Vehicle Description
This is a one-off 1937 German-bodied Ford, redesigned by Steve's
Auto Restorations (SAR) in Portland, OR, and recreated into an
elegant one-of-a-kind street rod consuming some 15,000 man-hours to
produce. This Roadster d' Elegance winner began life as an original
Koel custom coach-built 1937 Ford Cabriolet A by Karl Deutsch. The
1937 Ford chassis was first shipped to Grue & Company, a Ford
dealership in Copenhagen, Denmark, then sent on to Deutsch, where
an extensive custom one-only body sheet-metal fabrication was
required in the build. Very little of the original body remains,
such as the rear fenders, the top of the hood, the top reveal lines
of the body and the upper portions of the doors. The lift-off top
was hand-fabricated from aluminum. The interior was finished in
hand-chosen furniture-grade leather, and there is a hand-formed and
painted steel console that runs from the dash through the interior
into the back seat area. The original German gauges were upgraded
to 12-volt with modern components to marry up to the 514ci Ford SVO
racing engine. Rumor has it that in 1937 Baron Von Kuhl and his
wife the Baroness, known as "The Ice Princess," saw this car while
on vacation in Copenhagen, purchased it on the spot and promptly
sent it to Herr Frisbie Fabrikation in Germany, where he proceeded
to turn it into Germany's first street rod. The Von Kuhls founded
the Klub Schness Street Rods of Germany in 1938. For a short time,
they enjoyed shows, wandering and carousing with their fellow club
members. However, the club fell out of favor with the German ruling
party because they had "too much fun" and their car had won Best of
Show honors over the vehicles of several members of the party at
the time. In addition, and unknown to party members, Von Kuhl was
aiding the Allies through the acquisition of top-secret maps and
other vital information. The Von Kuhls had to hide the car and
escape to France, with evidence found in the car that seems to back
up this claim. These items have been restored, along with the car
itself. Unfortunately, the building hiding the car (behind a false
wall) was bombed. The Von Kuhls never made it back to Germany. What
was left of the car was taken out to the country and stored with
many other avant-garde European classics by a local farmer.
Eventually, the 1937 Ford was sold and ended up in Switzerland. The
owner of Steve's Auto Restorations found it there while on a
sightseeing trip after taking metal working classes at the Echold
Kraftformer Co. He purchased the car and had it shipped to the
U.S., where the restoration and restyling of this all-metal work of
art commenced in 2000. Comes with a build book. **TITLE IN
TRANSIT**
