After World War 2, car designs became more extravagant and expressive. Some adopted large tail fins, while others attempted to incorporate nuclear reactors, which dictated their designs, such as Ford's Nucleon concept. Alongside this, many automakers were changing, some trying to establish a foothold in the US despite the stigma, such as Honda.However, one of the weirdest, at least from a visual standpoint, was a car produced in Germany by a coachbuilder you've probably never heard of, who used cars left behind by America's military. This odd-looking car is the Cadillac-powered Spohn DV-13.This article focuses on the Spohn DV-13, but also delves into the creation of this vehicle and the company's history. It All Starts With One German Coachbuilder Spohn DV-13 6 The story of the V8-powered drop-top built for GIs after World War II ended with a man named Hermann Spohn. Spohn founded the Spohn Karosseriebau in 1920, and unfortunately, three years later, Spohn would pass away; however, the coachbuilder he founded would continue. Roughly around the time that this German coachbuilder was founded, Dr. Karl Maybach began producing chassis and powertrains for cars, a handful of miles from the Spohn Carosserie. The German coachbuilder became the go-to for Dr. Karl Maybach and somehow managed to survive as a business through the Second World War, thanks in part to its repair work on damaged military vehicles. After World War II, coachbuilders like Spohn were going out of business en masse due to a lack of commissions.Spohn, at the time, was one of the most prominent and prolific coachbuilders in Germany, which helped it survive for a few more years as a handful of companies over a few years. One of the biggest prospects offered to Spohn was a commission to build new, performance-focused versions of the Veritas, a German sports car from the 1950s based on pre-war BMW models. However, this opportunity did not pan out for Spohn.After failing to realize the new Veritas models fully, Spohn would eventually get to work on redesigning the cars of US servicemen who were occupying Germany after the Second World War. Spohn would re-body the US cars that were available in Germany, with some of the Americans in Germany offering sterling reviews of Spohn's work. These cars were called the Spohn DV-13, and they were the last cars that this German coachbuilder created before the company was shut down. Spohn's Odd-Bodied Post-War Creations Spohn DV-13 5 These cars were built on a per-order basis, each one constructed from vehicles owned by US servicemen still stationed in Germany at the time. No two cars were the same, as each was built to the customer's specifications, which included the materials used, grille design, headlights, taillight positioning, and more.These were not standard production cars, but rather custom-built cars that offered clients the same in-depth tailoring process. Paint jobs, special exterior adornments, and bespoke moldings were among the options offered to the GIs in post-war Germany. For these changes and unique commissions, the cost of a comprehensive customization of a vehicle at the time could range from $3,000 to $7,000, which, when adjusted for inflation, translates to roughly $34,000 to $80,000. An example of one of these commissions was a custom car based on an unbodied Mercury chassis produced by Ford's Belgian production plant, which the owner, reportedly an army captain, purchased for $1,100.This custom Mercury model underwent the full customization process, reportedly costing the US Army captain a total of $14,101. However, some cars that received a lighter treatment only cost the person who commissioned Spohn a few hundred dollars. While Spohn offered extensive options to overhaul the exterior design completely, the German coachbuilder didn't modify the car's powertrain, with any changes made to these cars' powertrains being implemented once they were brought back to the States.Interestingly, the United States covered the costs of sending these cars to Germany and bringing them back, as well as for cars that were already in Germany and were returned to their owners. Unlike other cars we've discussed before, the Spohn DV-13 was not an established model, and the name was not assigned to a car with a set specifications list because different cars received the Spohn treatment. These were odd cars, even then, considering that BMW introduced a German coupe with a V8 beating heart a few years after the Spohn shutdown.Alongside its Veritas venture, the Spohn DV-13 was the last project undertaken by this German coachbuilder before the company was shut down in 1957. This was due to a decline in demand for Spohn's services in Europe, alongside socioeconomic factors that further exacerbated the company's struggles. Many Maybachs featured Spohn bodywork, but fewer examples exist and are far less commonplace than the Maybach models designed by Hermann Spohn Karosseriebau. Spohn's Final Breath Spohn DV-13 10 It's unclear how many examples of the Spohn DV-13 were created, although it's believed that fewer than a hundred might still exist. Interestingly, an example of the Spohn DV-13 was recently listed on BringATrailer. This car is owned by two men who purchased it from the Miami-based Dezer Collection in 2012, after it appeared on the television show "Chasing Classic Cars". Despite its eyebrow-raising looks, the Spohn DV-13 convertible won the 2013 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, but ironically won the "Most Audacious Exterior" award.Its foundation is a 1939 Ford, but its design is far removed from anything that Ford offered at the time. It was par for the course for Spohn's efforts, which led to a radicalization of a car's exterior design, equal to the car's quintessential caricature of mid-20th-century American automotive design. Its striking steel bodywork was finished in red, but beneath the odd exterior is a 331ci Cadillac V8 engine paired with a four-barrel carburetor. At the same time, a Ford four-speed transmission was paired with the Cadillac V8 engine.As we've said, no two cars that went under Spohn's knife were identical, making this example, with its raked nose, protruding headlights, massive tailfins, and a large tailight mounted at the center of the rear, most likely features bespoke to this example. Other unique and distinctive features adorning this car include a black convertible top stored in the trunk, an oval grille, silver-painted wheels, and a dual exhaust system. The example listed on BringATrailer might exceed $40,000. As of the time of writing this article, the last bid was $37,500. Decades since its closure, there is no hope for a return of this German oddity, although another French coachbuilder managed to rise from the ashes.Sources: BringATrailer, Coachbuild.com