New Autocult for 2024

In keeping with their tradition of modeling the odd and obscure, I present to you the first new models for 2024:

1947 Lancia LP01

The 32-year-old Gianni Lancia took on a key role in Lancia in 1947 as a descendant of the company’s founder. With this new function, he immediately wanted to realize his own car, which should be an implementation of his wishes.

The sports car, christened LP01 Ghia, was powered by a 2-liter V8 engine installed in the rear.

A distinctive feature was considered the design of the three front seats - the central seater steered the car. The interior seemed to have been designed for spaciousness, as the contemporary photos suggest. The car as a whole was probably designed as a comfortable, but also as very fast touring sedan.

Gianni Lancia apparently wanted a very special, personal gem with the LP01 and had the car fitted with a very modern body, which came from the hands of the company ‘Carozzeria Ghia’.

The unique, two-tone car body, which was built by the experts of Ghia, embodied a very racy, visually strongly inclined line and must have caused an approving nod reaction everywhere where it was presented. The large radiator grille was apparently necessary to give the V8 engine in the rear its much-needed cooling air. In addition, there was also a separate air intake scoop at the transition between the roof and the gently sloping rear.

The car has not survived and nothing is known about how Gianni Lancia used it.

1933 Mercedes 170 Stromlinie Erdmann & Rossi

From around 1906, the Berlin-based company “Erdmann & Rossi” dedicated itself to the production of bodies for automobiles. Even before the First World War, the German nobility was one of the clients and even in the 1920s the factory relied on a financially strong clientele and provided chassis of the luxury brands Rolls Royce, Horch, or Bentley with neat bodies.

Erdmann & Rossi attracted attention at the IAMA in Berlin in February 1933 with a very aerodynamically shaped car based on a Mercedes-Benz 170. The car, painted in the color old gold, certainly caused heated discussions, some saw a short-term spleen in it, others a real option. The management of Mercedes-Benz was also among the skeptics, because on the first day of the fair, the Swabians issued the decree that the star should not be mounted as a logo on the vehicle.

The Mercedes-Benz no longer indicated its standard model due to its appearance characterized by extreme curves and teardrop shape. While the front wheels were not covered to allow the steering lock, the rear wheels were fully covered. In retrospect, the Erdmann & Rossi Mercedes-Benz was several years ahead of its time. Presumably, this was precisely its fate that it found no supporters and quickly disappeared into oblivion.

And finally, from their Avenue43 line, the 1970 Pontiac Firebird Pegasus 365