The Tool Desk
Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →The car was a German coachbuilt custom, not a factory Cadillac: the 1957 Spohn DV-13 paired a 1939 Ford chassis with a Cadillac 331-cubic-inch V8. Spohn built custom bodies for American servicemen stationed in postwar Germany, and this unusual convertible is one example of that work.
What was the Spohn DV-13?
The DV-13 was a one-off-style coachbuilt car: Spohn made a custom body to fit an existing chassis rather than building a complete car around a factory-designed platform. The documented 1957 convertible used a 1939 Ford chassis, a Ford three-speed manual transmission, hydraulic drum brakes and seating for four. Its engine was a Cadillac 331-cubic-inch V8, reported by the auction listing as believed to have come from a 1953 Cadillac. Bring a Trailer’s listing provides the specific configuration.
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That mix of parts matters. The car was built by German coachbuilder Spohn, but its Ford chassis and Cadillac engine do not make it a Ford or Cadillac production model. The listing’s qualification—“believed” to be from a 1953 Cadillac—is not an independently established engine history.
Why were American soldiers commissioning cars in Germany?
Spohn’s postwar customers included American servicemen stationed in Germany, who commissioned custom bodies to their own specifications. The auction listing describes this clientele, while a later historical account connects the work to arrangements for returning military personnel and their possessions. That shipping explanation is secondary-source context, not evidence that every serviceman could ship any car home under a universal policy. AutoHiker’s account of Spohn’s postwar work discusses the connection.
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- Scale: 1/25
- Skill Level: 2 (ages 10 and up)
- Glue assembly, paint required
- Molded in blue and clear with chrome and black vinyl tires
The DV-13 therefore reflects a particular postwar setting: American buyers abroad, a German coachbuilding shop, and components drawn from existing American cars. The available accounts do not identify a specific soldier as the original commissioner or owner of this example.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How does the Cadillac V8 fit the timeline?
Cadillac’s production history helps explain why an engine from the early postwar period could appear in a later custom. General Motors says Cadillac produced no new models from 1943 through 1945 as manufacturing capacity supported the U.S. war effort; passenger cars returned for 1946 as facelifted 1942 models. Cadillac introduced its modern overhead-valve V8 in 1949. GM gives that engine’s specifications as 331 cubic inches (5.4 liters) and 160 horsepower. Cadillac’s 2022 timeline supplies this corporate-history context.
Those specifications describe the engine family as GM presents it; they are not a test or confirmed output figure for the engine installed in this DV-13. The auction listing’s belief that the installed unit came from a 1953 Cadillac is not enough to establish its exact condition, specification or intervening history.
How rare was the DV-13, and what did this example sell for?
Bring a Trailer described the DV-13 as one of fewer than two dozen examples believed to have been built. That is an estimate, not a verified production ledger. The featured car sold on the site on June 12, 2025, for $66,000. That records one completed auction transaction on that date; it is not a current valuation or a price guide for other Spohn customs. The auction listing records both the estimate and sale.
Secondary accounts place the end of Spohn’s postwar work by 1957, putting the DV-13 in the company’s final period. The surviving evidence supports its importance as an unusual late Spohn custom, but not a precise total for how many were built or a definitive history for every component.
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