designed by Luigi Colani in 1959/60, presumably manufactured by Canadur, Berlin, Germany, white polyester resin and fibreglass, height 118 cm, width 150 cm, length 430 cm. (DR) Very rare in an unassembled state. In the 1960s, Luigi Colani designed a streamline sports-car body for the VW Beetle 1200, which improved the car’s performance by 20 km/h without the engine needing rebuilding. Only some 260 cars were made, as the production of Colani’s vehicle turned out to be unprofitable. A three-part body made of GFK was mounted onto the Beetle’s undercarriage, so that the car then weighed only 550 kilos, i.e., 170 kilos less. There were no doors. Initially, the rear window of the Karmann Ghia coupé was used as a windscreen; later on, a more elegant form was ordered from Südglas in Bietigheim. A transparent perspex dome that could be folded back for getting in and out of the car was used as an alternative to a soft top. However, variants also offered a collapsible textile top, as well as a plastic roof with hinged doors. The seat position was not to everybody’s taste: Colani’s plastic and textile seat shell was directly mounted to the floorboard, which allowed for the automobile’s low build. Just as Andy Warhol made an icon of Pop Art out of a Marilyn Monroe still, Luigi Colani, with his auto-body kit, turned the good old VW into an icon of design. The low-cost sports car was thus first and foremost an object expressive of zeitgeist. The design of this smart and unconventional sports car shows all of Colani’s typical features: it was fluid, aerodynamic, and erotic. With his concept, Colani anticipated the principle of the fun car, which the automobile industry was to resort to decades later. He created a product for the contemporary market that was popular because almost everybody could afford it.

Provenance: private property, Germany.

Lit.: A. Bangert, Luigi Colani. Die Kunst Zukunft zu gestalten, 2004, pp. 23–25, pp. 35–44, repr. on p. 25 and p. 37.