I like the clear vision of these designs, very sharp, very distinctive. And your photo manipulation skills are very good too, not many people can get the angle and perspective right, particularly with the funnier angles.
Amazing designs, nice to everyone, and flawless grammar. There is no justice. 
Thanks, For every good one there’s 2 or 3 discarded ones 
Both in car designs and photoshops
Now I got to learn to make them fast enough, cause Im not really impressed by my laptimes
##1955 Targa Florio MK1
Vintage era time 
I am just getting a rough idea on what a classic car should look like, so comments on design would be a great help. Thanks.
In the year 1954 a group of close friends and amateur racers from Germany finally decided that it was time to stop dreaming and start achieving. Working nights and weekends in a shed a car was soon designed. The chassis was engineered and put together by Kaspar Becker, and body designed and hand crafted by Ralf Hoch. Engine came from Viktor Kruger’s own URV Lynx that he agreed to sacrifice for the project, updating the ancient 1946 4 liter OHC V8 as he saw fit. Unbeknownst to the the three departments of KHT have been created with their taks separation, and this was the beginning of a company that would last far longer they ever anticipated. But on to the car. In 1955 the vehicle was complete and ready, a ladder frame, covered in hand crafted aluminium body sported pretty advanced suspension setup, and the 210hp v8 fed the rear wheels through a 4 speed manual transmission. 0-100km was reached in 6.3 seconds, with top speed of 235kph. This was to be the Targa Florio road rally competing car (even though it was nowhere near competetive), but since this was quite some time away Viktor used it as his daily driver, since he was left car-less to make the Targa Florio MK1.
As luck had it, the car was flashy enough to get quite a bit of attention in town, eventually resulting in one of the interested people leaving a telephone number note on the car’s windscreen. And as it turns out - he was interested in purchasing the car, and later that year became the first ever owner of a Kraft Haus Technik vehicle. The car then gained minor publicity in the local small and medium sized buisness owners scene as it graced a golf course parking lot regulary, resulting in more people wanting to own one. Production held from 1955 to 1957 with only 7 cars ever created. To this day questionably only 4 remain, with only 2 still being maintained by KHT specialists and 1 standing still for the past 10 years in a motor museum in Riga, Latvia.
To this day the chassis information is as follows
001 - Now in a possession of a car collector, Houston Texas, USA.
002 - Crashed in London UK in 1982
003 - Crashed in Malaga Spain in 1961
004 - Museum piece in Riga Latvia
005 - As of 2015 - in progress of being restored for a client at KHT factory
006 - Lost track of the vehicle in Russia in the early 90’s, still missing
007 - Crashed in Kiel Germany in 1976
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This car looks great! 
I need to design a racer for my company in category of Porsche 550 Spyder.
[quote=“Oskiinus”]This car looks great!
I need to design a racer for my company in category of Porsche 550 Spyder.[/quote]
Thanks! I didn’t know if I fit the 50’s euro era with these looks.
As I recall you had one in the works a few weeks ago 
Still waiting to see the released version.
[quote=“squidhead”]
[quote=“Oskiinus”]This car looks great!
I need to design a racer for my company in category of Porsche 550 Spyder.[/quote]
Thanks! I didn’t know if I fit the 50’s euro era with these looks.
As I recall you had one in the works a few weeks ago Still waiting to see the released version.[/quote]
Oh, the Mirage? It’s more like luxury 356. And it’s finished, I remember about our little “deal” that you wanted to create one of first KHT vehicles co-oping with Airborne. I’ll PM it when I will get my hands on PC.
##1957 Monaco
Surprised by their moderate success with the Targa Florio KHT trio understood that they had to capitalize on it, so by 1956 company was put into priority, with Kaspar, Ralf and Viktor leaving their day jobs to work on cars full time, with a few friends and family helping out, increasing the company size to a total of 7 people. A new chassis was designed soon afterwards, once again a ladder chassis with full custom milled double wishbone suspension all around. Ralf’s brother, boating enthusiast Claus helped with some fiberglass know how and the project took shape. Most difficult decission was the engine, and it was decided to either go big, or to go home.
Eventually a daring project took shape as 2 badly used 1955 GSI Wyoming pickup trucks were brought into the factory, their engines removed and taken apart. Two L6 3 liter engine blocks were combined via a custom crankcase. Custom ordered crankshaft, camshaft, oil pump and many more minor parts were combined in a 6 liter v12 OHV behemoth. Complimented with tripple carburettors and a custom exhaust system the power reached 280bhp with 460nm of torque pulling strong and smooth from as little as idle, reaching over 400nm at 1500 and never dropping lower. Viktor, now lead engineer was pleased greatly with his Frankenstein, dubbed “Typ126”, first in-house engine KHT Ever produced.
The car could reach 0-100 in 6.1 seconds with top speed reaching 232kph. A Luxury interior and a very high tec trim included a phonograph, which put the car into a very prestigious GT category, with the car being equally sporty and comfortably driveable, it was another surprise hit.
One of the restored first generation Monaco’s
In 1957, as all of the money ran out KHT Monaco coupe stood in a shy corner of Paris Motor Show’s "44th “Salon de l’Automobile”. The gamble paid off, and orders started coming in. To be able to build the Monaco KHT had to take pre-orders, at a hefty sum of $45,000, which proved to be enough to actually afford a small facility and first actual work-force to hand build the cars. Each car had to bring the company forward, always progressing and becoming larger and stronger, and Monaco did exactly that.
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##1957 Monaco Roadster
The laurels of KHT great success in 1957 with the Monaco Coupe soon proved to be a curse. Rare examples lasted past 20,000 km. Gearboxes shed their teeth and let go regulary, and the problems did not end there. Horror stories of a Monaco sending a piston to the crank case or worse yet - through the hood were alarmingly common. First engine ever built by KHT turned out to be a disaster at worst of times. At best of times, however oil leaks were common, as well as clutches starting to slip at as little as 1000km of normal driving. Problem with the transmission was caused by the fact it was the same pickup truck unit found in the Wyoming, which never was intended for the torque of the 6 liter v12. Solution was needed, and fast.
Kaspar secured a contract for replacement engines from IMP automobile, the gloriously daft and powerful BL12-NGH, a 7.3 v12 producing just under 400hp. To much surprise of the team, which still was a very ambitious, but quite rubbish enterprise, the colossus did not fit the engine bay and had to be shelved. A V8 was proposed, but no suitable engines were found, and using URV units found in the Targa Florio was out of the question due to shear rarity of the Lynx it was found in, after all, the production of Targa Florio was halted only because KHT could not find more engines.
Having experience with the GSI 6 cylinder unit, it was proposed to exclude the KHT’s v12’s problems by going back to basic design, and the engine was dropped all together after only 7 months of production, replaced by the 3 liter engine which was just a heavily modified Wyoming unit, still OHV, it now featured a more efficient carburettor, exhaust and a re-furbed camshaft, finished off by aftermarket pistons and conrods, chugging 98 petrol, still mated to the 4 speed manual. Now boasting a moderate 173hp at CR of 9.5:1, the performance drop was devastating.
0-100km now took 9.2 seconds, with top speed plummeting to 210kph. The car has lost all it’s sportscar ambition, becoming a simple coupe. The rich and successful of this world lost interest in Monaco as v12 was no longer an option, so luxury was also dropped, replaced by premium quality interior and a basic radio. With simple modifications and add-ons a 2 seat drop top body was introduced as an option, and some of the fine exterior detail also being removed. Away went the chrome trimmed rear spoiler and front lip, along with the foglights in the grille, the hood bulge also was removed as it was no longer needed to house the engine. A promising supercar up-start became a salvage of a sports-car, but almost 1/3rd more affordable, now costing $32,000 instead of $45,000 for the 1st gen, Monaco gen2 enjoyed a moderate success both in Europe and USA, where most of them were converted to Chevrolet v8’s. This was a very close call for KHT, and a backup strategy was introduced, as a medium sized car repair shop was opened to support the tiny factory in financially troubled times.
Eventually GSi company figured out who and why was ordering their parts by the boatload, and pressed charges. KHT managed to plead not guilty by providing a massive list of changes done to the engines that arrived to the factory as not much more than bare engine blocks, but still, it was clear this could not continue and in 1959 last Monaco saw light as the production was stopped.
Well this is unfortunate.
While I always had that sneaky suspicion my V12 was only suited to big limousines, it would have been fascinating to see what a group of skilled engineers could achieve when they got hold of it. I guess it was too insane for its own good :’(
[quote=“Awildgermanappears”]Well this is unfortunate.
While I always had that sneaky suspicion my V12 was only suited to big limousines, it would have been fascinating to see what a group of skilled engineers could achieve when they got hold of it. I guess it was too insane for its own good :’([/quote]
I’m not about to shelf an opportunity to run a 7.3 in my car I’ll find one. (P.S: the early coupe, MG looking thing, that one can have a v12 actually,but Im not feeling the design of the thing)
[quote=“squidhead”]
[quote=“Awildgermanappears”]Well this is unfortunate.
While I always had that sneaky suspicion my V12 was only suited to big limousines, it would have been fascinating to see what a group of skilled engineers could achieve when they got hold of it. I guess it was too insane for its own good :’([/quote]
I’m not about to shelf an opportunity to run a 7.3 in my car I’ll find one. (P.S: the early coupe, MG looking thing, that one can have a v12 actually,but Im not feeling the design of the thing)[/quote]
Do as you please, but I am not certain if we are going to make another engine of this caliber for quite some time…
In early september of 2016 a car was spotted in a reguar Youtube video by carspotter channel, that provoked a rumour mill to go haywire all over car websites. Multiple posts on Carthrottle and Jalopnik, all filled with theories. The video in question was just a compilation of cars going full blast on the Nurburgring Nordschleife. Among the regular McLaren’s and Lamborghinis a few rare examples, one of which seemed to be a freshly released Kraft Haus Technik Sepang. An AMWEC AP1 category prototype turned street car, but much has been known about the original car, this one was different. While the base model could keep pace with the top tier of supercars the one in the video has been seen humiliating the competition both in the straights and in the corners.
While only a cumulative of just over 30 seconds of car in action was shown, in it the weirdly winged and crudely modified supercar made easy work of a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, worked it’s way around a Radical SR3 and outpaced a Ferrari F12 in a straight line. Not much has been known about the car, but most eagle eyed viewers have spotted the active aerodynamics and cooling on the car, as well as heard blow-off valves dumping much more air than standard units. Some have also spotted the pit crew, which was collectively recognized by the CarThrottle.com community to be Gerhard Wagner, the CEO of Kraft Haus Technik, Hannah Eynaud of Gryphon Gear fame, and GG test pilot - Kai Kristensen. Helping around with the car seemed to be about 12-14 KHT engineers.
The demand for answers was pretty high, but both GG and KHT kept their secrets close.
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Hype…
Select quotes from the event
In october 2016 KHT held a closed presentation of the GG modified Sepang to a selection of motoring journalists from all over the world at the Nurburgring racetrack, which sadly for most did not include the Nordschleife, only limiting them to the GP circuit.
Most of the car facts were covered by the NDA, with the magazines being only allowed to post pictures they were provided until the time of official reveal in September. The event did, however, shed a lot of light on the project. Most noticeably, that this was not, in fact a Sepang. The car spotted earlier was just a test-mule used by Gryphon Gear to test the technical solutions, which explained the modifications. The car’s name was revealed to be “Diabolica”.
The finished product looked quite different from the Sepang it was based off. Underneath it was still the Karion v8 with the help of forced induction, it was heavily modified though, producing well over 400hp over stock form for the Sepang and over 400 again for the Diabolica. Car featured advanced active aerodynamics, which featured active splitter, canards, aerobrake and rear wing planes, and just as advanced active cooling flaps all over the car, helping around corners was active suspension.
Finished in unpainted carbon fiber outside and in, the lightweight RWD hypercar seriously impressed the journalists who had only been given the chance to be driven around the track by GG’s Kai Kristensen and KHT’s Miles Phillips test drivers.
A quick press conference was also conducted at which the question of “How did two rivalring AMWEC teams get to gether to build a car” was answered with “We just thought it would be cool.” The following question of “Yes, it is, but how did the conversation about it even begin?” got a reply of “I think somebody threw a hot dog at GG pilot at lunch time, and he put a barn lock on our team’s lavatory as revenge, so then we had to use theirs. I am still not 100% clear on how that happened”. It was then clear that a serious answer about the exact nature of this collaboration was not to be revealed that day.
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##1962 Adenauer
(yes, this is trying times with me juggling an unreleased hypercar, BRC 66 entry, and BRC tie-in history in here, so it’s going to be all over the years for a bit)
By the year 1961 it was clear to Kraft Haus Technik that surviving on cheap modifications and repair shop is not a viable solution, and a new daring project was taken on. The next car had to be done quickly and on a tight budget, so this called for some re-think of the company’s regular strategy of inventing new technologies. Viktor and Kaspar started out working on their own project, using the only car available to them at the moment - the lowly Communitasia. A few Alpenstrasse versions were taken as a basis for the chassis of the test mule, while Viktor set of on another venture of joining 2 inline blocks together. By late 1961 the modifications to the chassis were done, and a new 5 liter v8 engine was created, using previous experiences, it was put through it’s paces in the Alpenstrasse test mule. The car was noticed many times on the autobahn by the general public, starting a cafe-racer legend about the “Rot blitz” or “red lighning”. After all it was uncanny to see a communitasia pushing past 220 kph with relative ease. As the final engine tuning and troubleshooting was in progress Ralf was tasked with creating a new body for the car.
The 1962 resulted in all of parts of the car coming together to form the Adenauer. Running Communitasias solid rear axle and MacPherson front end cheapened production, now it utilized coil springs and disc brakes were responsible for stopping the car. A much bespoke V8 engine shared only the blocks with the communitasia units. The “Typ 850” produced 245hp, pushed to the rear wheels through a custom 4 speed getrag gearbox, set off a 1 ton sports coupe to 100kph in 7 seconds flat, and reached 225kph. The design was heavily influenced by the Monaco, but as the car was smaller, it no longer appealed as a GT but as a sportscar.
At the price of $27,000 the car included a sporty interior, sports wheels, sports tires, standard radio and a selection of leather and wood trim on the interior. Sales were pretty good with KHT selling almost 6000 units by the time production halted in 1966. This was the first massive success for KHT that paved the way forwards for the tiny company.
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Did you study photoshop? your photoshop are great af
Damn, those are some fine cars. I like the use of the chrome strips, and obviously the photoshoped wheels.
You should do a pic like a “KHT old cars convention” type, with all your 60s cars on a green grass, like this:
https://activerain-store.s3.amazonaws.com/image_store/uploads/3/3/2/9/2/ar137591455229233.JPGhttp://visitmodesto.com/imgs/specialevents/graffiti/Kiwaniscar1.jpg
[quote=“Sillyworld”]Damn, those are some fine cars. I like the use of the chrome strips, and obviously the photoshoped wheels.
You should do a pic like a “KHT old cars convention” type, with all your 60s cars on a green grass, like this:
https://activerain-store.s3.amazonaws.com/image_store/uploads/3/3/2/9/2/ar137591455229233.JPGhttp://visitmodesto.com/imgs/specialevents/graffiti/Kiwaniscar1.jpg[/quote]
Thanks! Also this is such a cool idea! I love it!
Thanks and no, I’m a 100% self taught.
27k for Adenauer? Holy sh.t, 250 GTO was costing 30k when It was brand new