The forgotten Swiss special bodies of Willy Bernath
Swiss coachbuilders are currently on display in an exhibition at the Pantheon in Basel. However, one of these coachbuilders is missing in Basel. It is Willy Bernath, three of whose cars still exist and are known, namely a Jaguar SS 100 from 1938, an Alfa Romeo 1750 Kompressor from 1933, which is in the Walter Grell Museum in Rheinfelden, and a Citroën 11CV from 1938, which was rebuilt in 1944 and is part of the collection of the Garage Du Pont in Berlin .
The Garage Du Pont is located directly on the Glienecker Bridge, in the middle of which exchanges of people took place during the Cold War, when KGB prisoners were exchanged for imprisoned GDR citizens.
The Citrën Traction 11B with the Carbriolet bodywork by Bernath exhibited in Berlin was built in 1944 for an Arab prince, but remained in Geneva until the end of the Second World War and was finally bought by the husband of Countess De Castillon, who used the car exclusively for local transportation in the Geneva area. In the early 1960s, Dr. Jean Tua bought the car and restored it. In 2005, the Citroën was auctioned off and ended up in Berlin.
Note: An extensive article with historical pictures about the rich oeuvre of Willy Bernath will be published on Zwischengas in the next few weeks.
