Unknown Model: 1937 Horch Cabriolet
When we came across this 1937 Horch Cabriolet here on eBay, it got us thinking about the upcoming events in Monterey. There isn’t any place we would rather be for that one week in August. There are many gatherings to attend, but this old boy would feel right at home on the eighteenth hole at Pebble Beach.
The seller has listed it as a 853 Voll and Ruhrbeck Sport Cabriolet, but it’s definitely not the flowing 853 Sport Cabriolet that won at 2009’s Concours d’Elegance. We’ve searched far and wide to find an image of a similar Horch, but the closest we could dig up was this 830 BL Cabriolet. Any Horch experts out there who can enlighten us on which model this really is?
Horch was once one of Germany’s premier car manufacturers and they built some breathtaking cars. The company was founded by August Horch in 1899, but in 1909 August was forced out of the company so he went on to found Audi. In 1932, August’s two companies were unified as part of the Auto Union. With the combined resources of the Auto Union, the Horch Company built some amazing vehicles with some impressive technology. Depending on which model this turns out to be, it could be powered by either a straight 8 or a V8 and could even feature a De Dion rear suspension.
The seller of this car is asking a breathtaking $250,000, which is even more incredible considering how little information they provide. Regardless of which model this is, it’s worth a considerable amount of money. Due to the outbreak of war in the late ’30s, the company didn’t build very many cars, so most prewar Horches are worth a look. If this car turns out to be a survivor car, it would be a perfect entrant in the prewar preservation class at next year’s Concours d’Elegance.
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Comments
Not sure if that is interesting…
“Horch” is the German imperative for “listen”. “Audi” is the same in Latin.
This is how the company name was conceived when August Horch was forced out of Horch.
~ each Horch i have seen, whether in person or photographs have remarkably advanced features for their day. wish the seller were giving more information.
1937 Horch 853 A sport cabriolet
Was it the early Hitler parade car model?
Front seats are incorrect, those units are from a newer era Mercedes.
Who remembers the movie Schindler’s List? Oskar Schindler had a Horch. In real life. In the movie, he had an elegant car, much like this one. The car played a prominent role in his life, he was an elegant man and liked his flash. He was born and raised in the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia, and assisted Germany’s attack on his own country by providing Germany with detailed army mobilization plans in case of a German attack, including the railroad utilization. For this he was serving a life sentence for espionage when the Germans took control of the country. They let him out. When the Germans phonied up an attack on a border radio station by Polish army regulars, it was Oskar Schindler who obtained the Polish uniforms. He was a very good spy. This is why he was able to follow the German Army into Poland on the heels of the attack and purchase three compaines (not just the one named ‘Emalia’ in the movie). It is also why he was seen partying with the top German Generals. He was walking along downtown with his spy handler and spotted the elegant car, a Horch in a showroom, and was smitten. He talked his handler into having it purchased and given to him for his spy work. It was this car that was his throughout WWII. The scene where he had loaded up his car to flee was authentic. He did drive the car westward toward the American lines. The Russians stopped him, took the diamonds in his glove box, and in fact confiscated the car. He made it to freedom without his car.
Like Chris H. said, they changed the front seats, and that car have some details which are not original.
And yes, is a model 830BL, convertible. In Brazil we have an exemplar, for sale, by $ 215.000,00. But the years are different, the model is from 1939.
I leave one link with a photo of the car: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qfHJUpyV8is/T6sG2k2-vUI/AAAAAAAAFNE/2oAl7Ew6y70/s1600/Lind%2525C3%2525B3ia%2B2012%2B264.jpg