The year 2022 marks a very special anniversary for Nuremberg car dealer Fritz Neuser: on the one hand, he is celebrating his 90th birthday, and on the other, his dealership is 60 years old! If that's not a reason to celebrate! Fritz Neuser is considered to be the oldest car dealer in Germany, yet he can still be found every day at his business in Nuremberg's Röthensteig industrial estate, happily pursuing what he has been doing with great enthusiasm all his life: selling cars and making their owners happy.
Rise from two to twelve cylinders
The automotive career of Fritz Neuser, born in Nuremberg in 1932, began at the end of the 1950s with two cylinders, so to speak, when the young Fritz Neuser immediately became Germany's best "Goggomobil" salesman. His rise continued, as he was able to open his own car dealership at the Maxtor in Nuremberg at the beginning of the 1960s. From then on as an authorized dealer for Alfa Romeo, Fritz Neuser was not only a committed and successful salesman, but also equally successful in motor racing, winning over 52 victories for the Abarth, Porsche and Alfa Romeo brands between 1965 and 1969. "Auto Neuser" became a household name for automobile enthusiasts far beyond the borders of Franconia and Germany, grew accordingly and soon moved to Röthensteig in Nuremberg, where the black stallion from Maranello also arrived: Fritz Neuser became an official Ferrari dealer and soon advanced to become one of the top-selling Ferrari dealers in Germany. He looked after the cars of celebrities who became friends over the years, such as Luciano Pavarotti and Michael Schumacher.
Exclusive Auto Neuser parade at Retro Classics Bavaria 2022
Retro Classics Bavaria 2022 presents a cross-section of Fritz Neuser's automotive vita as part of an exclusive special show: a Goggomobil Coupé marks the beginning of his career, a heavily modified Alfa Romeo Spider "Styling by Neuser" shows the individuality of Auto Neuser, continuing with Ferrari: the most powerful and exclusive types of their time, all with twelve cylinders, can be admired in Nuremberg: three "flat boxers" (although it is not a true boxer engine but a V-engine with a bank angle of 180°) Ferrari with the 365 GT/4 Berlinetta Boxer, 512 BB (Berlinetta Boxer) and a 512 BBi (i for "iniezione" = injection) models. Production of the Ferrari 512 BBi came to an end in 1984, and its successor, also equipped with a twelve-cylinder engine with 390 hp, appeared in the form of the epoch-making Testarossa.
From the Fritz Neuser collection, Retro Classics Bavaria 2022 is showing all three production versions of the then and now breathtaking Testarossa with its unmistakable louvre design by Pininfarina: the Testarossa "Urtyp", its successor 512 TR (TR for "Testarossa"), now with 428 hp, and the final expansion stage of the Italian super sports car in the form of the 512 M (M for "Modificata" = modified), which puts 440 hp on the road and was only built 501 times - true automotive delicacies!
"There's no such thing as impossible" - Fritz Neuser develops individual vehicles for his customers
Off-the-peg cars are one thing, individual vehicles are the "salt in the soup" - Fritz Neuser also recognized this emerging trend, especially in the 1980s, and began to realize vehicles according to individual customer requirements, e.g. 36 Range Rovers, which were elaborately converted into hunting vehicles for falconry on behalf of the ruling Al Thani family from Qatar. Or a special series of the Alfa Romeo Spider, which was given a Neuser-style power makeover both externally and in terms of its engine: flared front and rear fenders to accommodate lavish 15-inch racing wheels in cross-spoke design and the spoilers that were obligatory at the time suggest from the outside alone that this is no ordinary Alfa Romeo Spider. But that's not all, there were also examples with a V8 engine with a displacement of 2.6 liters and 200 hp implanted from the Alfa Romeo Montreal, which catapulted the Spider up to 240 km/h - admire one of these Alfa Romeo Spiders "Styling by Neuser" exclusively at Retro Classics Bavaria in Nuremberg.
It all started with the desire to own his own bike - Fritz Neuser on two wheels
Before his rise to become a successful car dealer, Fritz Neuser's life was mainly characterized by two wheels: in 1947, when Nuremberg was in ruins, the then 15-year-old Fritz Neuser had a great wish: to own his own bicycle. Today an almost normal wish for a teenager, back then a utopia. But the resourceful Fritz signed up with the Herpersdorf cycling club and got his long-awaited bike "in a roundabout way". Fritz Neuser quickly took a liking to cycling, developed great ambition and his first major successes soon followed: in 1950, at the age of 18, Fritz Neuser won his first German championship title in the track four over 4000 meters. Further major titles were to follow: champion on the tandem in 1952, Germany's most successful amateur cyclist in 1953, team champion over 4000 meters in 1956 and participation in the Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, also in 1956. But it was in Melbourne, with his first international title in sight, that a decisive turning point in Fritz Neuser's life was to occur: a serious fall prevented him from winning a medal and Fritz Neuser, although still successfully racing in 1957, thought about his future. The decision was not an easy one, and yet Fritz Neuser found his new, equally successful vocation in the automobile.
