500 BOR

My recent acquisition of a Tg500 after 29 years of owning and driving a range of KR 200s prompted me to write a few words about the car and its differences from the three wheeled models which inspired its conception.

For many years I have avoided becoming interested in the Tg500 as it always seemed out of reach for various reasons. In the sixties when I saw my first one, I soon realised that although it was externally similar to the KR200, there was almost nothing the same. The lifting section is perhaps the only large component which is identical. In the late sixties and early seventies there was no organised parts service for the Tgs and my enthusiasm for them was dulled by the comments from various former owners that a good KR200 could be a close match to a Tg when it came to handling and acceleration through the gears. In addition, the U.K. the road tax applied to four wheeled vehicles was a serious consideration. Much more is known now about the performance and development of the engine and the improved designs of the later models have been applied to the early ones.

It came as a big surprise to find that the car cannot be called a Messerschmitt because it was built by FMR and this company was not authorised to apply that name to anything but the KR175, KR 200, and KR201. You will not see the Messerschmitt scrip badge applied to the lifting section on a Tg. During my first trip to Germany in 1968,(with a schmitt of course). I had my first opportunity to buy one. The Frankfurt / Offenbach Karofreunde looked after us well and included a trip to a scrapyard where there was a rough looking example which was said to be roadworthy. From memory, this was priced at around ?40! but not a practical proposition on the low income I had at the time. The next opportunity was in January 1971, when returning from a holiday in Austria, I called in at the FMR facory in Lilienthalstrasse, Regensburg. At that time I did not speak more than a few words of German. In spite of that, my interest was enough to prompt the works management to offer me the factory race prepared car which had rested three metres up on top of the parts racking in the company of a KR 175 and a Fend Flitzer. For the equivalent of ?200 they would prepare the car for me to drive it back to the U.K. Again, sense prevailed and attractive though it was, it would never be a practical road car. Since then, I have had the opportunity to drive several different Tgs. They have always been regarded as an expensive car and that certainly has not changed over the years.

The Tg500 was always difficult to obtain parts for, although surprisingly, the parts today are easier to obtain than they were during the years of production. This is thanks to the efforts of Heiko Zimmermann, from Neuss, Germany. Heiko has owned Tg500s for many years and organises spare parts for the remaining 199 documented production cars. Two years ago he produced a detailed history of every known vehicle, a task which represents hundreds of hours of work!

The engine is a 460cc twin cylinder two stroke which develops 23bhp. This does not make it much faster than the KR200, the wind resistance from those large rear wings see to that! The gearbox is conventional and similar to many vehicles of that era. Gear changes are hampered by the lack of Synchromesh, something that we take for granted in todays cars. The engine was originally a Fichtel & Sachs design but was manufactured by FMR from components provided by outside specialist suppliers. It is thought that around 700 were made, these being used in the Australian Zeta sportscar and the Kultimax agricultural vehicle. The design is very similar to the Goggomobil and NSU engines of the same era. Unlike the KR200, the engine comes apart vertically, leaving all the components sitting in the lower engine half. The aluminium castings are very poor quality and great care must be taken when tightening any engine bolts as stripped threads are a constant hazard. A torque wrench is an essential tool for working on the engine.

This car was originally owned by Testwood Motors of Southampton and was driven in some competitive events by Bill Street, the owner of the Company. Later it was driven with great success by Ken Piper, a well known Tg competitive driver of the sixties. Documents supplied with the car show a number of outstanding results in hill climb trials against large engined sports cars of the day including Porsche. It can be seen in one of the competitive events in Messerschmitt Gold Portfolio.

The car was later sold to Roger Garnett, a Midlands car dealer. Roger took the car on the MOC trip to Norway in 1963 accompanied by Mike Dan. Mike is the source of many excellent photographs of 500 BOR and many other atmospheric shots of the sixties. The car then changed ownership again to the then MOC Treasurer, Geoff Robinson. I first met Geoff in 1967 when I went to my first Club Commitee meeting at Malvern, Worcestershire. This was a 220 mile return journey in my KR200. Geoff picked up the Clubs finances at a time when they had been severely depleted by the dividing of the M.O.C. into two separate Clubs. Under his careful control the Club began to grow again and the later liaison with M.O.C. (London and South East), under the leadership of Lest Tilbury, led to the development of the excellent parts service we have today.

I first saw 500 BOR on an M.O.C. run to Crich Tramway Museum, Derbyshire, in 1971. Apart from some accident damage on the left hand front wing, it was in very good condition. Although it was originally finished in white, the car was resprayed Ford Sunset Red before 1964. The log book says it was originally blue and white though there is almost no evidence of this. After thirty years in red, it is to retain this colour when resprayed but with the original works shade of Monza red. When photographed racing in the early sixties, the car is shown with a “sport” type top. That is fixed sides with a small perspex windscreen and a tonneau cover. When this was finally removed at the end of its racing career, the car received a KR 200 lifting section which appears to have been accident damaged. This was previously blue and I suspect the original top was used to repair a damaged KR200 during the early racing days at Testwood Motors.

The engine was reputed to be much modified to achieve extra power, this did not help with driveability, and the engine was said to be prone to overheating. The modifications are detailed below:-
1. Carburrettor throat increased to 30mm. This would allow more air into the engine.
2. Carburrettor jets increased in size for first, second, and third stage throttle opening.
3. Modified crankshaft, similar to the “Full Circle” type now available as a brand new item. However, the crankshaft fitted had reduced clearances less than the above type. The counterbalance weights taking up most of the Crankcase area.
4. Reduced area below the piston. This was filled with a plastic resin type material, similar to body filler. There was just enough space to allow the pistons to reach bottom dead centre, thus achieving maximum crankcase compression. This modification was removed during the recent engine overhaul as the plastic had begun to break up.
5. Multiple seal pack on the clutch side, this was to correct a well known Tg. fault of burning gearbox oil. It is very common to see one of the twin exhaust pipes smoking profusely, while the other remains clean. To prevent this, the seal is put in the “wrong” way round to prevent the oil coming from the Gearbox. The KR200 / Sachs engine has a doble lip seal to prevent leakage of gear oil into the crankcase. It was not possible to replace the modified seal pack as replacement seals were not available, therefore, an original seal was fitted.
6. Lower ratio third gear; the previously high third was commented on in many of the road tests featured in “Gold Portfolio”. The later Tgs had this modified ratio to improve driveability.
7. Tgs were fitted with a very large flywheel and this one had been reduced to a fraction of its former size to improve gearchanges. The latest modification is to replace the flywheel with a spacer. this does not have any adverse effect on th elow speed operation of the engine as the crankshaft has such a great metal mass, it acts as a flywheel without further assistance.

A VDO electronic rev counter was fitted in the sixtes, though it was not properly calibrated. This has gone to a VDO specialist in Germany for rebuilding with a modern elctronic mechanism. Timing and ignition for each cylinder function as two independent units, each having contact breakers and ignition coil. Recent research suggest that the Crankshaft deflects under heavy load, causing the timing to alter. One solution is to replace the contact breakers with contactless electronic ignition and a Trabant unit has been purchased for this purpose. Later two stroke engined Trabants were fitted with this system and it does not retain the mechanical / centrifugal advance and retard since the timing cam is removed. There was a suggestion that the removal of the advance / retard system would adversely affect performance. However, Heiko Zimmermann had met the engineer responsible for the development of this system for the Trabant, and he had stated that they could not measure a difference during testing. Everything is provided with the Trabant unit to convert to electronc control and this is especially easy as the Tg. and Trabant engine layout are similar.

Richard Harker has owned a KR201 bought from me in 1973, (I bought an engagement ring with the money!) Richards KR201 had recently been through a total strip restoration. He has many years of experience working on Messerschmitt bodies, and his job in a Car Bodyshop makes him an ideal choice to restore the body with the attention to detail that is required to keep it original.

During January 1997, while Richard was working on the Tg. a visiting Truck driver came into the Bodyshop, on seeing the Tg, he exclaimed “I used to own one of these”. Richard, like most of us, has heard this line many times before. Richard replied immediately: “I dont think it would have been one of these”. The visitor took a look at the dismantled rear suspension frame and said: “ah, yes this a four wheeler, my friend Roger Garnett had one of these. It used to be very fast.” He went on to explain that Roger now lived in Spain. Richard, of course, did not know of this and it was only when he later told the story to me that I was able to confirm that Roger had previously owned 500 BOR! He is still trying to find the man again, as he is still in touch with Roger in Spain.

See more pictures of 500 BOR in our Gallery