Dannenhauer and Stauss

 
While owners of Split Window-era Karmann Cabriolets will rejoice in telling you their cars are rarer than the terminally desirable Hebmüller two-seater Cabriolets that many VW fans, myself included, lust after, the handful of Dannenhauer and Stauss (D&S) owners around the world will laugh into their bratwursts at the Hebmüller's relative abundance compared to their vehicle of choice. As factory records are not available to confirm exactly how many D&S cars were built, this argument will never be satisfactorily concluded. But let's just say that in 1949 - the first year of Karmann Beetle production alone - two to three times the amount of cars were built than enthusiasts have estimated were produced in the entire six-year lifespan of the glorious Dannenhauer & Stauss. The only actual figure we turned up in our research for this feature was 136, and that was just a line in the description of a restoration project D&S that came up for auction in Australia, so can hardly be considered gospel truth. And as undoubtedly, in our peculiarly English way, you'll already be wondering what sort of money these cars change hands for, again that's not something we can say with any certainty, though we can tell you the aforementioned project car sold for the equivalent of around £25,000. So the answer is not cheap, whichever way you look at it

For the full story on this car make sure you pick up a copy of the Summer 2009 issue of VolksWorld

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