[vintagepoint5]

Interesting story of last Horch returns to Germany:

The story of the last Horch began in 1953, when the man at the helm of Auto Union needed a suitably representative vehicle. This is how the DKW experimental department came to develop this chauffeur-driven limousine based on a 1938 Horch 830 BL. The vehicle was presented to Dr. Bruhn that June.
A US soldier stationed in Germany subsequently bought the one-off specimen and took it home with him to the States. Eventually the gearbox packed in and he parted company with the car. Al Wilson, a car enthusiast from San Angelo, Texas, saved the Horch from the crushers. Although he knew nothing about the Horch brand, he sensed that the vehicle was something special. So this former manager of a shoe factory paid 500 dollars for it and took it away.
The research now started. He contacted Ingolstadt, the Deutsches Museum in Munich and the Dresden-based expert Dr. Kirchberg – but nobody knew anything about the car. Al Wilson nevertheless kept it and just parked it on his property in Texas along with other finds. The Texan's sons resumed the research process and finally Ralf Hornung, who is responsible for buying and restoring vehicles at Audi Tradition, recognised the car: "The photos clearly showed Bruhn's car, the whereabouts of which had been a mystery for decades." Hornung flew straight to Texas. Al Wilson agreed to sell it: "The Horch should go home." Bruhn's Horch has now arrived in Ingolstadt by container and the restoration work will soon begin. But first, Audi Tradition will be putting this unique specimen on display exactly as it reached the Audi museum mobile.
The four rings of the Audi badge symbolise the brands Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer, which were combined under the umbrella of Auto Union in 1932. Auto Union and NSU, which merged in 1969, made many significant contributions towards the development of the car. AUDI AG was formed from Audi NSU Auto Union AG in 1985. Together with the two traditional companies Auto Union GmbH and NSU GmbH, Audi Tradition nurtures and presents the deep and diverse history of Audi.

Source:
Horch - Last one finally comes to Ingolstadt | Cartype

Interesting short video can also be seen on Audi website: www.Audi.com


First 1-3 pics. Shows last Horch exhibited in Audi Museum in unrestored condition, created the background exactly like this Horch was lying in Texas desert condition.

4-5 Pics: Shows Horch was found in Texas desert in open and Texas owner
before returning to Germany.

Last 2 pics shows when Horch was new in Germany.


Did anybody know of any Horch cars presently survive in India, please write.


Cheers!

[KPS]

What a wonderful story. Fantastic to see the pains taken by the museum to recreate the "how found" scene.

Thanks vintagepoint5

Cheers

KPS

[harit]

This story about this Horsch broke in 2008 sometime in April/May and was covered in many magazines. I was in Germany and brought back some of these mags. Shortly thereafter, this car appeared on the 'guess the car' thread on this forum, and at that time I was in a bhpians office when he showed this to me. So he 'quickly' identified the car, and when asked by the guy who posted the pic, he told him that his friend (me) must have read the same magazine.
I personally feel that it is a pity not to restore the car. It looks like Audi took a cheaper route of handling this project.
When you check closely, you can recognize the DKW Sonderklasse-like rear boot lid.
My memory says that the axles had also given way.

True, this is the last ever Horsch built, but on an old chassis. They must have called it a Horsch because of the chassis, the name was never revived after the war. Thereafter no Horsch was ever built. The Audi-VW group could have used the name Horsch instead of VW Phaeton.

Presently no surviving Horsch is known in India, and only a few had come in.

Cheers harit

[vintagepoint5]

Interesting facts and time line about this last Horch:

This Horch was built on chassis 1939 and body by hand in 1953 after the WW2 and presented to the Director of Production.

In 1956 American solder stationed in Germany bought this Horch and used for some time and shipped to USA. Texas collector Al Wilson who is collecting antiques and cars for 6 six decades, received call from his Junk yard friend, stating that there is car which if not sold will be crushed as scrapped, requesting Mr. Wilson to have a look. Mr. Wilson acquired it for $500 without knowing much about Horch car.

In 1980 research began Wilson bought book about Horch and learned about the importance of last Horch. Meantime Audi Car Classic collector and others were searching for the last Horch which disappeared without trace after 1956.

In 2008 Audi heritage collector Mr. Ralf Hornung found out that the last Horch they were looking was in Texas. They contacted Mr. Wilson and he agree to sale Horch to Audi and was generous enough to see this car to be displayed in museum for all to see and will be well preserved with Audi. The Horch was shipped back to Germany, probably in 2008 and to show the enthusiast that how Horch was lying for 40 years in blazing sun and withstand the harsh desert environment of Texas. I think they displayed Horch in un-restored condition for few weeks and after ward was planning to restored the car completely to the original condition when it was new.

Interesting thing, I noted and perhaps all vintage lovers will be glad to see the quality of Audi Cars, even exposing to such open whether elements the car was not much damaged all trims were there and body is strong and instruments were still in the car. Leather upholstery was damaged and body colour was damaged which is restorable. Amazing thing is body is still strong and nickel chromium were still in good condition.

I hope it will be restored soon to factory original condition can be available to public view. Before the WW2 such beautiful cars were manufactured for the rich and others, but after WW2 focus was shifted to small economical cars and thus great cars like Horch were disappeared and become history.

August Horch (1868-1951) a German Engineer and founder of modern Audi, which eventually become Audi, first registered his company and car named Horch, but later on have dispute with his partner and he quit. August open another company and wanted to name Horch but this patent was already registered as Horch, so he cannot used the same name and name it became Audi (Auto Union group) precursor.

Cheers!

[harit]

Originally Posted by vintagepoint5

Interesting facts and time line about this last Horch:

Interesting thing, I noted and perhaps all vintage lovers will be glad to see the quality of Audi Cars, even exposing to such open whether elements the car was not much damaged all trims were there and body is strong and instruments were still in the car. Leather upholstery was damaged and body colour was damaged which is restorable. Amazing thing is body is still strong and nickel chromium were still in good condition.
August Horch (1868-1951) a German Engineer and founder of modern Audi, which eventually become Audi, first registered his company and car named Horch, but later on have dispute with his partner and he quit. August open another company and wanted to name Horch but this patent was already registered as Horch, so he cannot used the same name and name it became Audi (Auto Union group) precursor. Cheers!

The car was lying in Texas, which along with California has a dry climate and helps to preserve the old cars lying in the scrap yards. The heat and dust just make the paint fade away, but the metal and chrome can remain very good for long times. In one picture behind the Horsch is a 1959 Chevy which also appears to have lasted rather well.
About Horsch and Audi, bothe words relate to sound, listening in German and in Latin or something like that. When Mr. Horsch restarted as Audi, he used a word of similar meaning and named the company accordingly.

Cheers harit

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by harit

I personally feel that it is a pity not to restore the car. It looks like Audi took a cheaper route of handling this project.

Well who is to say this is a permanent exhibit? I'm sure in time the car will be restored. In the mean time I think it makes for a wonderful exhibit in 'as-found' condition.

Take for example this coachbuilt Porsche 356 - built by Swiss builder Beutler, who made a fair number of stylish 4 seater 356s. This particular car (now owned by VW I think) was displayed in 'as-found' condition at one show, and in restored condition in the next.

[the mole]

Does'nt this look amazingly like a 190Sl mercedes?

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by the mole

Does'nt this look amazingly like a 190Sl mercedes?

Interesting that you mentioned this.

Back in the day there were many small coachbuilders making stylish sporting bodies on VWs and a few Porsches, like Rometsch, Dannenhauer & Stauss, Denzel and more. Rometsch was (and I think still is) the most well known name. The initial cars were designed by Johannes Beeskow, who spent a good amount of time at Erdmann & Rossi, a German coachbuilder of high repute (remember the Shah of Iran's 540K with enclosed fenders?)

Now here is a Beeskow Rometsch.


http://www.seebacher-gmbh.de/cms/see...2/rometsch.jpg
See the 'pleats' on the front fenders? An idea blatently copied by Mercedes soon after. It had something to do with increasing the width on paper. When I visited the Hessisch Oldendorf show in Germany 2005 I was hoping to meet Herr Beeskow, but unfortunately he passed away a week before the show.

[harit]

This is a picture of August Horch (1868 to 1951), one of the giants of the German Automobile Industry.
The red car is the oldest surviving Horch car, a 10/12 PS (HP) Model of 1903. Pictures from a German magazine Oldtimer Markt.

Cheers harit