We’ve covered a lot of seventies “schlockmobiles” here over the year, but I keep running into new ones. In this case, I rather wish I hadn’t actually. It never fails to amaze me what folks came up with in that decade; drugs must have been a major factor.
Who would think of taking an Opel GT body and doing this to it? I haven’t seen anything this bizarre even from Fuzzyman’s explorations into the realms of AI possibilities. Or maybe he could, with the right prompts? “Opel GT, pimpmobile, schlock, 1970s, tasteless, 1930s front end…”.
The front end. It does remind me a bit of some 1930’s aerodynamic prototypes.
This 1934 Mercedes 150H coupe is what came to mind, but it looks pretty tame in comparison.
And here’s the tail, for your viewing pleasure. Somebody tell me this isn’t for real, please.
Designed by Ernie Kanzler Jr., whose father was a Ford exec back in the day. You can see some late ‘30s Lincoln influence in the front-end design, if you squint. More info in Hemmings’ archives…
We worked on a large tugboat that Ernie Kanzler was converting to a yacht Sea Lion There was to be a horse stable on the upper deck where some miracle was to happen. Anyway bizarre story, he got it 90 percent finished and quit. I had heard that he had built an auto. He was an unique man.
Coincidentally, “Kanzler” is also the German word for “Chancellor” – what Germany calls its head of state – a fitting name for a luxury car based on an Opel body (even with American chassis and drivetrain).
Even so, I couldn’t picture Olaf Scholz or Angela Merkel driving one of these.
Are those touring lamps from a 1980 – ’83 Continental Mark VI?
I feel sorry for the Opel GT body that was sacrificed for this abomination.
Folks make fun of the GT as a mini Corvette, but I always felt they were very cool.
The GT were VERY cool and like a miniVette, and very quick, handled MUCH better than a Vette. I was a dmv examiner in Los Gato$ Ca,so there were lots of very neato cars to see and experience~°-°~
It’s hard to figure out just how many of these were built, but undoubtedly far fewer than the 250 projected when the car was introduced in 1979. It appears that a bunch of unfinished Kanzler Coupes were auctioned off in 1982, so one assumes the experiment didn’t go well.
Kanzler originally pegged the sales price to be $72,000 (a whopping $300,000 in today’s dollars), though in 1980 the price was lowered to $52,000.
Wonder if any exist, greenhouse looks like a Porsche, rest of it is out there man…!!!
My taste has been called into question before, so do not be stunned when I say “That red one looks pretty sweet”. Maybe it’s the angle…..
Certainly would garner lots of attention at Cars n Coffee!
It looks as if the the body is quite a bit higher off the ground than the original (Opel GT). I’m guessing this sits on top of a frame which is adding four to six inches?
It is ghastly though, it sort of reminds me of buses or vans where the greenhouse of another vehicle was grafted onto its original roof, of which we’ve seen plenty of here during the years.
I bet you are correct. I’ll add that given the 120″ wheelbase and the 62+ inches of track, it’s sitting on a full size chassis. I can’t see them custom building a chassis to get the wheels out that far.
From what I can tell, the Kanzler Coupe was advertised as sitting on a Mercury Cougar chassis – but what’s puzzling is that the Cougar’s wheelbase in 1979 was 114″. Even the Cougar sedan’s wheelbase wasn’t quite 120″ (it was 118″). I suppose it could have been lengthened for the Kanzler design, but that seems like an whole lot of unnecessary hassle (as if a 114″ wheelbase wasn’t enough for a two-seater??).
If you remember the Clenet, it was an old MG body that was refurbished and plunked down on I believe a Mark IV chassis. At first glance I thought that this car was one of Exner’s Ghia design studies.
There has been one for sale in the Los Angeles area lately.
Opel GTs are cool looking cars, that monstrosity is hard to look at.
A Pierce got frisky with a Type III Ghia.
Look like a car a comedic villain would drive in a movie or TV series. I don`t care what you say. I LIKE it!
A very strange design. Something I could see Mitsuoka making.
We worked on a large tugboat that Ernie Kanzler was converting to a yacht Sea Lion. There was to be a horse stable on the upper deck where some miracle was to happen. Anyway bizarre story. He got it 90 percent finished and quit. Story was he had a trust fund but would run out of money before the year. end. Heard that he built an auto, this is the first time seeing it. Bravo! He was an unique man.
I see Liberace owned a Kanzler with added bedazzlement in the form of a Jaguar grille; seems like an appropriate choice of car for the man…!
Speaking of the CC effect one of these is now for sale on eBay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/165731330772
Just saw the auction picked up on Barn Finds;
https://barnfinds.com/1-of-3-kanzler-coupe-project
Much of things you see here is incorrect there were six built. Two were built by quest in our shop. Four were built by Newport coach. Much more to that but not enough time now. I was the leader of the team that built the first two. We modified the cougar frame to get the wheel base we needed. Also added an x member. The first one had a 460 ford but all rest got 351s The cooling was problematic but we got it to work on hot summer days. The crew was a great group of guys and very talented. Ernie was fun to work with and was with us. All the way. It was a very trying time for all of us as we not only built the car but also all the jigs tooling molds that was needed for Newport coach to build them with semi skilled labor Sad to see some of them beat now but also proud to see that they held up so well
Hi Ken — I came across your comment from last year about the Kanzler Coupe builds at Quest and Newport.
I’m researching one of the surviving cars and your technical details stood out immediately. I’m not trying to sell anything or correct anyone — just trying to understand the history accurately.
If you’d be open to a brief conversation or a few questions at your convenience, I’d be very grateful. Either way, thank you for putting that information out there — it matters. Bill
Love my kanzler was white vin# 001 now it is purple (no I didn’t paint it) to see it going down the road you can go to u tube rides with jay Thomas season #4 episode#1 3rd car
I worked for Newport Coachworks when this first coupe was being made in a shop in Santa Ana, there were two offices ref Costa Mesa. I handled the front office and if I remember correctly, the chassis was extended. A plethora of reworks on the fabrication. I recall it being a burgundy color when they used it for a movie out on Linda or Lido isle at Ernie’s house. He wanted something to compete with the Excalibur but this was an epic failure. A few visionaries liked
the coupe and bought them. Ernie was a very nice guy, but easily taken advantage of. He was a dreamer.
I have Liberace’s Kanzler at my shop here in Raleigh NC. Located at On-Site Automotive. It is in fair shape and still runs and drives