MUNTZ

Muntz Car Co, Inc.
Glendale, California (1951)
Evanston, Illinois (1951-1954)

This is a Muntz hood script emblem (1951-1954)    mjs
Size: 164mm wide

Earl ("Madman") Muntz was a successful used car dealer and TV salesman who decided to build a sport car. He was assisted by Frank Kurtis, who had designed and built the Kurtis Kraft Sport car, of which 36 had been sold by 1950.

In 1951, Kurtis sold the manufacturing rights to Muntz, who rebadged the car as the "Muntz Jet". Twenty-six Muntz Jet cars were built in Glendale, California before moving to Evanston, Illionois, where Muntz extended the body to make it a four-seater and installed a more powerful V-8 engine. 

The Muntz Jet had aluminium body panels and a removable fiberglass top. It was distinctive in design, well-built and also performed well. But each car sold was made at a loss and production ceased in 1954 after the production of 400 cars.

Emblems

The Muntz Jet displayed the "Muntz" name on a chrome script mounted on the front of the hood, see example shown below:

Muntz Jet convertible with hood script (1952)    bonhams

This is the chrome Muntz script shown above at the top of this post. Original Muntz scripts are rare.

The "Muntz" name was also displayed using the same script mounted on the trunk lid and as "Muntz Jet" scripts on each side of the car, see example script shown below:

Munytz Jet hard top showing "Muntz Jet" body side script (1952)     conceptcarz

The following is an example of the "Muntz Jet" body side script:

This is a Muntz Jet body side script (1951-1954)    mjs
Size: 277 mm overall approx.