Hi there HAMBers! I got some old issues of american car & Hot Rod mags from Mike Lange (Hot Heads East/germany). In this mags there are stories of a german couch builder named Spohn. Some american soldiers stationed in germany in the 50ies brought their american cars to Spohn to customize it. I´ve scanned the articles, just klick here to see them: Klick SPOHN Now my question: Does anybody of you now something about this cars? What happened to them? Is there anyone still around?
That doesn´t matter. I just want to get some more infos about it...that they are ugly i know myself I´m just wondering that nobody knows anything about them...
Yes, I know of one Spohn custom still around. Your link to your Spohn album is no longer working. I would enjoy seeing what you have ***embled. I have temporarily lost track of this Lincoln/Mercury but I have been following this car for about 45 years. PM also sent.
I have located The Spohn Palos custom and am the new owner. It is built on a 1940 Ford ch***is and has an early Y-block installed.
Hey , Congrats on your purchase of the Spohn roadster Kustoms built outside the U.S. didn't fit into the tight little world most think of when they think of kustoms today, and that's a good thing I'm trying to find a picture of the french built Salmson roadster that looked like Harly Earl's " Le Sabre '' show car. It's interesting that Spohn was still in business as late as 1956! What are your plans for your new kustom? Thanks for the pictures. " Humpty Dumpty was pushed "
Thanks, European Sport Customs are a complimentary breed to our US Kustoms and I'd suggest you look around at KustomRama and specifically here: http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?***le=Spohn . Don't hesitate to contact Sondre, webmaster with questions. Also, sending you a PM I have to get this home and give it a thorough inspection before making a plan.
Congratulations Wayne. Did the fact of the word Palos have anything to do with your purchase ? That would look good next to Ina Mae.
Hey Larry, Any chance the " PALOS '' as in the Spohn Palos is from your woodpile Maybe a bit of a reach? Any word on the Buick kustom project you'd like to share " Jack of all trades, master of none-but what a jack "
Palos connection: The car was built in '53 in Ravensburg, Germany. Unless I can find the first owner, I will not be able to find out if it spent any time at all in Germany. My hunch is it pretty well came straight to Chicago. I first saw the car on a driveway on McCarthy Rd. in Palos Park, Illinois, in 1957. I've looked up that property and the house was constructed in 1956. The car likely moved in with the occupants of the new house for it to be out in the spring of '57. And I saw it there the following year and possibly '59 also. Next heard of it from a school buddy whose father now owned it and it had moved three miles west in Palos Park to Wolf Road. I took photos of it when I got to his house with my new driver's license in 1964. At that time it was in disrepair and had been painted green and one photo shows a 1963 license plate. It stayed in that garage until the mid 1980s when it was sold to California. So perhaps its full driving life and storage to ~'85 was in Palos Park, Illinois. I think its absolutely appropriate to identify the make and "model" of this car as the Spohn Palos. By the way, Palos was the small port city in Spain from which Christopher Columbus set off on his first voyage to America.
Anyone have a dealership advertising piece, specifically looking for a license frame, from "Spohn Ford" near Pittsburg, PA?
Hey Wayne, From what I've read, coachbuilder Spohn of Ravensburg Germany, did ''some'' business in post war Germany building kustoms for U.S. G.Is. stationed in Germany. Maybe there's a connection there for the original owner who commisioned the build? Pink pearl huh? '' Meanwhyle, back onboard The Tainter Pork "
Yes, I fully expect there will be a ranking US military man at the top of the ownership chain for this car. And I expect that he built the house in Palos Park after returning from occupation by our forces rebuilding Germany. Yes, there is a book that I have yet to find to purchase that shows quite probably this same car when Spohn finishished it. The book chronicles the Karosseriebau's builds of Maybach bodies and covers much more. This photo shows the car in a very light, bright color (possibly pink pearl???) but with a very dark lower (possibly black to match the cabrio roof?). Now pink and black with blackwall tires would be quite '50s, don't you think?
Wayne , There is an old timer here in Palos named DeNovi who is an avid old car collector and has several noteable old cl***ics . To the best of my knowledge he is still around. Could he or the Palos Park Historical society be helpful to you . I know there is photo collection of Palos through the years and there could be things hidden in the ba*****t storage rooms. The library is only a couple of hundred feet from the house . I can make an inquiry for you if you would like .
Is BOB DeNovo, former landscape contractor, still alive? My goodness, I worked alongside him 4 decades ago, went to school with his daughter, Kathy (cute!!!). Almost used his '37 Cadillac Model 60 convertible sedan in my wedding but it refused to run that day! I would be VERY surprised if there is anything in photos /library. If you talk to Bob please give him a big Howdy from me. I do have an address for the '56 built house on McCarthy if there is anyway to look up ownership records from those late '50s dates. THANKS!!!
Bob DeNovo was honored a couple of weeks ago by the village on his 90th birthday. http://palos.patch.com/articles/lifelong-palos-park-resident-turns-90#video-6579044 Could you PM me the address. There are a couple of other Palos Parkers that may know something helpful.
Here is a pic from the Nov '53 Motor Trend article on Spohn. This shows the ordering process that US service men would go through to contract the Spohn coach building firm to customize the car they brought in. Look at Spohn's detail sketches. Choose design elements they liked. Have a composite sketch made related to their car. Okay the sketch and probably leave a deposit. Have the work done on the car.
Wayne This pic is quite interesting to me in regards to the Overman Lincoln. I tend to see some similarity in the way the continental kit is being incorporated into the design .
'41 Packard customized by Spohn in the early '50s. The car is currently in Australia being restored. It took Spohn seven months to do the car.
'47 Oldsmobile by Spohn, again done in the early '50s. Yeah, no argument it looks like the contemporary Packard but it started out as a '47 Olds!
If anyone can identify the magazine this article was originally in, please post. Article seems to say it is a '41 Ford ch***is. Again it would have been built early to mid '50s. Who has this Texas custom with lift-off hardtop today?
How about this chopped, channeled, sectioned '50 Oldsmobile custom by Spohn? It was done for a Major James Price. It must be out there. Where?
The Jalopy Journal
