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German Tuners from the ​’80s and the ​’90s

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In the 1980s, German tuners like Koenig, Mattig and Brabus built wide, colourful and extravagant cars loved by wealthy eccentrics. Autoworld now honours them with an exhibition (5/9 – 14/12) featuring 15 icons, including Treser’s Quattro Roadster, Mattig’s Manta Manta and Buchmann’s Rainbow Porsche.

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Cars were hardly exciting in the 1980s. Perhaps the global political climate was so heated that car manufacturers preferred to play safe. Except, that is, in certain corners of Germany. While the big brands filled their showrooms with solid but rather dull automobiles, some twenty tuners went completely wild with massive turbos, outrageously wide wheels, kilos of streamlined fiberglass, every color of a rainbow, doors to outshine an eagle’s wings, hi-fi systems loud enough to blow Rock Werchter away, and spoilers tickling the clouds. Anything was possible, and way too much was still not nearly enough. Still, that movement struck a chord with wealthy sheikhs and Germans sporting questionable hairstyles and a strange fondness for fox tails. For a while, anyway: by the mid-1990s, the hype for most tuners was over.
Since then, with the exception of the likes of AMG, Ruf, and Alpina, those German tuners found themselves in the doghouse, even mildly mocked by car connoisseurs. Today, however, more and more enthusiasts recognize the technological and cultural value of the craziest creations from Koenig Specials, Mattig, Irmscher, Strosek, Gemballa, Brabus, Treser, and many others.
As the first European car museum, Autoworld now embraces this renewed love for German tuners with a themed exhibition. From September 5 to December 14, we’ll showcase about fifteen of the best cars from the most gloriously ​“wrong” period.
An Audi Quattro is always worth a detour, but a Quattro Roadster with an automatic folding roof by Treser is now as rare as it is ingenious. Tennis legend Yannick Noah had one. Could it get more glamorous?
The ultimate icon of tuning culture: Mattig’s Manta Manta. Almost ridiculously wide, more colourful than the Dolly Dots, and tackier than Borat, yet such a symbol that it starred in two films. Could it get more outrageous?
Just as colourful and iconic, but distinctly chic: the Rainbow Porsche 911 Turbo Targa by Buchmann & Buchmann. It, too, had a starring role in a feature film: Carnapping. Could it get more stylish?