images: Autobild.de via Myles Kornblatt
(first posted 7/21/2014) Bruce Mohs was obviously a visionary, anticipating future automotive trends long before they took root. That probably explains why no one actually bought any of his Ostentatienne Opera Sedans back in 1967; it was just too far ahead of its time, although I could well see the Beatles driving a psychedelic-painted one in their Magical Mystery Tour movie.
It had all the requisite features of a blinged-out Escalade: a genuine truck chassis by International, giant 20″ wheels, over-the top styling and gobs of bling and gold. But the Ostentatienne went even further than that; it had such an overwhelming presence, one that would make it the ultimate “look-at-me-mobile” today. Maybe its time has finally come.
Mohs owned a seaplane service company in Madison, Wisconsin. Just how he happened upon the idea of the Ostentatienne Opera Sedan is a matter of wild speculation; but then LSD was still legal in 1967.
The Ostentatienne was built on an International truck chassis with a 119″ wheelbase, and measured a massive 90″ wide, 69″ tall, 246″ long, and weighed some 6100 lbs. As best as I can tell, its front axle was also a truck solid beam unit. The Opera Sedan must have been a leisurely affair, as it was powered by a 250 hp 304 CID V8. Seems to me that the Ostentatienne deserved to have had the really big 549 CID big International V8; now that would have done the massive hood justice.
The only entrance was a fold-up central rear door, which allowed heavy steel girders to be placed on the sides of the body as a safety feature.
The actual seating space for such a monstrous car is not all that generous. But the visibility is splendid.
Given the lack of real pillars, the roof appears to be cantilevered. Mohs was a bit obsessed on safety, which explains some of the protuberances and such. But the cantilevered roof probably didn’t give much roll-over protection.
But there’s genuine walnut on the dash. There’s also 110V power, a fridge, and other amenities not customary in mere automobiles, like “isle lights” (SIC). Maybe that’s something seaplanes have, to light up an island?
Was the Mohs the true inspiration for the whole pimp-mobile/Superfly era that soon came to dominate our urban automotive culture? It certainly seems that way, given the timing. Let’s stop giving the Mark III or Eldorado the credit for that. Who would have imagined Madison, Wisconsin being the source of such a major design trend?
I remember reading about the Mohs in 1967, in a Car and Driver article. It left an indelible impression, needless to say. Only this one prototype was ever built, which given its original asking price of $19,600 ($135k adjusted) is not too surprising. But nowadays plenty of blingy luxury cars sticker for that and more, which makes the Ostentatienne look almost like a bargain. Where can one buy this kind of exclusivity for that?
And with a rear entrance at that.
The prototype, still owned by Bruce Mohs, was looking something less than ostentatious after being stored for decades, so in 2009, two Wisconsin high schools undertook a restoration.
The 20″ truck wheels are very obvious without their wheel covers. And the Mohs is still riding on its original 20″ whitewall truck tires; good luck finding replacements for those. But the Ostentatienne Opera Sedan is roadworthy again, and Bruce Mohs can once again ply the ‘hoods of Madison in the style that he is accustomed to. I’d suggest keeping the speed down a bit, given those 47 year old tires.
If that wasn’t enough, Mohs was back at it in 1973 with the Safarikar. The front end looks rather familiar, but the rest was a cornucopia of the absurd. Just what did they put in the water up in Madison? The Safarikar was less ambitious, obviously based on an International Travelall. It was a “dual cowl phaeton, with “skin” of Naugahyde stretched over foam padding. A safety feature? The doors opened outwards on sliding rods, again for alleged side-impact protection. Must have been fun stepping over those rods to get out or in. Not very safe…
I’ll let this poster speak for itself. I thought the Safarikar was a bit of a let-down after the Ostentatienne, but how could that possibly be topped? Mohs should have quit while he was ahead; there was simply no way to top the Ostentatienne, then or now.
More Ostentatienne Opera Sedan images found at autobild.de
Related reading:
Seeing that the car was manufactured by the Mohs Seaplane Corporation, I’m surprised that it wasn’t amphibious like the Amphicar!
Didn’t it have nitrogen filled tyres?
That’s one of the few practical details.
90″ wide?! How was that road legal?
Back then, the maximum width for trucks was 96″. This was built on an IH truck chassis, and undoubtedly titled as such. A re-bodied truck.
I got to see a SafariKar up close at the Imperial Palace Auto Collection in Las Vegas back in 1989. Closeness doesn’t help – it was still hideous. Sadly, the collection closed its doors a few years back.
One showed up at the big Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) fall meet in Hershey a few years ago.
I’m just a bit surprised they would entrust the restoration of such a unique vehicle to a high school?
But then again, what an experience for those students.
Who else would touch it?
But seriously, the high school that did the resto was in Wisconsin and Bruce Mohs was a Wisconsin guy.
It’s funny, these cars came out when I was at the height of my consumption of Road & Track, plus British magazines like Motorsport, even the German Auto Motor und Sport. It was not covered in those publications.
By the way, I have had Mohs surgery. If the two Mohs are related, it’s a good thing that the surgeon had the talent for precision and subtlety, which is what Mohs surgery is all about. Not words one would use to describe anything about these cars.
It most certainly wasn’t covered by the publications you listed. Why would it? Completely outside of their focus, especially the European ones.
But Car and Driver certainly did, which is where I first read about it. And some others too.
The Ostentatienne’s high cowl to low beltline transition is done more deftly than a lot of production cars.
I blame the caste system. And Gerry Anderson. And the Midwest.
Twenty years earlier (1947), 14-year-old Mohs had created this in the HS shop in Madison, WI—and it made it to the Petersen museum pretty recently: https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/doug_moe/doug-moe-madison-made–foot-scooter-gets-new-life/article_16662b8c-9de7-11e0-9abf-001cc4c002e0.html
Mr. Mohs and his doings appeared in the Madison State Journal now and then–interesting/eccentric guy. (BTW, the paper always says there was just this *one* copy of the car.) Here’s some of his 1987 activity:
Just the thing to park next to your SafariKar. Bill Gelbke’s Roadog. Obviously drug use was rampant in the 1960s!
“I got to see a SafariKar up close at the Imperial Palace Auto Collection in Las Vegas back in 1989. Closeness doesn’t help – it was still hideous. Sadly, the collection closed its doors a few years back.”
I knew I’d seen it somewhere. I attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas from 1981-2001 and always tried to wander through the Imperial Palace collection. It was quite an exhibit in it’s time including several Duesenbergs.
That rear entry is kind of Gerry Anderson-ish
I think its not nearly mean and angry looking enough to sell to the public. Connect it to the interwebs (a series of tubes!) and blueteeth it up and watch them fly off the (very large) shelves! Call it the Armageddon Mark I.
International Van den Plas.
“but then LSD was still legal in 1967”
Anything’s legal till you get busted.
From what I’ve found LSD was banned in 1967.
Like that made a difference?
LSD became illegal in the US on October 24, 1968.
But I’m not really sure what your point is.
Some more Mohs from the (Madison, WI) paper, 1979. If I read things right, the Wienermobile was in his museum’s collection–though he had nothing to do with its construction.
Perhaps if he hadn’t gotten the national attention by Car & Driver, this would be just one of a zillion forgotten one-offs:
[Part one of two]
[Part two]
Someone taking up your disabled parking spaces? “I’ll show them disabled.”
I met the man and his wife in Madison. Different .
This IS a joke, right?
“Nothing exceeds like excess.”
Yes. I was also thinking the road to excess leads to success, though in this case maybe not. I’ll bet that car would be a real honker with a 549 in it.
I remember seeing a number of bizarre over the top cars in the magazines in the late 70s, early 80s. Even saw a couple of them in the steel living in South Lake Tahoe at the time, a casino town and where there are casinos there is on occasion too much money and assuredly bad taste. But this is the most bizarre I’ve seen. That grill. ARgggg. It makes National Lampoon’s Family Truckster look positively understated. I’d rather be seen in a Pontiac Aztek.
Press it before it can cause damage. Be it physical, be it mental.
Guess they thought this was a good idea at the time. Not so much now!
Remember being in an older “import car”, of some kind. had those “toggle switches across the dash. Maybe an old “Vdub”, of some type?
H’mm that;s gonna bug me..lol
This car looks so “homemade”. Thinking it “rattles: a lot.
“Remember being in an older “import car”, of some kind. had those “toggle switches across the dash.”
Volvo 200 series ?