The Muntz Car Company was an automobile manufacturer based in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

History

The company was established in 1950 in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...

Earl "Madman" Muntz Earl William "Madman" Muntz (January 3, 1914 – June 21, 1987) was an American businessman and engineer who sold and promoted cars and consumer electronics in the United States from the 1930s until his death in 1987. He was a pioneer in telev ...

, a well known local used car dealer and electronics retailer. Muntz was assisted by

Frank Kurtis Frank Peter Kurtis (born Kuretich; January 25, 1908 – February 17, 1987) was an American racing car designer. He designed and built midget cars, quarter-midgets, sports cars, sprint cars, Indy cars, and Formula One cars. He was the founder of Kurt ...

, who had earlier attempted to produce a sports car under the

Kurtis Kraft Kurtis Kraft was an American designer and builder of race cars. The company built midget cars, quartermidgets, sports cars, sprint cars, Bonneville cars, and USAC Championship cars. It was founded by Frank Kurtis when he built his own midge ...

marque (the Kurtis Kraft Sport, which sold just 36 units by 1950). In 1951, Kurtis sold the license to manufacture the cars to Muntz, who rebadged them as the "

Muntz Jet The Muntz Jet is a two-door hardtop convertible built by the Muntz Car Company in the United States between approximately 1949 and 1954. It is sometimes credited as the first personal luxury car. Developed from the Kurtis Sport Car (KSC) th ...

", extended the body to make it a 4-seater, and exchanged the Ford engine with a larger

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...

V8. Later, this engine would be replaced with a less expensive Lincoln side-valve V8. The car, a

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

coupe A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

, was first built in Glendale, but manufacture soon moved to a new factory in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...

. It featured its own unique design, with

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

body panels and a removable

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...

top that were manufactured in-house. Other parts (such as the engines) were sourced from other manufacturers. It was capable of 112 mph, a significant achievement for a road car at the time. It was featured on the cover of the September 1951 issue of ''

Popular Science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

'' (with a

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

and an MG). The company managed to build and sell only about 400 cars during 1951–1954, and due to the high manufacturing cost, Muntz himself estimated that his company lost about $1,000 on each car; this eventually caused him to close the company. Muntz Jets today are considered rare and valuable collector pieces. File:Yellow 1950 Muntz Jet.jpg, Yellow 1950 Muntz Jet File:MuntzJetred.jpg, "Mars Red" Muntz Jet File:Muntz Jet.jpg, "Stratosphere Blue" Muntz Jet

References

External links

{{commons category, Muntz vehicles
'52 Jet OwnerHistory of the Muntz Jet
Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Companies based in Evanston, Illinois Companies based in Glendale, California Sports car manufacturers Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1950 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1954 Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Illinois Cars introduced in 1951