Oh joy! A car that we’ve never seen before has appeared at the Cohort, thanks to Matt Z. And not just any car, but another from that golden era of American retro-kitschmobiles, in this case a Johnson Phantom. Oh my, what an inspired and elegant thing it is indeed. And ever so rare: only 60 of these were built in the 80s and 90s, based obviously on the GM F-Body, the Firebird specifically. Why a Firebird and not a Camaro? You may well ask. But I doubt you’ll get an answer, as the phones at Johnson Automotive are not getting answered these days.
A very impressive front end, complete with four trumpets to play your favorite fanfare. Probably not the Fanfare for the Common Man.
Now I know why they chose the Firebird; because its interior was significantly better than the RubberMaid one in the Camaro. This one looks to have been enhanced a bit further. (Update: this is a Camaro dash, so presumably the Phantom was based on it and not the Firebird. Makes sense.)
And bringing up the rear is this delightful little butt.
If you’re as moved as I am and have an extra $45k burning a hole in your pocket, there’s one for sale here at Hemmings. But better hurry, because I’m counting up my pennies.
Consulting designers were Luigi Colani and Bruce McCall, no doubt ; )
And Dirk Diggler
It is amazing how these brougham kits seemed so popular. What was it about this look that was so appealing? That said, this looks quite legit compared to other kits. Sorry, but unless this was owned by someone like Richard Simmons or Cher – it isn’t worth the asking price.
Maybe this is a symptom of aging, but I have to say this actually looks good to me–a lot better than the Stutz and other similar hack-jobs. How does it drive? I’m sure a review would be entertaining, but looks-wise, not bad at all!
The horns are a bit much, and it appears to be missing a front bumper (good luck sourcing that), but I agree it’s not bad at all as these things go. It’s always the interior that gives away the game. From inside, it’s very obvious you are sitting in an F-body with a lot of cosmetic surgery.
$45k. High price to drive along in a Firebird interior with a bit of wood and a Nardi steering wheel. Tacky. The only Replicamobiles that worked were the Excalliber. The out side mounted coil exhaust worked so well the cars did not need cats.
Great find and bio info. It would have made a good movie prop. Perhaps, for a comedy-musical of the ’70s/early ’80s like the Bee Gees Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band movie.
“A car that we’ve never seen before”. And hopefully never will!
I am highly tempted to post my saved picture of a projectile hurling man that got me in such hot water with Paul a few years ago….but I won’t. (Unless someone requests the pic.)
I do believe it would be a fitting and proper reaction to this article’s car.
Am I missing something? It looks like a Camaro dashboard and console to me. Either way, this was never something I’d find even remotely appealing.
I guess the info I read on it was incorrect. I’ll amend the text.
Ummm, That is a Camaro dash, not a Firebird dash
Would love to see what kind of hack job they did to extend the wheelbase.
Really amazing that people actually thought this kind of crap was going to sell.
Clenet sold over 500 similar cars. Excaliber sold over 3,500. Zimmer sold about 1,500 of their Golden Spirit flagship model. Panther also had an enduring business building neo-classics in England.
With that amount of wheelbase extension, I bet it twists like a cheap ice tray. I can’t say exactly, but I’m guessing the extension at about 20″ or so, and I doubt it could easily be braced into resembling the original stiffness. There’s no way this handles well, but it’d be easy to control in a drift with that length, provided you could get it started.
Why were 99% of these classical retro conversions painted white? It’s hard to get past all the cornball kitschy elements but maybe if they were painted with some other colors with a tasteful two tone they’d come off a little better.
I’d really like to scrutinize the engineering of one of these things some day, just imagine things like the 6 foot long steering linkage and how the frame rails were adapted to the original unibody chassis!
None of these types of cars were ever my cup of tea, but then again I also detest all the over the top junk so many added to Cadillac’s and Lincolns over the years. Nothing has turned me away from a car ad faster than when I’m clicking through the pics only to find a “hey, look at me” grille or spare tire/trunk kit. And since I’m a Cadillac Cimarron nut, it was the worst of the worst to see people doing that to the Cimarron’s.
I will admit that over the years, there’s been about 2 or 3 of these kit cars (or whatever you call them) that I actually found to be tolerable at best. I guess all this just goes to show that people do like to have something that stands out from the crowds.
Never seen before and thats a good thing, I have to admit it isnt a kitchy as some of these horrors but I would not want one.
Don’t worry Paul, I’m not bidding against you.
If it had ELP’s Fanfare for the Common Man…..
Here you go!
For those who can’t live without this, it may be for sale!
The sign in front of it in the one picture simply says “for sale” along a phone number. This sign has been there for a while with the red Chevy and then the subject car just happened to show up. Given how it’s parked, along with the tow strap attached to the front of it, I’m not sure of the status of it.
I wanted to check out what it looked like underneath, but the ground was really wet. If it’s still there next week when I go through that area again, I may take a closer look.
This generation of F Body, pre ’83, had a front sub frame that was attached by four bolts. The sub frame rails only had to be extended before the suspension mounts. The early Seville shared the same set up, they were also extended in a similar manner.
Matters of taste aside, these conversions seem to fill some buyer’s need. Anyone that could afford one of these, could probably have afforded to buy a Mercedes or big Beemer. I imagine that somebody wanted a modern “Klassic” that could be serviced at the corner garage.