There is much interest about Spohn creations, expecially about postwar creations on American chassis.
I'd like to gather here all the info available about these cars and I know this is the right place.
We already had many of them:
http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=9985.0
http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=10523.0
http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=6723.0
http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=4058.0
http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=3955.0
...but some are still missing and there are few bits of info on some of them.
Here you are, in alphabetic order, some of the cars I collected, hoping to find more info:
#1 - Nickolas M. Staranick's Buick Sedanette 1947 (source: Motor Trend May 1954)
#2- Cadillac 1949
#3 - Major Ralph W. Angel's Chevrolet 1950 (sources: Motor Trend May 1954 and Popular Mechanichs September 1955)
#4 - Ford Eight DeLuxe Convertible 1952
#5 - Ford chasiss Cadillac engine 1950s
#6 - Louis W. Strunga's Lincoln 1949 (source: Popular Science June 1953)
#7 - Robert Mooselli's Mercury 1948 (source: Motor Life January 1954)
#8 - James L. Price's Oldsmobile 1950 (source: Trend Book 105 Restyle Your Car)
#9 - Arthur Cooper's Packard The Comet (source: Motor Trend November 1953)
#10 - Pontiac Coupe
#11 - Veritas Cabriolet 1949
#12 - Volkswagen Typ 1 1954
#13 - Unknown
...
Them there are some wacky cars
I love that Packard with those square lights. It looks so myopically.
I considered #2 and #5 like 2 different cars...but are they different?
Beside the windshield (the #2 is in 2 pieces) and the wheel covers (probably), only the lower grille seems different, with vertical bars in one case and orizzontal in the other...what do you think?
Are there other pics of these cars?
Three Maybachs from Spohn - 1949, 1950 and 1951 (or 1957 ???) according to my DB.
I believe this one is still missing in the overview: 1950's Chrysler
Spohn Valkyrie on Cadillac 1954 chassis:
But also the Gaylord Gladiator http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=1674.0 (http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=1674.0) and some of the other Brooks Stevens creations.
While the designs were credited to (blamed upon?) Brooks Stevens, the 1953 Die Valkyrie and the 1955-56 Gaylords look odd enough to have been 'enhanced' by Spohn, who was enlisted to construct each.
(http://www.autopuzzles.com/Die%20Valkyrie%201953.jpg)
(http://www.autopuzzles.com/Die%20Valkyrie%201953%20R.jpg)
(http://www.autopuzzles.com/Gaylord-1956%20F.jpg)
(http://www.autopuzzles.com/Gaylord-1956%20R.jpg)
75america beat me to it! :D
Messerschmitt. P511 from 1954
(http://www.autopuzzles.com/1954%20Messerschmitt%20P511.jpg)
Great!
Probably the #2 and #5 are really the same...the lower grille of the red one appears to have orizzontal bars in the 2nd pic...
The Gaylord posted by Otto is the second version which wasn't built by Spohn, but by Zeppelin GmbH.
Quote from: Otto Puzzell on May 12, 2010, 12:06:18 PM
Them there are some wacky cars
I double checked the meaning of
wacky in my dictionary. Even if it's stronger than I believed, wacky is still a feeble word for some of them. If they were the first thing I'd see on a hangover morning, I'd kill myself.
I know some of you can identify a car\model year from the details of the interior...well, this is the inside of the red car...some elements seems to be from the 40's, other from the 50's...your opinion?
This ad from Spohn for the "Plastik" is interesting.
more:
and a detail of some b-sides:
more
(http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/6218/spohnmaybach.jpg) (http://img716.imageshack.us/i/spohnmaybach.jpg/)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
Spohn Maybach SW 38 / 42 1950
(http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/6761/mybachspohn.jpg) (http://img39.imageshack.us/i/mybachspohn.jpg/)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
Spohn Maybach SW 38 / 42 1950
(http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/64/maybachtypsw38medium277.jpg) (http://img19.imageshack.us/i/maybachtypsw38medium277.jpg/)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
MAYBACH Typ SW 38 "Ponton" Cabriolet by Spohn 1948
Has someone more information on that Alfa Romeo Spohn?
Is the Veritas shown in PJ's post the same car with a near horizontal grille added to aid cooling? All other features of the car appear identical and the photo is even shot at the identical angle as if to aid the comparison.
Quote from: StillOutThere on June 05, 2010, 09:22:44 AM
Is the Veritas shown in PJ's post the same car with a near horizontal grille added to aid cooling? All other features of the car appear identical and the photo is even shot at the identical angle as if to aid the comparison.
They are presented as 2 different cars in the article I found. The 2nd is pale turquoise.
Quote from: 75america on June 05, 2010, 01:26:26 AM
Has someone more information on that Alfa Romeo Spohn?
I will be very happy to have them...
1950 Pontiac Convertible :
Back in the early 80's, I bought a nice '69 Olds Cutlass convertible that was in pretty good shape, but needed a new top. I went to an auto restoration shop in North Dallas, Texas. In their shop was a Spohn roadster. I've never seen a picture of it, but some of the ones in this post come very close. It was red, and it had a front end similar to the Packard one with the square headlight openings. It also had cylindrical plexiglass coverings over the headlights. It had the typical rear end that Spohns had, but it also had cutdown doors. I don't remember if it was a 2 or 4 seater, but if it was a 4 seater, the rears were very small. It was very long, and very low. The owner told me that it had either a Chrysler frame and a Buick engine, or the other way around. The only way I knew it was a Spohn (I didn't even hear of Spohn at the time) was that it had "Spohn" on the hubcaps.
I'll keep my eyes open and an ear to the ground for the Spohn custom potentially still here in Texas, I promise you!
Quote from: StillOutThere on July 26, 2010, 11:37:49 AM
I'll keep my eyes open and an ear to the ground for the Spohn custom potentially still here in Texas, I promise you!
Well, I doubt it 's still around, but it may be. It had been stored there a long time, and was covered with dirt. One of the headlight covers was broken as well. That's how I noticed that they were plastic. The first time I went there, it was out on Valley View Ln. in Farmers Branch, and the second time I saw it was about 5 years later when the shop move over onto Stemmons Freeway in Farmers Branch or Carrollton. I don't remember the name of the shop but it was owned by a woman by the name of Shirley Applewhite. That name may ring a bell with any fellow Texas classic car enthusiasts.
Quote from: K5ING on July 29, 2010, 03:33:15 PM
Quote from: StillOutThere on July 26, 2010, 11:37:49 AM
I'll keep my eyes open and an ear to the ground for the Spohn custom potentially still here in Texas, I promise you!
Well, I doubt it 's still around, but it may be. It had been stored there a long time, and was covered with dirt. One of the headlight covers was broken as well. That's how I noticed that they were plastic. The first time I went there, it was out on Valley View Ln. in Farmers Branch, and the second time I saw it was about 5 years later when the shop move over onto Stemmons Freeway in Farmers Branch or Carrollton. I don't remember the name of the shop but it was owned by a woman by the name of Shirley Applewhite. That name may ring a bell with any fellow Texas classic car enthusiasts.
Thank you. That greases a start-up. Now I have something to go on. The wheels are in motion.........
Finally I can post it here:
The 1949 L.L. Lepoix designed Packard Eight for General Marie-Pierre Koenig built by C.R.A.S. and Spohn:
(http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=12375.0;id=15154;image)
I found another couple of examples of Spohn coachwork - both built on earlier chassis.
The first is a Horch 853 Cabriolet from 1938 bodied by Spohn in 1950.
and the second is a Maybach Typ SW42 of 1940 - bodied by Spohn in 1949
Similar to the Maybach posted earlier but note the wrap-around windscreen and the additional embellishment under the door line.
I don't believe we've had this one yet, another Veritas
That is interesting...
From the Spohn book:
Wow, thank you!
I have that VW too, but it seems like an edited photo of the open version on page 1? They seem identical other than the roof.
With my first 640x480 pixel digicam, I´ve photographed this around 1997 from an old Hobby magazine:
Quote from: barrett on October 10, 2010, 06:35:00 AM
I have that VW too, but it seems like an edited photo of the open version on page 1? They seem identical other than the roof.
They even have the same registration plate...
And yet there´s even more information I´ve found in an old book.
It shows the making of the plastic body of the Spohn VW:
Yet another picture of the Valkyrie Cadillac V8 by Spohn, seen in 1954 at the Paris auto show:
Quote from: barrett on October 10, 2010, 06:35:00 AM
I have that VW too, but it seems like an edited photo of the open version on page 1? They seem identical other than the roof.
I guess it may have had a hardtop - look how all the windows have full frames, usually that indicates some kind of a rolldach or hardtop to be fitted.
Interesting thread for sure, but I think this Spohn's cars are like looking at a vintage JC Whitney catalog turned up to eleven.
Many styling elements added for the sake of seemingly random ornimentation with little regard to how these pieces flow with the rest of the car.
Worse eye for proportion than many back yard '50s customizers, allthough some of the Maybachs I can dig though.
While I don't think the quality of Spohn's work has ever been disputed, a lot of the designs are certainly of questionable taste. "Ugly" may be too strong a word, and in each case it has to be remembered that it was probably just what the customer wanted. Taken in context of the time in which they were constructed, the LeSabre-esque tails and heavily-chromed fronts represent what was then considered "forward thinking". Today, it just looks strange. While it would seem that the words "tasteful" and "restrained" did not appear in the Spohn lexicon, they did in fact build some very nice, simple designs if that's what the customer wanted.
In any case, they have always represented one of the more interesting footnotes to the custom body story. Thanks to all who have shared the photos of cars that we all, at the very least, have to acknowledge as "interesting".
#6
I´ve had the luck to purchase an original 1967 Maybach FIF (= Fahrzeuginstandsetzung Friedrichshafen / former Zeppelin AG) press photo, which shows TT-AP 80, the former Brunner-Schwer car and the other TT-AP 81 Spohn car, then owned by the Mercedes Museum:
Wow!
Thank You.
@Otto: I'd like to know more about that batmobile too...
I'm trying to discern more. I'll keep you posted. :)
This 1953 green Spohn (apparently) Ford roadster is curently for sale:
(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g106/pan1968/0035_4_lg.jpg)
(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g106/pan1968/0035_7_lg.jpg)
(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g106/pan1968/0035_6_lg.jpg)
(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g106/pan1968/0035_2_lg.jpg)
(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g106/pan1968/0035_5_lg.jpg)
Lee Roy Hartung, owner of the museum of automobilia north of Chicago, Illinois, has passed away. Amongst the huge variety of inventory was the 1949 Veritas chassis with coach built body by Spohn which included the GM LeSabre-like tail which became almost a trademark of Spohn customs. Mrs. Hartung is quoted as saying everything is for sale.
Pics of the Hartung '49 Veritas by Spohn attached.
The Hartung collection, including the Veritas by Spohn will be auctioned November 2011.
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2011/09/06/hartung-collection-to-go-to-auction/
http://auctionsamerica.com/events/event.cfm?SaleCode=LH11
A better pic of the Spohn Messerschmidt P-511 and its unusual engine:
Quote from: Allemano on July 10, 2011, 01:15:27 PM
This 1953 green Spohn (apparently) Ford roadster is curently for sale:
(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g106/pan1968/0035_4_lg.jpg)
Two more picture of that '52 Spohn-Ford
As seen here:
http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=3955.0
;D
Quote from: Otto Puzzell on December 14, 2011, 05:25:34 PM
As seen here:
http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=3955.0
;D
Ooops,
I didn't see them...
MPC
Full magazine page of the VW
Did we have this Spohn-bodied Caddy engined Ford chassis before?
There is a red one pictured on the first page of this thread. If not the same car, it's this one's twin.
Ah, sure, thank you. I think white was the better color for this one...
A pint of Mr. Griffin's elixir in the tank might do the trick. :D
The most recent white Spohn Custom photo can NOT be the red car still for sale in the Dezer Museum in Florida, US. The white car has a split flat windshield which perhaps can be opened for ventilation considering how high the gasket and glass frame appear to be riding on the sheet metal. The Dezer car has a one-piece curved glass. This is a new car to a spreadsheet of postwar Spohn Customs that I maintain.
Noteworthy in the white car picture are the two newest presumably used cars: a '55 Chevrolet Nomad and a '55 Oldsmobile Holiday hardtop. Does anyone think that is an early round body Ford Falcon pointing away, immediately behind the right rear fin of the Spohn? Dezer claims their car is a 1957.
It is true the Dezer red car does have Cadillac power (though the collection has never verified that with photography).
The new white Spohn Custom may be the car in this very fuzzy, distant black and white photo which also appears to have a windshield divider bar and is referred to as a Ford V8 chassis. Color and wheel ornamentation would had to have been changed of course. And the side horizontal aluminum trim would have been lost to the repainter (as it was on my own Spohn Custom).
the Spohn Veritas of reply #16 (Veritas_2, with the grille on the hood) was sold for € 143.800,-
Something new:
on an old HD-drive I´ve found this scan I must have made pre 1999, when I had to sell my whole and complete 1950-1959 ams-collection because I needed the money... :P
It shows a 1957 Jaguar Coupé conversion, conducted by Spohn, too:
Ouch!
Looks like 300SL side vents and I really want to know what this strange hood ornament is...
Isn't that the jaguar in an odd position, crossing the hood?
:o
I fear you´re right!!!
A very strange "styling first" so to say...
1957 would mean it must be one of the very last cars converted by Spohn. Maybe that crosswise Jaguar was their last creative output...
It´s been a 1957 Auto Motor + Sport magazine where I´ve found it back in ´99.
The conversion job itself might have been older of course...
Hi
I'm LE ZEBRE. A French car collector and i searching informations because I found a few year ago a CITROEN TRACTION 11 BL with a special SPOHN coachbuilding needing a complete restoration. you will find some photos.
(I'm sorry for my basic english)
Very interesting news!!
Is there an official Spohn badge/plate you can show us?
Comment: It is not uncommon, depending on what facts are known on a Spohn Custom, to either refer to the car either by the year and make of the chassis or to call is a 19__ Spohn, referencing the year Spohn did the body work. Still, the attributes of the Jaguar in question and the background cars could easily indicate that a 1957 Jaguar chassis was the basis for Spohn's 1957 coachbuild.
For consideration: perhaps the Jaguar cat was connected to the hood/bonnet latching mechanism and turned 90o for release. Having been left that way may have been the cause for the photographer to take the photo.
Question: what year is your Citroen Traction 11B chassis of your Spohn coachbuild? Was in bodied when new or re-bodied in a later year? The frontal appearance is of some other '40s Spohn builds. How is the car titled? Do you know of other Spohn-Cits?
The CITROEN is 1938 11 LEGERE body and the coachbuiding was a special order from Mr CASTOR the first owner.
Mr CASTOR was a French Army captain and met Mr EIWANGER the director after the WWII.
Mr EIWANGER made for Mr CASTOR 2 cars, this CITROEN and a OPEL SUPER SIX with a trailer for each car in 1948 - 1949.
I dont' have the plate SPOHN on the car but i own the drawing of the OPEL and a letter from SPOHN KAROSSERIE.
:thumbsup:
It would be great to find any pics of those trailers mentioned...
Indeed, a trailer by Spohn could be very interesting.
Sir, do you have the #2364 sketch of the Opel?
I have attempted with the help of Google translater to create text in English. Change suggestions?
Hermann Spohn Karosseriebau
25/10/48
Monsieur A. Castor
Chateau Pierrefaite
Haute Marne /France
I have the honor to send you the attached sketch No. 2364 showing you your car OPEL. I beg you to please write me if you agree we can start the work or if you still want to change. Also it interests me to know if the spare tire remains of Ehor not care or if put in the trunk.
While waiting for your answer please, Mr. accept the assurances of my highest consideration.
Hermann Spohn
ppa. J. Eiwanger
It must say "if the spare tire remains outside or has to be put in the trunk".
the Citroen trailer
citroen trailer photo 2
Eiwanger's questioning of where to put the spare lead to an additional contract for a beautifully detailed, skirted luggage trailer! Marvelous! Wonderful!
1950 Pontiac chassis with Spohn carosserie. Would have been crafted after the 1951 introduction of the GM Le Sabre (tail) and '51 GM XP300 (grille)
What a trailer... riding with style!
:thumbsup:
Another pic of Karl Maybach with some of his creations. Left is the Spohn-bodied "TT AP 80":
A slightly better view of the Veritas I posted on page 2
And another one
Approximate 1955 Spohn Custom built on a 1947 Cadillac chassis for Charles (Chuck) Justice of Gainesville, Virginia. Mr. Justice, a private citizen, shipped his Cad to Spohn requesting custom coachwork and specifying particular design elements. Obviously one aspect was the front end mimicking Brook's Stevens' Die Valkyrie which Spohn had completed for the 1954 Paris Auto Show. When done the car was shipped back to Mr. Justice. In the early 1970s the car appeared on a used car lot in that city where these photographs were taken by David S. Henderson. Has anyone seen the car more recently?
The red '57 Spohn "Cruiser" presumed '39 Ford chassis, formerly of the Florida Dezer Collection is now owned by Wayne Carini, in Portland, Connecticut.
The white '49 Spohn Veritas formerly of the Chicago, Illinois Hartung Collection is now owned by Dale Walksler, Wheels Through Time museum in South Carolina.
The pair are scheduled to appear at the Amelia Island concours in March of 2013.
The '52 Spohn "Palos", my car and photographs attached here, will be part of a "Finned Flights of Fancy" exhibition at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles beginning February, 2013 and ending Feb. 2014. The car will be shown unrestored.
:thumbsup:
SPOHN CUSTOM ENTHUSIASTS
For those interested in reading about the post WWII cars with coachbuilt custom bodies on American car chassis by the Spohn Carosserie, there is now a page on Facebook.
Photo albums and information regarding individual Spohn Customs are being posted.
Upcoming events are available in the "Events" tab at top of the page under the banner.
The personal perspective of the page administrator, myself, flavors the time line.
Comments are welcome.
Please "Like" the page if you visit and do like it.
<<< link removed >>>
What's that you say? Are requesting permission to promote your own site by virtue of the community we've built here since 2006?
It is not a web site. It is merely a Facebook page. It has a welcome to Auto Puzzles visitors and links to the Auto Puzzles Spohn forum. I would have thought the mutual promotion good for all.
That was added after you posted here; thank you for adding it.
We'll add your site to the AutoPuzzles friends page.
All, here is the Spohn page link:
www.facebook.com/SpohnCustomEnthusiasts
Quote from: Otto Puzzell on December 05, 2012, 11:20:02 AM
That was added after you posted here; thank you for adding it.
We'll add your site to the AutoPuzzles friends page.
All, here is the Spohn page link:
www.facebook.com/SpohnCustomEnthusiasts
Thank you, Sir.
Done!
http://www.autopuzzles.com/Friends.htm
:thumbsup:
Another Spohn Custom has been identified as a 1941 Lincoln chassis. Spohn's build year is not known but probably '52-54 period. When last seen in 1956, at the time of these photos, the car was in Vandalia, Illinois and was powered by a Oldsmobile OHV8. If you have seen the car the nephew and niece of that '50s owner are trying to find the car.
Oh yes! What a nice find!
What could be a good interior to match with that car? Zebra!
Another owner's choice. There were two USAF buddies that bought wrecked Veritas and had Spohn rework them. They went to Africa and did a safari on R&R, brought back the skins, had the cars done. The survivor was interviewed about a dozen years ago with the story. The car you have pictured currently owned by Dale Walksler and was in the Hartung collection. It has some remnants of the zebra but most was replaced.
Update to restoration of the '52 Spohn Palos. Body repairs completed and car is painted back to its original color. Front medallion located for the car. Much other progress.