The Borgward chronicle with Hansa-Lloyd from 1931, Goliath, and Lloyd

Page 5

By Christoph Büch and Steve St.Schmidt (2026)

Borgward after 1945

Despite severe war damage, production was resumed in 1945/46. The rubble was cleared away and the factory facilities rebuilt, so that series production could soon begin, initially for urgently needed trucks. The Osterholz-Scharmbeck plant once again contributed cabs and superstructures, so that within a few years a close-knit network of locations had been reestablished.

Post-war production began with the three-ton B 3000 S, initially involving 400 employees. Under the supervision of Wilhelm Schindelhauer, the trustee appointed by the American occupying forces, the first vehicles were initially assembled from spare parts from the slightly damaged parts warehouse at the Sebaldsbrück plant. New parts were supplied by the Bremen-Neustadt plant, while axles, transmissions, and engines came from Delmenhorst and Ottersberg. With the BO 3000 model, 102 units with lowered frames were also produced as the basis for bus superstructures.

The three-ton B 3000 S was Borgward's first commercial vehicle after the war. The model corresponded to the 1942 design and was back in production as early as 1945 – mainly with the help of existing parts.
This photo of another B 3000 from 1949 shows the changes to the radiator grille. Small chrome strips were added, distinguishing the post-war three-tonner from the wartime model.
A look at the engine and front axle of the Borgward B 3000 S, as produced from 1945 to 1950.

At the end of 1947, the construction of electric vehicles also resumed with the three-ton BE 3000 and the EK 1.5 electric cart (1.5 tons payload). This also required approval from the American authorities. From 1950, the Lloyd EL 1500 and EL 2500 electric trucks were added. In all these models, the battery capacity limited the range to 50 to 70 kilometers – sufficient for many local transport tasks. The EL 2500 was sold in large numbers to the German Federal Post Office until 1955. An electric bus, on the other hand, found little market.

The EL 2500 electric transporter with a payload of two and a half tons was initially marketed under the Borgward name, but from 1951 onwards it rolled off the production line under the Lloyd name. The main customer for the EL 2500 was the German postal service. The body was mainly manufactured by NWF (Nordwestdeutscher Fahrzeugbau) in Wilhelmshaven, but other body builders such as Gaubschat in Berlin were also commissioned to build the transporter according to the postal service's precise specifications.

From December 1947, the Borgward B 1000, powered by a 1.4-liter gasoline engine with 33 hp, was back on the market. By June 20, 1948, the day of the currency reform, 2,700 Borgward trucks had already been produced. Carl F. W. Borgward himself was initially interned after the war because of his involvement in the production of war material, but was allowed to take over his factory again after three years, on July 13, 1948, as part of the Allied armament programs at the onset of the Cold War. In order to obtain larger allocations of raw materials, he reactivated Goliath GmbH for light transporters in 1949, founded Lloyd Maschinenfabrik (Lloyd Motorenwerke from 1951) for small car production and parts manufacturing, and converted the Borgward works into “Automobil- und Motorenwerke Carl F. W. Borgward GmbH.” By August 5, 1949, the ten thousandth post-war Borgward truck had already rolled off the production line.

The B 1000 also rolled off the production line again from 1947 to 1949. The small delivery van with a payload of one ton had already been produced by Borgward from 1938 to 1943. The photo from September 1948 shows the thousandth B 1000 produced after the war, which did not yet have cross struts on the radiator grille.
The hinged side flap on the B 1000 body manufactured by Stolle in Hanover, which could be opened downwards and presumably served as a table, suggests that the Herrmann Gothe butcher's shop in Hanover, founded in 1903, used the vehicle as a sales stand to offer its goods at markets, for example. It can also be seen that the radiator grille of the last examples of the B 1000 was fitted with chrome cross struts before it was replaced by the B 1250 in 1949. Unfortunately, the rear axle, which now had dual tires, is not visible.
In 1949, the B 1250 replaced the B 1000. The side of the radiator hood of the 1.25-ton vehicle now featured three horizontal chrome strips, which would adorn all Borgward conventional trucks for the next twelve years – with the exception of the B 1500 from 1954 and the military versions.