The last vehicle to cross the block at the last event of the Monterey weekend was a 1953 Muntz Road Jet. Bidding started at $35k for what's reputed to be the cleanest unrestored Road Jet in the country. One person took the bait and the car rolled offstage. Sort of a whimpering end to a wallbanger of a weekend. But Earl "Mad Man" Muntz, who made his bacon selling televisions (he named his daughter "Tee Vee") was no shrinking violet.
After losing his shirt selling Kaiser-Frazers and subsequently earning it back in the electronics industry, Muntz took one last stab at the auto industry, buying a design and tooling from Frank Kurtis for a two-seater, stretching it into a four-place car and then stuffing a 318-inch Lincoln motor in it.
The example at the Gooding auction has been viewed by B.V. Munsen, the keeper of the Muntz Registry (what else are you gonna do with your time if your name is B.V. Munsen? What else, we ask?) who proclaims "This is the best original interior I've seen."
We wanna weld up a full cage in a Muntz and run it on La Carrera Panamericana. How ridiculously awesome would that be? Answer? More ridiculously awesome than a twentysomething Markie Post in a bikini with a boom box, Minor Threat's Complete Discography and a cooler full of Tab with some black bean tortilla chips.
Related:
The Muntz Car Company
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