus weiß L282 w/red interior

[ddutch]

Very interesting and informative work on all those coachbuilders. Thank you for sharing.

The decoration around the wheel arches looks a bit odd and weird. In the late 1940's early 1950's most cars still had separate wings or fenders that were not an integrated part of the bodywork. it looks like Göppel treid to mimic this look in their conversion work of the VW busses to make them look more like the average verhicles from that period of time.
The VW Split bus was a very modern and genius concept when it was introduced in 1950. I personally feel it doesn't need any decoration to make it look different from what it realy is, apart from maybe some nice and appropiate trimwork like that of a De Luxe or a Kohlruss bus.