We never know what to expect at Barn Finds when checking our tips tab, but recently reader Roger spotted something I’d never heard of before, although I’m guessing maybe a few of our readers probably have. Before your eyes here is a Kanzler Coupe, a car considered so fashionable by some that even the late pianist extraordinaire Liberace owned one. It’s confusing about how many were actually made, as a search seems to place the number as low as 2 and as high as 6. What does appear to be somewhat agreed upon is that there are 3 known survivors, including this one for sale here on eBay. Sadly, the Kanzler appears to be resting in a junkyard in Sun Valley, California, but you can rescue it for $10,399 if you feel so inclined.
Thanks for sharing this one with us Roger! Among other reasons for the low number of cars made may have been its price upon introduction around the late seventies, as they cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $70,000 when new, more than $250k in good old 2023 U.S. cash. Another was the quad combo of Kanzler being an unknown company at the time plus the triple-whammy of their offering consisting of three cars, including an Opel GT cabin, a Lincoln Chassis, and a 351 Ford V8. Looking around at the photos of this car, it’s kind of hard to tell what states of deterioration the various body panels are in, but some good news is that it seems to be fairly complete overall on the outside.
I’m kind of at a loss for words when it comes to the inside. It almost looks like the interior has either been baked, drowned, or both, but whatever happened is going to be a major headache for the next owner to try and get straightened out. It’s also hard to tell anything about the floor’s condition, but I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess not very good. But if you’ve got the skills to make the needed repairs, eventually you can be experiencing a ride few people other than one of the world’s most famous piano players ever got the chance to own.
It’s probably far-fetched to expect anything other than the 351 is probably going to need a complete overhaul, but at least it’s present and so is the transmission. There are no pictures from underneath, so there’s no telling what lurks down below that will require attention. But based on the car’s rarity and over-the-top design, maybe it’s worth saving, and there’s also the option to make your best offer if spending the asking price will cause you insomnia. What is a reasonable price to pay for what you’re seeing here?
“Rare” is good for cooking some foods, but in cooking up a restoration project it equals cubic buckets of dollars-someone’s going to get raked over the grill.
It was never finished, it was never registered, it never had a title and as it’s at a wrecking yard I would venture to guess the paperwork will be a bureaucratic nightmare-especially as it’s in one of the most bureaucratic US states one to express the most contempt for every form of ICE (unless it’s in their cocktail glass, but I digress..).
“Rare” and “Exclusive” are not always the same but yes this appears to be “rare”.
However, there are some few good reasons sometimes for something meeting that criteria.
Looks like it has the Opal GT disease.
Wow! Way ahead of its time, looks like Tim Burton’s Bat Mobile….FANTASTIC!!!
👍🤓
Straight outta a Dick Tracy movie. Or Rocketman.
it sold!!!
Hmm, very strange; that car has been on EBay for 3 years with no buyer, and it finally sells as soon as Barn Finds posts a story about it… Hmmm…… Maybe one of the four posters above bought it, or maybe the seller saw it posted here on barn finds and immediately pulled the sale and marked it as sold..
Except you can’t do that.
The only way an item says sold on eBay, is if it’s sold. You can’t “mark it as sold”. EBay does that when the sale occurs.
If you end an auction with out selling, it is marked ended.
I hope these facts will help clear up your misconceptions, since there’s no conspiracy here.
Some guy just sold a car. Enjoy it. That’s why we’re here.
Another site just ran an article on these;
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/vintage-ads-and-brochures/vintage-ad-the-kanzler-coupe-even-ai-couldnt-have-come-up-with-this/
I clicked to see the seller’s other items, over 5,000 items came up!!
It appears he is parting out his junk/wreck/scrap yard.
There must have been some serious narcotics involved when this was designed. Looks like it was never finished and looks like it wound up where it belongs :)
At least there was someone sober enough to think “Three of these is nuts. I’m going to re-hab.”
I’d never heard of this one, but it will take “lotsa” money to fix this one up… good luck to whomever takes on the challenge.
One of three too many.
Looking at the Ebay photos, am I wrong or would you have to remove the spare tire every time you stopped for gas?
Looks like the spare tire carrier is mounted with a hinge at the bottom and a latch at the top, so you’d just undo the latch and tip the tire away to fill’er up.
The spare tire mount is on a post which telescopes upwards to give access to the fuel inlet. It slides up about 14-18″, IIRC.
Never thought I’d say it but Liberace had better taste in cars then Elvis…just shoot me…
Liberace has alway been the arbiter of fine taste for me. Have you seen his tux?
Pile of s”‘t.
eeek!
There’s one of these cars in ESPN’s “30 For 30: Muhammad and Larry” .
Unusual car. Never heard of this one but it is a neat looking car. I’m glad some one bought it. Love to see it in person when it has been restored.
Agree with George Birth. A really neat car. Someone with the money to restore must have purchased it. Hope to see it when done.
I own the vin #001kanzler coupe and love it.if you want to see in running and going down the road go to u tube rides with jay Thomas season 4 episode 1.great car even if it is purple .the color when I bought it.
Hahaha, I was right about it “selling” immediately after it was posted on barn finds… It “sold” on March 2nd, then “sold” again on March 30, and is about to be “sold” again in a few days… *bay is nothing but a scam anymore…