Muntz Jet - no-frills luxury sports car from the jet age

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Muntz Jet - no-frills luxury sports car from the jet age

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Created on April 21, 2020

Text:

Daniel Koch

Photos:

Courtesy of RM Sotheby's

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Darin Schnabel - Courtesy of RM Sotheby's

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Erik Fuller

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Courtesy Bonhams

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Archiv

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Muntz Jet (1953) - Muntz lost around USD 1000 on each of the then USD 5500 cars, production was too expensive

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Muntz Jet (1953) - A comparatively straightforward design for the fifties

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Muntz Jet (1953) - Extensive watch collection

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Muntz Jet (1953) - The rear seat was more suitable for small passengers

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Muntz Jet (1953) - V8 engine in a tidy engine compartment

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Muntz Jet (1952) - Elaborate convertible top

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Muntz Jet (1952) - The psychedelic background is probably more recent than the Muntz

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Muntz Jet (1952) - The rear is reminiscent of a Chapron DS

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Muntz Jet (1952) - Luxurious interior with upholstered dashboard

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Muntz Jet (1952) - Extensive watch collection

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Muntz Jet (1952) - V8 engine from Lincoln

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Muntz Jet (1953) - At the Chicago Yacht Club, Belmont Av.

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Muntz Jet (1953) - Luxury at 4.60 meters in length

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Muntz Jet (1953) Touted as a luxury sports car

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Muntz Jet (1953) - proved to be a very reliable car after millions of kilometers in customer ownership

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Muntz Jet (1953) Exclusive body on self-supporting chassis

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Muntz Jet (1953) - Customer vehicles are said to have proven their reliability over millions of kilometers (1953)

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Muntz Jet (1954) - on the occasion of the 1954 Brussels Motor Show

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Kurtis 500S (1956) - as lot 206 at the RM/Sotheby's auction in Monterey on August 13 - 15, 2015

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Kurtis 500 Swallow Coupé by Allied (1955) - The body was modeled on the Cisitalia 202

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Jaguar XK 120 (1953) - Brochure illustration

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Jaguar XK 120 S.E. (1955) - without spats, but with wire wheels

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Summary

In the USA, they were known as "personal luxury cars", a class of luxurious, large-volume vehicles that were often somewhat eccentric. The Muntz Jet was probably one of the first to establish this type of vehicle. We tell the story of this rare luxury liner and show it in current and historical photos, as well as in the sales literature of the time.

This article contains the following chapters

Successful sports car manufacturer
Opinion from Switzerland
The trade press tests
Luxury GT
Statement from the eighties

Estimated reading time: 4min

Preview (beginning of the article)

The engineer Earl William Muntz was a shrewd businessman and made his fortune after the Second World War selling cars, car radios and televisions. At the end of the 1940s, he created the "Jet", one of the first "personal luxury cars", as the exclusive small-series vehicles were called at the time. For the design, he commissioned none other than the successful Frank Kurtis, whose racing cars had already celebrated victories in American racing in the 1930s. Kurtis was now to build a luxury vehicle that not only took its name from the "jet age", but also adapted elements of jet aircraft in its design. Kurtis went on to build successful sports cars such as the 500 Swallow Coupé , whose shape was based on the Cisitalia 202 .

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