Tuesday, March 10, 2009

1938 Phantom Corsair


Custom chassis from the AJ. Bayer Company that used a donor Cord 812 drive train, body by Bohman & Schwartz. Design by Rust Heinz

The prototype cost upwards of $24,000 USD to build.

Promotion included a full page ad issued in Esquire magazine, a display named it ‘The Car of Tomorrow’ at the World’s Fair and it played the role of ‘The Flying Wombat’ in David O. Selznick’s film The Young in Heart (1938). Furthermore it was featured in a Popular Science film series in 1938. Despite all the attention, no orders came in for the eccentric design, reducing the Phantom Corsair to a very expensive one-of.
Heinz used the car until his death at the age of 25 .

The car was sold at auction and purchased by Bill Harrah.
Since then, the Phantom Corsair has remained in the National Automobile Museum, formerly known as The Harrah Collection, in Reno, Nevada.

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