1937 Horch 853 Sport Cabriolet

August Horch began building motorcars in 1899 and engineered many groundbreaking designs before leaving his namesake company in 1909 to set up Audi - which was later sold back to Horch, which then traded with DKW and Wanderer as Auto Union. Production of Horch models continued separately, and in 1935 a short-wheelbase 850 model was introduced that was said to offer Mercedes-Benz style and luxury at a more competitive price. Horch introduced the 853 model in 1937 and, fitted with a more powerful 120-horsepower engine, production lasted until 1939.

Particularly popular among the wealthiest European motoring connoisseurs was the Horch 853A Sport Cabriolet bodied by Glaser. Of the fewer than 50 surviving examples, the ones that fared best were those brought into the United States following World War II.

This car is one of 50 surviving examples of the Horch 853 Sport Cabriolet. It was bodied by Glaser-Karosserie of Dresden and originally delivered by Mertz & Pabst of Stuttgart, a firm that remains in operation today. The car was brought to the United States in 1945 by a returning army officer, then was sold in the early 1960s to Walter Sodano, a Horch collector who kept it alongside an identical 853 Cabriolet until 1999, when both cars were sold to Butch Gordon of the Manchester Motor Car Company. The car went to a Belgian collector in 2004, to Silvia and Dieter Roth of Germany in 2011, and was brought back to the United States by its current owners in 2016. It has now been fully restored.

Aiming for a more comprehensive restoration, exhaustive research was performed, including finding and photographing an original 853 Cabriolet in great detail. This car retains its original chassis, engine, and body, as well as its original identification tags. Great care has been taken to ensure that the vehicle remains as correct as possible.