A luxurious high-performance four seater, with a removable hardtop and solid American production-car underpinnings. Sounds like a winning combination. But as Earl “Madman” Muntz soon found it, it was a money-losing proposition. But he didn’t care, and just kept making them anyway until he finally gave up in 1954.
He had good company, as he was hardly the first—or last—to be sucked into the ego-driven financial black hole of building a car with your name on it.
It’s not like Muntz didn’t know what he was getting into, which was the Kurtis Sport Car, a money-losing two-seater that race car builder Frank Kurtis had started building in 1949, using a ’49 Ford chassis and drive train as its basis. Its price was $3495, the same as the superb new Jaguar XK-120. In order to make the base 100 hp flathead Ford V8 even remotely competitive, it needed to be hopped up, up to some 160 hp, but that pushed the price close to $5000; in other words, not even remotely competitive to the Jaguar. Only some 18-36 of them were ever sold, either fully assembled or kits.
So Kurtis bailed, selling the manufacturing rights, blueprints, parts and tooling to Earl Muntz for $200,000, who had made a fortune selling used and new cars. His tactic for selling cars were ahead of the times, creating attention and spectacles in any way he could, through stunts and such, heavily promoted on radio and tv. He was convinced he could sell the Jet too, even if it was to a different market.
Muntz’ two dealerships in Los Angeles were the world’s largest, and became tourist attractions. One of his notorious Madman Muntz used-car TV pitches was “I buy ’em retail and sell ’em wholesale … it’s more fun that way! He would soon be able to say that with a straight face regarding the Jet.
A small production facility was set up in Glendale, CA. The wheelbase was stretched to 113″, in order to make it a four-seater. The new Cadillac 331 V8 and Hydramatic transmission were bought and installed, making these pretty lively, with a top speed of some 115-125 mph. A three speed manual was also available.
There was no room behind the rear seat for a folding soft top, so the top had be lifted off, and apparently had a rigid steel structure despite the external appearance of being a soft top.
The dash was very straightforward, a machine turned plate which held a complete set of SW instruments.
The back seat was just barely adequate in terms of space, and after production was moved to Illinois in 1951, the wheelbase was increased to 116″ to improve on that, and steel was used for body panels instead of aluminum.
Since these were built in very small numbers, there’s a wide range of details and interiors.
The Illinois-built Jets also switched to the Lincoln 337 CID flathead V8, still with the Hydramatic. It too was rated at 160 hp. Options to increase power were also available, and supposedly two Jets were built near the end of their run with 331 Chrysler hemis.
Production costs were way too high, and Muntz lost money on every one, ultimately some $400k in total, on 198 Jets built, or some $2000 per car. I buy them at retail and sell them at wholesale. True That.
Some see the Jet was the precursor to the Thunderbird, the four passenger one, I assume. There’s some logic to that, but I doubt Ford was looking at the Jet when it decided to go that route.
Although the format is a bit different, I’d say it’s more of a precursor to cars like the Bricklin and DeLorean, in that both of those were trying to compete against mass-production sports cars without having the benefits of scale, especially so in the case of the Bricklin.
No need to shed any tears for Muntz. Already starting in 1947, he was revolutionizing the tv business. He quite brilliantly figured out how to build tvs with only 17 vacuum tubes instead of the 30 or more in his competitors’ sets, and reduced other components too. This allowed him to sell the first tv set for under $100 in 1951, and this large 27″ set for under $200 in 1957. He obviously didn’t spend money on typesetting the text of his ads either.
Muntz also aggressive sold car radios, essentially pioneering the aftermarket car audio business.
In 1962, Muntz again revolutionized the consumer electronics industry with the “Stereo-Pak” 4-track audio tape player, which eventually gave birth to the more popular 8-track player. A brilliant and shrewd businessman, Muntz could afford to indulge his ego on the Jet. Selling to the masses turned out to be a lot easier than to the fickle affluent.
Once again I’ve learnt something new. Thanks Paul. Anyone else see a hint of Citroen DS (pre facelift) in the front end?
I see a bit of Panhard in the styling myself. It definitely has a bit of European flavor to it.
I saw some in the back end.
Fascinating. Never heard of these, nor of Earl Muntz. I find the car oddly fetching, in spite of the frog-eyes and the unique front bumper.
I’ve seen a handful of these, all OHV Cadillac as I recall.
Anyway, what I first noticed and then watched for on other cars was that the engine didn’t seem like it had originally been destined for a Cadillac car.
Details were different, particularly I noticed the front accessory drive. Seemed like it was unnecessarily different from what would be seen in a Cadillac car.
My unsupported-by-data hunch was that the engines had originally been not destined for Cadillac car applications (industrial, military, marine?) and probably were sourced via surplus channels.
Oh my goodness… this explains something from my childhood.
My father would use the term mad-man-Muntz to describe anything he thought was wacky, like “Look at that convoluted heating system, or old jalopy, or barely floating boat; it looks like it was build by mad-man-Muntz”
As a ten year old I didn’t know who Muntz was. I thought my father made him up.
Now – all these years later – I know.
I saw a few of these oddities at shows back in the day. Kind of looked like an early 50’s Hudson or Lincoln to me. Never knew much about the power train.
IMO a beautiful design. I’ve seen one in a magazine resto-modded to a high level. Bill Lear of Learjet fame invented the 4 track tape player and Muntz must have licensed the build of that. Muntz was making large screen tv’s in the early 80s, not sure when they stopped. I also believe that Madman Muntz was either dating or married Phyllis Diller!
Actually, Muntz invented the 8 track and Lear bought the patent and improved on it.
I recall reading about these decades ago, and had forgotten almost everything about them. The only thing that stuck with me was another of Muntz’s advertising lines – something like “I want to give ’em away, but Mrs. Muntz won’t let me. She’s crazy!”
I can see why these were not flying out of the factory by 1951-54. This car’s styling might have been a sensation in 1947 and quite modern in 1949, but the upside down bathtub look was on the way out after 1950. This would certainly have mattered to the market where this car was aimed.
Poor Mrs. Muntz… she seemed to bear the brunt of many of his early ads:
Great article on Madman Muntz. TV’s that could only receive signals in metropolitan areas, but could be sold for less money because they lacked all of the necessary electronics for reception far from the transmitters. Snappy looking automobiles. Stereo tape players. Amazing man!
Bingo! If your customer base lives within the 60 dBu of your signal, why waste tubes on fringe reception? Story goes he often carried a pair of wire clippers, and when he thought that one of his employees was “overengineering” a circuit, he would begin snipping components out until the picture or sound stopped working. At that point, he would tell the engineer “Well, I guess you have to put that last part back in” and walk away.
Our 1st TV was a Muntz. Pulled in 3 channels, but you’d have to move the rabbit ear antenna to switch channels. I recall some masking tape on to of a shelf above the TV showing where to place the rabbit ears for each channel. Pop jokingly referred to it as the Madman Muntz station selector. Never knew Muntz also built cars.
The “Madman” nickname was an apt misnomer – Muntz wasn’t mad, he was a genius. Well, at everything except for the Jet, I suppose.
From what I recall, Muntz’s father owned a store that sold radios, and as a teenager, Muntz would sell radios for his father door-to-door in the Chicago area where he was from originally. He loved radios and cars, and I believe raced cars for a while too as a young man. I believe he opened his first used car dealership when he was in his early 20s in Illinois, and then moved to California shortly thereafter and opened another used car dealer there too.
His full persona, though, was developed along with a business associate he met in California (Michael Shore). The two of them came up with the concept of radio advertising for his used car lot, a novel concept at the time, and they wrote the catchy songs and slogans for which he later became famous. His business took off from there. Muntz and Shore effectively created the loud and crass reputation that used car dealers carried around for decades… for better or for worse. And then he took the same approach to his radio and TV sales.
I think he tried a more subdued approach to marketing the Jet, though I find it funny that his little Napoleon-looking caricature appears at the bottom of the Jet ad that’s shown here (the same caricature as at on the TV ad).
It’s amusing to me though, that the Jet is such as classy-looking car. It’s an outlier in Muntz’s long business career in more ways than one.
The analogy to Bricklin and DeLorean makes sense of course, as an eponymous car that lacked the economies of scale and design/manufacturing and sales infrastructure to succeed, but I’m also reminded of the Cadillac Allante or even the newer retro TBird; a stylish convertible that no one really wanted. I don’t remember Muntz TV’s; perhaps those higher West Coast prices made them less common in California. But Muntz was synonymous with underdash tape players for a while, along with Lear.
And we can’t forget Craig when talking under dash tape players.
The customised Jet that Wayne Carini restored on CCC a few years back was almost un-recognisable, it was so much more attractive .
The bath tub look was once considered futuristic, aerodynamic, and stylish when it debuted in the late 1940’s. Nash, Packard, and especially Ford were quite popular showcasing that look. Back in the 1960’s I had a hard time believing that, as it seemed so antiquated by then. The Kurtis car was styled in that theme because it was a contemporary, forward looking design. So all those funky bath tub cars were all in style at one time. I used to hate the old Porsche 356, now I love them. Maybe I’m ready for a ’49 Packard, which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Muntz.
There’s documentary on Madman Muntz at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deFlB2G0mH8
Good to see his spirit live on in Elon Musk!
Good old under dash 8-track players…by 1981 they were something you bought for $1.00 at a flea market or garage sale as cassettes were the rage…and by 1985 the Compact Disc replaced those… anybody who is a half century old like me should know who Muntz is…
Interesting tale on someone new to me…thanks for sharing.
Neat history! I knew I recognized this as soon as I saw it, as the original Kurtis version was featured in the first Motor Trend issue in 1949. I’m not that old, but this happens to have a disproportionately prominent space in my memory because I remember when MT sent to subscribers in 1999 a reprint of the first issue. They more recently had a feature on the car and a look at the same car recently restored.
https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/1949-kurtis-sport-car-drive/
I find myself wondering if Muntz was the inspiration for The Firesign Theatre’s “Ralph Spoilsport”.
“…fully equipped with Factory Air Conditioned air, from our air conditioned factory…”
“,,,Genuine imitation Masonite, with the look of real wood! …”
No group has ever come close to their type of comedy.
Muntz stereo rang a bell in my head being as how I had moved the the Valley in 1966. That along with Ralph Williams and Cal Worthington. The man had seven wives so I guess they got tired of him or the other way around. Before he died he was leading retailer of cellular phones in LA and the first to sell one under $1000.
His name lives on in connection with car stereos. A son? His sons did keep two stores after he died in Newhall and Van Nuys but this one is in Ventura.
https://muntz-stereo.business.site/
I used to do a lot of driving for my job around Indiana. About 50 miles from my house I could see some old cars in the woods and brush on both sides of the highway. The property came up for sale and they were going to auction the old cars off. I stopped by during preview day and had a look. There was a wide variety of cars of all ages tucked away in the woods and brush along with some tumble down buildings. There was a Model T sedan in an old barn, a couple of American Austin Bantam coupes holding up a shed and many old American sedans along with some later model wrecked cars and trucks. Most were in rough shape but later the sale went well for the owners. Anyway, across the highway from the main area were some cars behind a trailer that I didn’t know were there at first. Imagine my surprise when I happened on a Muntz Jet! It had been there a long time but was still pretty much complete. Someone had installed a ’55 Chevy grill and a few other customization items. I can’t remember what engine it had, though. I sent an email to the Muntz Jet registry or club, I don’t remember which, telling them of the location of the car but never heard back. It sold to someone near Louisville I was told.
This was about 12 or 15 years ago. They never developed the property as planned.
I’ve seen one Muntz Jet in the flesh, and I must say that the car looked even better in person than they do in pictures. It was in a pale yellow color with a red interior, and I think it sported the Cadillac engine. One of my favorite parts was the instrument cluster, as I am a sucker for gauges. Sadly, the car resides in a somewhat poorly lit museum, so I couldn’t get as up close and personal with it as I wanted to… I imagine it would be an entertaining car to drive, too, and it would be all that much neater to be behind the wheel and taking in the sights as you eat up the miles.
The whole Madman Muntz character adds to the mystique, too.
Interesting story. I remember reading about the Kurtis when I was a kid, and how it later became known as the Muntz Jet. Nice looking cars for their time. I also knew about Muntz car stereos, but I didn’t know about Earl Muntz himself. Quite a tale, and a good read with my morning coffee.
Neat ~ nice to see this one survived and has been properly restored .
-Nate