Horch 853 Sport-Cabriolet - 1937
By the 1960s, this pre-war Horch had become something of a rarity. Even so, with his typical ‘finder’s luck’ Ghislain Mahy managed to acquire three: two type 780s, of which only 303 were built, and one Horch 853, of which 950 were made between 1936 and the start of the Second World War. After the war, the Horch factory in Zwickau was on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain and was converted to production of the less impressive Trabant.
Mahy’s Horch 853 was first bought in 1937 by the Austrian actor Willi Forst. Forst’s starring roles in melodramatic box-office hits made him hugely popular with the public and brought him to the attention of the Nazis, who saw him as a useful propaganda tool. Like his co-star, Marlene Dietrich, he was able to resist their blandishments, but as a result he soon found himself out of favour with the regime – and out of work. His cabriolet with its fine leather seats passed into military hands and saw service in occupied Belgium, where it was abandoned in a barn when the Germans withdrew in 1944. By the time Mahy tracked it down some two decades later, it was on the point of being sent to the scrapyard.
Or tracked down its body, at least. Its original giant 4.9 liter engine had been replaced by a much smaller Standard, which swam in the oceans of space under the bonnet. This was far more economical to run than the huge straight 8 that had once needed 22 litres of petrol per 100 kilometres to give this powerful cabriolet its speed. Not long after the 853 was installed at the Winter Circus, Mahy was asked if he would be prepared to parade the car through the streets of Ghent to promote The Longest Day, a star-studded film about the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944. Ghislain had been given a bit-part as the driver of the German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, played by Werner Hinz. In the film, Mahy drove Rommel home in the Horch 780 to celebrate his wife’s birthday, not knowing it was the eve of D-Day. Using the same Horch to drum up interest for the film seemed like a logical choice. But the stubborn Mahy, having just manoeuvred the car into its new position in the garage, was unwilling to manoeuvre it out again. As a result, he rode in the parade with his Horch 853, cruising the 2.5 ton German giant through the streets at a snail’s pace. The tiny Standard engine just couldn’t go any faster!
4.955 cc
8 In-line
120 hp
Mahy - a Family of Cars
09/09/2021 - 31/10/2021
Vynckier Site
Nieuwevaart 51-53
Gent
Belgium
Horch 853 Sport-Cabriolet - 1937
By the 1960s, this pre-war Horch had become something of a rarity. Even so, with his typical ‘finder’s luck’ Ghislain Mahy managed to acquire three: two type 780s, of which only 303 were built, and one Horch 853, of which 950 were made between 1936 and the start of the Second World War. After the war, the Horch factory in Zwickau was on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain and was converted to production of the less impressive Trabant.
Mahy’s Horch 853 was first bought in 1937 by the Austrian actor Willi Forst. Forst’s starring roles in melodramatic box-office hits made him hugely popular with the public and brought him to the attention of the Nazis, who saw him as a useful propaganda tool. Like his co-star, Marlene Dietrich, he was able to resist their blandishments, but as a result he soon found himself out of favour with the regime – and out of work. His cabriolet with its fine leather seats passed into military hands and saw service in occupied Belgium, where it was abandoned in a barn when the Germans withdrew in 1944. By the time Mahy tracked it down some two decades later, it was on the point of being sent to the scrapyard.
Or tracked down its body, at least. Its original giant 4.9 liter engine had been replaced by a much smaller Standard, which swam in the oceans of space under the bonnet. This was far more economical to run than the huge straight 8 that had once needed 22 litres of petrol per 100 kilometres to give this powerful cabriolet its speed. Not long after the 853 was installed at the Winter Circus, Mahy was asked if he would be prepared to parade the car through the streets of Ghent to promote The Longest Day, a star-studded film about the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944. Ghislain had been given a bit-part as the driver of the German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, played by Werner Hinz. In the film, Mahy drove Rommel home in the Horch 780 to celebrate his wife’s birthday, not knowing it was the eve of D-Day. Using the same Horch to drum up interest for the film seemed like a logical choice. But the stubborn Mahy, having just manoeuvred the car into its new position in the garage, was unwilling to manoeuvre it out again. As a result, he rode in the parade with his Horch 853, cruising the 2.5 ton German giant through the streets at a snail’s pace. The tiny Standard engine just couldn’t go any faster!
4.955 cc
8 In-line
120 hp
Mahy - a Family of Cars
09/09/2021 - 31/10/2021
Vynckier Site
Nieuwevaart 51-53
Gent
Belgium