This is going to HURT! Take a look at our new display car at AACA!

[Steve Moskowitz]

Well, we had a beautiful Duesenberg in our atrium for quite a long time but we have gone "a different direction" in showcasing Wayne Carini and Ralph Marano's 1957 Spohn.  Yes it is unique, yes it might be ugly to some and yes it is a small piece of automotive history.  However, it IS history as Spohn made about 200 cars before they went out of business.  We are enjoying trying to research the car and the company and are actually excited to have something so different in our building. 

 

So, make all the jokes you want about the car.  That is expected, heck even Ralph and Wayne make jokes at its expense but please do not make any derogatory comments about Ralph or Wayne as that will not be tolerated ( I had to make this statement as I saw a blog about Spohns that got out of hand).

[rocketraider]

Didn't Auburn Rubber Co or Tootsietoy make a toy version of that?

 

Pretty obvious it stole styling cues from the Buick Lesabre.

[DrData]

I remember those episodes of CCC. A very interesting car, very evocative of the styling of that era. Sort of the love child of a Cadillac and a Daimler SP250.

 

It is art and everyone will have an opinion.

[Mike "Hubbie" Stearns]

Well it’s a bit different. Looks at home. Mike

[Billy Kingsley]

Is this a permanent addition or just a temporary visit? I'd like to see it in person but don't have a 4ish hour one way ride in me right now. 

[TerryB]

Sure would be easy to find in the parking lot😀.

[Marty Roth]

13 minutes ago, rocketraider said:

Didn't Auburn Rubber Co or Tootsietoy make a toy version of that?

 

Pretty obvious it stole styling cues from the Buick Lesabre.

I have one or two of those rubber models around here somewhere,

and yes, one can see Buick LeSabre in the design.

 

1 minute ago, TerryB said:

Sure would be easy to find in the parking lot😀.

So, I wouldn't need to stick my orange (?) Union 76 Ball on the antenna, just like dozens of others in the same lot?

[alsfarms]

I know nothing about this red futuristic automobile. What is the main base platform for this custom car?  Some say even the first Corvettes were not the most beautiful things!

[Steve Moskowitz]

Spohns were built in Germany by a coachbuilder who built bodies for Maybach in the pre-war days.  He purchased leftover cars from thus US military and took custom orders for coachbuilt cars...no two alike.  This car built on a 39 Ford truck chassis and with 53 Caddy V-8 and a Ford standard transmission.

 

Billie, we expect this car to be here until at least "Hershey".

[a griffin]

That is.........unique. Really though, does Roger Rabbit know you have his car? I kid.

You need to get a picture of it's "good side"

 

Serious, though, is it pronounced "Spawn" or "Spoon"?

 

And what material is the body? Steel, aluminum, or fiberglass?

Edited June 22, 2023 by a griffin (see edit history)

[Steve Moskowitz]

The pronunciation is in question I think.  Most of us pronounce it like the pitcher Warren Spahn, however, one young upstart I know disagrees and calls it a Spone like in phone.  Actually it is one of the things we are researching.  Oh and we are also researching the good side!  

[Roscoe]

Well....it's different. Personally, it's like they pulled everything in the 50s that I dislike and put them on one vehicle, but it is at least interesting.

And the good side- has to be the rear, as it is driving away from ya. 🤣

[STEVE POLLARD]

Someone over on FB said it has a nickname already.... Mosko ?  😄

Edited June 22, 2023 by STEVE POLLARD (see edit history)

[Steve Moskowitz]

2 minutes ago, STEVE POLLARD said:

Someone over on FB said it has a nickname already.... Mosko ?  😄

That someone needs to get a new joke writer!!  That's the best he could come up with?  

[edinmass]

2 minutes ago, Steve Moskowitz said:

That someone needs to get a new joke writer!!  That's the best he could come up with?  

It sure is interesting………personally, I would name the car “Double Flush”. Since I know Wayne and Ralph well, they won’t mind…..especially since I was so kind in my choice.

[JV Puleo]

That is about the ugliest car I've ever seen.

[West Peterson]

1 minute ago, JV Puleo said:

That is about the ugliest car I've ever seen.

Doesn't say much for the Le Sabre in which it seems to be emulating. I will submit that the Le Sabre is just as ubly.

[wayne sheldon]

If I recall my high school German properly (it was over half a century ago?)?  "Spohn" would most likely be pronounced with a long "O" and a nearly silent "H" like "phone" but with a very slight "hiss(?)" between the "O" and the "nnnnn".

But I could be wrong.

[avgwarhawk]

It appears to be an acquired taste. 

[George K]

Maybe pronounced spawn as in the devils spawn. At least it’s resale red devilish.

[Bhigdog]

1 hour ago, Steve Moskowitz said:

This car built on a 39 Ford truck chassis

Given my druthers I'd much druther have the Ford truck............Bob

[31Buick96S]

Interesting conglomeration. Like many cars of the late 50’s, fins and jet plane styling seem to have been tacked onto the car. Not to my taste, but interesting nonetheless.

[58L-Y8]

Sometimes custom coachbuilding goes horribly wrong...produces a gorpy hodgepodge.

Edited June 23, 2023 by 58L-Y8
addendum comments (see edit history)

[pkhammer]

 Wow! I looked at that first photo of just the tail end in the trailer and thought "hey, that actually looks pretty cool", and then I scrolled down and saw the rest of the car. They should've had the designer that drew the rear 10% design the rest of the car! 😜

[John_S_in_Penna]

When designing a car like that, the possibilities are so vast--

outline, shape, details, color.

And presumably, the designers are talented at their craft.

 

So, of all the possible shapes and grille details, why do they

come up with something like that?  Can't they tell, from the

first pencil sketch, that that concept is painfully ugly?  Can't

the owner or client tell them, or does he follow blindly too?

 

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," it's said, but few

would say that this is the most beautiful car that could be made.

 

Edited June 22, 2023 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[Walt G]

If the car was not such a bright color - more neutral , the outrageous abundance of exaggerated features would not be quite as noticeable as they are. Was that the original color on the car when it was built?

[Gunsmoke]

I would never question the good intentions of the AACA folk in selecting cars for display. Sometimes it might even be nice to see a strange one, we can see lots of gorgeous ones. As for the Spohn, for many who stop by for a look, like me they will struggle to imagine just how it came to be and what folks were smoking back in '57. There is virtually nothing about it that makes design sense, be it the strange fins, that awful front bumper, that center nose on rear, the hi-low headlights and the 3 chrome pimples on each side. It's like someone toured a junkyard and grabbed the worst stuff from 1/2 dozen disparate cars and welded them together. But the wheels are nice! Will be interesting to hear what AACA visitors have to say.

[Pfeil]

2 hours ago, West Peterson said:

Doesn't say much for the Le Sabre in which it seems to be emulating. I will submit that the Le Sabre is just as ubly.

What makes the LeSabre special and unique is its engine. The engine that was compromised for Buicks V-8 of 1953. The LeSabre cylinder head was compromised from a Hemi to a 1/2 Hemi for production cost. among other minor things. 

Edited June 23, 2023 by Pfeil (see edit history)

[Xander Wildeisen]

 

[3macboys]

2 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

If I recall my high school German properly (it was over half a century ago?)?  "Spohn" would most likely be pronounced with a long "O" and a nearly silent "H" like "phone" but with a very slight "hiss(?)" between the "O" and the "nnnnn".

But I could be wrong.

I thinking that it would be similar to sponson and yes, I've been wrong before and no doubt I'll be wrong again, just don't tell my wife

[30DodgePanel]

Sure is buttiful  

The rare and unusual ones still deserve a place in auto history (good or bad). 

 

I'm guessing Wayne & Ralph lost a bet and we'll see more of this story in the near future.

[3macboys]

I'm trying to piece the different parts together - center tail light looks to be 56 Ford, rear bumper corners 55 Cadillac.  What else can you ID?

[8E45E]

7 minutes ago, 3macboys said:

I'm trying to piece the different parts together - center tail light looks to be 56 Ford, rear bumper corners 55 Cadillac.  What else can you ID?

Porsche 356 doors.

 

Craig

[63RedBrier]

9 minutes ago, 3macboys said:

I'm trying to piece the different parts together - center tail light looks to be 56 Ford, rear bumper corners 55 Cadillac.  What else can you ID?

I think that is exactly the problem!  The designers tried to capture styling cues from disparate manufacturers and while they may work well on the original model (Cadillac exhausts through the bumper ends for example)    scrambling them up in one design just doesn’t work…

[rocketraider]

LeSabre concept:

 

 

Pfeil, do you still have the diagrams of the supercharged 215 hemi that powered this car?

[Bryan G]

I would drive it. Can't see the front from behind the wheel, anyway!

[West Peterson]

6 minutes ago, rocketraider said:

LeSabre concept:

 

The face only a mother could love.

[rocketraider]

And even its mother would have a tough time with the Spohn! But we have to acknowledge such cars' place in history.

[1957Birdman]

Maybe it would look better with the convertible top up. Nah....

Lew Bachman

1957 Thunderbird

[rocketraider]

6 hours ago, Marty Roth said:

I have one or two of those rubber models around here somewhere

Pictures please if you find them, Marty. Pretty sure I had one but it may have been modelled after the LeSabre.

 

6 hours ago, Marty Roth said:

So, I wouldn't need to stick my orange (?) Union 76 Ball on the antenna, just like dozens of others in the same lot?

An aside: my Mama got one of those orange 76 antenna balls for her 69 Impala, thinking being able to find her car quickly in a parking lot was a great idea. She and I went to Kmart on a Saturday morning, got there just before they opened at 10am. She put the orange ball on, and when we came out about an hour later, there was a sea of orange antenna balls in the Kmart parking lot.

 

Mama didn't often say anything out of the way, but upon seeing all those orange balls, she said one word. "Damn".