Vehicle Description
To be OFFERED AT AUCTION at Auctions America's Auburn Fall event,
August 31-3, 2017.
Chassis No.
1Z878AS402415
Estimate:
$ 40,000 - $ 60,000 US
Legendary Auburn, Cord, and Duesenberg designer Gordon Buehrig had
seen many of the world's most famous automobiles flow from his
artist's pencil over the decades. Yet he had never had his own name
on a car, something that his dear friend, prominent Detroit
businessman and collector Richard Kughn, decided to change in
celebration of Buehrig's 55th year in the automotive design field,
1979.
With the trend for 1930s-style "neoclassics" on modern drivetrains
at its peak, Buehrig and Kughn collaborated in the creation of the
Buehrig Carriage Roof Coupe. As noted in a tribute booklet
published by the ACD Automobile Museum in 1990, "it was designed by
Buehrig and was meant to combine luxury with race car sleekness in
the neo-classical style."
Three prototype Buehrigs were produced by Mr. Kughn's employees at
a shop in Farmington Hills, Michigan, using hand-laid fiberglass
bodies styled in a Cord vein, with headlamps blended into long,
flowing fenders around a "coffin nose." They were mounted on an
extended Corvette chassis with a 350-cubic-inch V-8 and
Turbo-Hydramatic transmission, and featured a luxuriously trimmed
interior. Each was intended to be sold for $130,000, but
unfortunately cost and insurance problems doomed the venture.
The first prototype Buehrig today resides in the ACD Automobile
Museum in Auburn, while the remaining two prototypes have remained
with Richard Kughn since new.
