The Porsche 356 is a sports car that was first produced by Austrian company Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH (1948–1949), and then by German company Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH (1950–1965). It was Porsche's first production automobile. Earlier cars designed by the Austrian company include Cisitalia Grand Prix race car, the Volkswagen Beetle, and Auto Union Grand Prix cars.
Giovanni Michelotti was one of the most prolific designers of sports cars in the 20th century. His notable contributions were for Ferrari, Lancia, Maserati and Triumph marques. He was also associated with truck designs for Leyland Motors, and with designs for British Leyland after the merger of Leyland and BMC.
Wilhelm Karmann GmbH, commonly known as Karmann, was a German automobile manufacturer and contract manufacturer based in Osnabrück, Germany. Founded by Wilhelm Karmann in 1901, the company specialised in various automotive roles, including design, production and assembly of components for a wide variety of automobile manufacturers, including Chrysler, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen Group.
The Ford Del Rey is a midsized car produced by Ford do Brasil in Brazil from 1981 to 1991. It was a successor to the Ford Landau as the flagship model of the lineup and to the higher priced versions of the popular Ford Corcel II. Like the Corcel II, the Del Rey was designed exclusively for Brazil, but was sold in Chile, Venezuela, Uruguay, and Paraguay, as well.
The Opel Ascona is a large family car that was produced by the German automaker Opel from 1970 to 1988. It was produced in three separate generations, beginning with rear-wheel-drive and ending up as a front-wheel drive J-car derivative. The Ascona was developed to fill the gap in the Opel range as the Opel Rekord was gradually growing in size.
A coachbuilder or body-maker is a person or company who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles. Coachwork is the body of an automobile, bus, horse-drawn carriage, or railway carriage. The word "coach" was derived from the Hungarian town of Kocs. A vehicle body constructed by a coachbuilder may be called a "coachbuilt body" or "custom body".
Henri Chapron was a prominent French automobile coachbuilder. His carrosserie, created in 1919, was located in the Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret.
The Mercedes-Benz W111 was a chassis code given to a range of Mercedes-Benz vehicles produced between 1959 and 1971, including four-door saloons (1959–1968) and two-door coupés and cabriolets (1961–1971). Their bodywork featured distinctive tailfins that gave the models their Heckflosse nickname — German for "fintail".
The Audi Coupé is a liftback coupé version of the Audi 80, first shown in 1980. The bodywork was shared with the Audi Quattro. The second generation Coupé arrived in late 1988 and was based on the B3 Audi 80, albeit with a different suspension. The Coupé remained in production until the end of 1996 and spawned the Audi S2 series of sports versions. A convertible model arrived in 1991, called simply the Cabriolet, and remained in production until 2000.
The Škoda Rapid is a fastback coupé designed and built by AZNP in Czechoslovakia between 1984 and 1990. Based on the rear-engined Škoda 105 120 and 130 saloon, it was a replacement for the Škoda Garde coupe built between 1981 and 1984 itself based upon the Škoda 105/120 sedan design, which was also called the Rapid in the UK market. Some Garde/Rapid cars were sent to Ludgate Design & Development in Kent, United Kingdom, by Škoda to be converted into convertibles.
The Borgward Isabella is an automobile which was manufactured by the Bremen based auto-manufacturer Carl F. W. Borgward GmbH from 1954 to 1962.
The BMW 501 was a luxury car manufactured by BMW from 1952 to 1958. Introduced at the first Frankfurt Motor Show in 1951, the 501 was the first BMW model to be manufactured and sold after the Second World War, and as the first BMW car built in Bavaria. The 501 and its derivatives, including the V8 powered BMW 502, were nicknamed “Baroque Angels” by the German public. The BMW 502 was the first postwar German car to be manufactured with a V8 engine.
Saoutchik was a French coachbuilding company founded in 1906 and based in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris. The company was one of the best-known coachbuilders in France in the 1920s and 1930s and, together with Figoni et Falaschi and Franay, is considered one of the most important representatives of the "Baroque" style in French coachwork in the 1930s and 1940s.
Carrosserie Hermann Graber, simply known as Graber was a Swiss coachbuilder based in Wichtrach. Between 1927 and 1970 the firm supplied coach-built bodies for fitting on the chassis of various European and US auto-makers. Graber had a particularly close relationship with the British firm of Alvis, providing the manufacturer with bespoke and elegant if expensive bodies for almost twenty years, mostly during the 1950s and 1960s.
Sipani Automobiles Ltd. was an Indian car manufacturer established in 1973, located in Bangalore. They mainly manufactured subcompact cars with fibreglass bodies. They also took over Auto Tractors Limited in 1991 and manufactured diesel engines and tractors in the old ATL factory in Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh.
Karosserie Friedrich Rometsch, a German metallurgical-coachbuilding company based in Berlin-Halensee, Nestorstrasse 41, manufactured, modified, and repaired coaches, trailers, bodies and chassis.
Carrosserie Worblaufen, F. Ramseier & Co. was a Swiss manufacturer of car bodies headquartered in Worblaufen near Bern from 1929 to 1958. The company is different to Carrosserie Ramseier in Bern and Biel.
Styling Garage was a coachbuilder and tuner near Hamburg, Germany, which operated from 1979 until 1986. SGS made extravagant and expensive designs, mainly based on the Mercedes-Benz W126 (S-class). More than half of their buyers came from the Arab world, with the remainder consisting mostly of American celebrities, Japanese businessmen, and African leaders.
Pichon-Parat was a French carrosserie based in the commune of Sens, in the department of Yonne. Established in 1952, it was known for producing custom cabriolet, coupé, estate car, and shooting brake conversions of established models from major automakers, and for building their own distinctive sporting models with completely original bodywork.
Antem Carrossier was a French coachbuilding company that, in the period between the world wars and a short time afterwards, produced one-off bodies for luxury car chassis, as well as some bodies in small series production.
