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German Spohn prototype question


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  • 4 years later...

I too am guessing you are referring to the similarity between the tail fin and trunk design elements of Harley Earl's LeSabre concept car for GM and the dozens of cars created by the Spohn Karrosserie in Ravensburg, Germany. This was a fin design that Spohn was asked to employ on customs, mostly done for US service men. One example is attached. Spohn had a long history as a high quality coach builder best known perhaps for his Maybach and Mercedes work.

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  • 1 year later...

I have personal knowledge of the car dating back to 1957 in Palos Park, Illinois and am working with a friend that still lives there to get possible historical photos from the city archives and to get the original owner name and to talk to a 90 year old car collector who is still perfectly sharp who should remember the car. It all takes time as you surely understand.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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  • 8 years later...

There is a 1949 Veritas with a Spohn body similar to this one in the Wheels Through Time Museum in Maggie Valley, NC.   The founder and curator there, Dale Walksler, may be able to provide you some further information on the car.

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I was surprised to see that credit was given me by Coachbuild.com for the pictures of the '47 Cadillac named Valkyrie.  I took them decades ago in Arlington, Va.  The car was in very poor condition.  I don't know where it went,  Frank Towsey's used car lot is long gone, and unfortunately so so is Frank.
Pictured are shots of the Chrysler based Spohn which I also took in Arlington, Virginia just a few blocks from Frank's lot.  I dont know of any connection between the two Spohns.  Judging by the other cars it was parked with I doubt if it has survived. 

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2 hours ago, StillOutThere said:

Just an update.  The '52 Spohn Palos is well along in restoration.   Currently fitting the cabrio top frame.  This is the original factory color.  Car is at Manns Restoration, Festus, MO.

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This is the same car? Why 3 taillights now, was the fourth a later modification?

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12 hours ago, Akstraw said:

There is a 1949 Veritas with a Spohn body similar to this one in the Wheels Through Time Museum in Maggie Valley, NC.   The founder and curator there, Dale Walksler, may be able to provide you some further information on the car.

 

Photo attached is Dale with the '49 Veritas (BMW chassis) which is kept in "as found" condition.  It was purchased at the Hartung collection auction.  Several Spohn Customs have the GM LeSabre concept tail as part of their designs.  Overall, each car was built to the owner's design choices.   Two Veritas were rebodied as customs by Spohn after they were crashed while in competition events.    A second photo shows the car shortly after arrival in the US.   Yes, it had a zebra hide interior and a few remnants remain in the car today.   

DaleWalkslerVeritas_HackerPic.jpg

img531.jpg

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12 hours ago, Dave Henderson said:

I was surprised to see that credit was given me by Coachbuild.com for the pictures of the '47 Cadillac named Valkyrie.  I took them decades ago in Arlington, Va.  The car was in very poor condition.  I don't know where it went,  Frank Towsey's used car lot is long gone, and unfortunately so so is Frank.
Pictured are shots of the Chrysler based Spohn which I also took in Arlington, Virginia just a few blocks from Frank's lot.  I dont know of any connection between the two Spohns.  Judging by the other cars it was parked with I doubt if it has survived. 

 

 

The '50 Chrysler Spohn Custom was originally named "Le Centaur".   Remembering that "good design is subjective" and that the owner of the car, not Spohn, made the design choices, we have to assume the owner was happy with the product.   Yes, Dave, there has been no sighting of the car since your photos all those years ago.   Attaching one of when the car was probably newly completed.

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20 hours ago, StillOutThere said:

 

Photo attached is Dale with the '49 Veritas (BMW chassis) which is kept in "as found" condition.  It was purchased at the Hartung collection auction.  Several Spohn Customs have the GM LeSabre concept tail as part of their designs.  Overall, each car was built to the owner's design choices.   Two Veritas were rebodied as customs by Spohn after they were crashed while in competition events.    A second photo shows the car shortly after arrival in the US.   Yes, it had a zebra hide interior and a few remnants remain in the car today.   

DaleWalkslerVeritas_HackerPic.jpg

img531.jpg

Wasn't the Veritas (BMW) from the Lee Roy Hartung auction of 2011 re sold at Hershey about 4 or 5 years or so ago?  I recall it being shown in front of the Giant Center, in untouched barn find condition right down to the layer of dust on it, for a hammer price of about $165,000?  Or could it be that it was the other one?

Edited by Dave Henderson (see edit history)
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I find the above custom coach built car interesting, historical, and their stories of being built, found, and now restored great fun. The only issue is their styling is how should we say.............way outside the envelope of natural progression at the time.......they didn’t end up with a masterpiece of design. They ended up with a strange curiosity. I’m glad someone is taking on the restoration of the car back to it’s original configuration. I’m sure I will see it at Pebble and Amelia when finished, and I expect that they would win a trophy. But it won’t be for design, or style. 

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1 hour ago, edinmass said:


…" The only issue is their styling is how should we say.............way outside the envelope of natural progression at the time.......they didn’t end up with a masterpiece of design."

Is that ever an understatement!

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2 hours ago, 58L-Y8 said:

Is that ever an understatement!


I was trying to be kind and diplomatic.........I’m not too good at it!🤔

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On 12/23/2019 at 9:54 PM, Bloo said:

 

This is the same car? Why 3 taillights now, was the fourth a later modification?

Yes, exactly, a body shop owner on the south side of Chicago was the second for the car.  He did some customs and made a custom grille for the Spohn Palos and added the uppermost tail lights and also the Chicago sourced (Unity) spotlights.  He also painted the car a near-pink for promotion out on the curb in front of his business.  That all had to go away!

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12 hours ago, edinmass said:


I find the above custom coach built car interesting, historical, and their stories of being built, found, and now restored great fun. The only issue is their styling is how should we say.............way outside the envelope of natural progression at the time.......they didn’t end up with a masterpiece of design. They ended up with a strange curiosity. I’m glad someone is taking on the restoration of the car back to it’s original configuration. I’m sure I will see it at Pebble and Amelia when finished, and I expect that they would win a trophy. But it won’t be for design, or style. 

 

I regularly have to remind commenters that Spohn DID NOT style these custom cars.   The customer made the styling choice and most of them were USAF pilots reading US custom car books.   Spohn did have a "box of toys" which was photos and drawings of other cars including US concept cars like the GM LeSabre concept from Harley Earl.   Multiple pilots came to Spohn and chose those LeSabre fins that were so very much like their Sabre jets!   Yes, their choices were often incongruous.   

Keep in mind Spohn Carosserie was the primary coachbuilder for Maybach, completing a significant majority of their great German Classics.   Spohn was said to have the finest finishes on their cars in the pre-WWII market.

With WWII, most of the world's coachbuilders closed their doors partly because of economics and partly because car bodies were no longer being wood framed.   Maybach closed with the war.   After the war Spohn's managing family the Eiwangers, hoped to make the business profitable once again through individual contracts with Mercedes, Veritas, Volkswagen and others but there was no volume.   US style customs for reconstruction US forces in Germany were thought to be one possibility.   We think some two dozen Spohn Customs on US chassis were built.

Yes, the Spohn Palos will be on the concours scene when finished.  Look for it probably in 2021. 

 

Photo.  What would you like us to do, Lieutenant?  Herr Eiwanger talks to a '52 Lincoln owner about customizing his car.   That car is one of 5 Spohn Customs extant.

 

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Edited by StillOutThere (see edit history)
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On 12/25/2019 at 8:23 PM, StillOutThere said:

 

I regularly have to remind commenters that Spohn DID NOT style these custom cars.  

 

 

I'm sure they were just trying to survive at that point.  Their prewar work was very tasteful.  You are fortunate that the GI that ordered your car had taste.   The Veritos is also not ugly,  but some of the others...

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Regards the Buick concept grille on the Chrysler, my supposition would be the car's owner thought it would take the design of the car into the future.   Any custom car is the owner's dream.  We can criticize but ALL design is subjective.

 

Regarding the upper grille or "hot dog grille" on the Veritas, the car may not always have been so as the attached photo shows.   We don't have VINs for the two Veritas customized by Spohn nor photo dates in most cases.   Could be that after completion sans upper grille, the car was found to require more cooling.

z3.jpg

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A couple of the Spohn Customs that do not get into stories about Spohn are these. 

First a '47 Oldsmobile.   You'll agree it looks like a Packard.

Then a '51 Chevrolet.  Owner chose the Ford X-100 concept grille.

And an American style "radical custom" '50 Oldsmobile that has been both chopped and sectioned.

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SpohnChevrolet_700.jpg

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On 12/25/2019 at 6:23 PM, StillOutThere said:

 

We think some two dozen Spohn Customs on US chassis were built.

 

 

 

Urban legend has it there was one Spohn build on a Tucker chassis.😲  Last I ever read or heard of such a thing was in 1973 or so.  Is it still urban legend?

 

Craig

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12 hours ago, 8E45E said:

Urban legend has it there was one Spohn build on a Tucker chassis.😲  Last I ever read or heard of such a thing was in 1973 or so.  Is it still urban legend?

 

Craig

That is new to me.  I think the Tucker enthusiasts might have pursued that to the end of the world by now.   Will admit I never thought to look for a Spohn bodied Tucker!  

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