This is the story of a racecar-like roadster that has been attracting the attention of automotive writers for at least 56 years, if not longer. We say “if not longer”: because the very early history of the car is a little cloudy, so who knows what was said early on? In 1960, the car was featured in the November issue of Hot Rod Magazine. Carl Hawks, of Albuquerque, NM owned it at that time.
According to current owner Bill Hebal, of Door County, WI, Hawks bought the car, in 1949, from a Tucker automobile dealer in Chicago. Hebal has the old bill of sale for that transaction. The car remained in Albuquerque until Hebal — a long-time fan of postwar “sports roadster” type cars — took possession.
In 2013, Hebal took his Reichenbach roadster to a concours in Milwaukee where automotive historian Geoffrey Hacker saw it. Hacker dug up the 1950 article and put it on his Forgotten Fiberglass site (www.forgottenfiberglass.com) even though the car has an aluminum body, rather than a fiberglass shell.
Up to this point the history of the car was still sketchy. Hebal knew it had been built by the Reichenbach Brothers of Chicago and that it had been commissioned by a customer wanting “a race car that could be street driven.”
A man named Glenn Brummer read Hacker’s 2013 post and did a Google search. He learned it was built by Max and Elmer Reichenbach, who operated a shop on South Komensky Ave. in Chicago. Brummer discovered that the Reichenbach Brothers also built the KB Special, a midget racing car.
A man named Chuck Rahn also responded to Hacker’s blog. “The Reichenbachs did build the body,” he agreed. “If you look at midgets they built, you’ll see design features that are the same or close.” Rahn said he didn’t know Elmer Reichenbach, but he knew Max, who he had become good friends with.
“We lived under a mile apart in Villa Park, IL,” Rahn explained. “Max could build anything and was a great panel beater. He had a shop behind his house. I’d go there and it wasn’t unusual to see him making a Ferrari fender or other body parts. Max was one in million; he’d do anything for anyone and had real talent.”
Rahn said that Max Reichenbach would acetylene weld aluminum for him. “I asked him to weld an aluminum dry sump tank I was making,” said Rahn. “He said, ‘I’m not going to weld it for you, I will show how to weld it.’” Rahn said that after a little instruction, he got good at welding. “Back then we traded our skills,” he recalled. “Max’s son-in-law Bill Kruger used to drive Max’s midget racer.”
Hebal loaned Hawk another car as part of the deal to get the Reichenbach roadster. “I have had the pleasure of owning a number of sports roadster cars that were featured in magazines years ago,” he told Speedville. “I have bought them, enjoyed them and sold them to other collectors. These cars represent a special niche in American automotive history and they’re one-of-a-kind cars.”
Article courtesy Speedville.
