Zimmer (automobile manufacturer)

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emblem
Golden Spirit room
Showroom in Jeddah , Saudi Arabia
A wedding limousine from Zimmer

Zimmer was an American neo-classic automaker. The brand name was Zimmer .

history

On March 26, 1980, Paul H. Zimmer founded the Zimmer Motor Cars Corporation as a family-run manufacturer of neoclassical automobiles. The seat was in Pompano Beach , Florida . The idea to build such vehicles arose during a joint dinner between Paul H. Zimmer and his son Bob, at which Paul sketched a vehicle design on a serving table that was implemented with the Golden Spirit. At its peak in the 1980s, the company had 175 employees, annual sales of $ 25 million and was highly profitable. In 1988, Bob Zimmer sold his shares to take over a car dealership. Shortly thereafter, his father Paul Zimmer withdrew from the company after a serious heart attack . A group of employees and board members tried to continue operations, but were unable to compensate for the loss of important family members, so the company went bankrupt and the parent company Zimmer Corporation with an annual turnover of 325 million dollars went bankrupt.

New beginning

In September 1996, Art Zimmer, who was not related to the founding family Zimmer, found out about the car brand that bore his surname at a local car dealer and bought the Silver Spirit offered there. He then founded the Zimmer Motor Car Club for owners of Zimmer cars, which had 500 members in 2001 and over 700 in 2006. He later acquired the naming rights to Zimmer Motor Cars and various materials from the former Zimmer Motorcars Corporation. On April 24, 1997 he founded the Art Zimmer Neo-Classic Motor Car Company Ltd. in Hamilton in the state of New York The manufacturer himself specifies the name Zimmer Motor Car Company and the headquarters in Closter in New Jersey . The company's manufacturing facilities were established in Cambridge , Maryland and in December 1998 the first new Zimmer Golden Spirit was completed and shipped. In the years that followed, the company produced around 10 to 20 vehicles a year. On June 15, 2018, the company was dissolved.

Models

Zimmer essentially produced two series of models. The production was always made to individual orders and taking into account the equipment requirements of the customer, who thus received a luxury vehicle tailored to him. The vehicles were sold through a dealer network with several branches in the United States and also outside, for example in Saudi Arabia .

Golden Spirit

The Golden Spirit was the flagship of Zimmer Motorcars Corporation. The vehicle, based on the retro design of the 1930s, was built from 1978 to 1988 as a coupé and sedan in more than 1,500 copies. The two-door Golden Spirit was based on the chassis and drive train of the Ford Mustang , the frame of which was lengthened to the desired wheelbase on which the body was built. The four-door models were based on the Lincoln Town Car , also from the Ford group. The vehicle identification numbers of the original vehicles were retained as they met all of the security features required in the USA at the time. Both vehicles had the advantage that they could be repaired and serviced in Ford or Lincoln-Mercury workshops with original spare parts.

QuickSilver

Room QuickSilver

The second model was the QuickSilver (own spelling; German : Mercury ), a sports coupé with a mid-engine that was built between 1984 and 1988. In the four years of its production, approximately 170 vehicles were built at retail prices between $ 48,000 and $ 52,000 . The QuickSilver is based on the Pontiac Fiero, which is 40 cm longer in front of the A-pillar . It is a classic design of the late 1970s and early 1980s with a long pointed front end, a striking chrome - grille and retractable headlights . The Quicksilver had a length of 4,795 mm, a width of 1,800 and a height of 1,210 mm with a wheelbase of 2,780 mm. The curb weight was 1,325 kg. As with the Pontiac Fiero, the body was made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic . The vehicle was supposed to compete in the upper-class segment or personal luxury cars , but in direct comparison with the competition it was for a sports coupé with its V6 petrol engine with 2.8 liters displacement and only about 140 hp (103 kW) and a maximum torque of 231  Nm clearly underpowered. The car, powered by a 3-speed automatic transmission via the rear wheels, achieved a top speed of 195 km / h and an acceleration from 0 to 60 mph (97 km / h) in 10 seconds. The radiator and a jagged trunk for small luggage were housed under the front-hinged hood of the long front end, and another overhead locker was behind the engine in the rear of the vehicle. The interior consisted largely of upgraded standard parts from the Fiero.

Trivia

Prominent room owners were or are Shaquille O'Neal , Hulk Hogan , Dean Martin , Frank Sinatra , Dolly Parton , Liberace , Willie Nelson , Sylvester Stallone , Jesse Ventura , Jackie Gleason , Matthew Broderick , Bill Monroe and Chuck Connors .

literature

  • Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 , chapter rooms.
  • George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Volume 3: P – Z. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , p. 1787 (English)

Web links

Commons : Zimmer  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 , chapter rooms.
  2. ^ A b George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , p. 1787 (English)
  3. ↑ opencorporates.com to Zimmer Motor Cars Corporation (accessed December 26, 2016)
  4. ↑ a b Sandra Scott: Art Zimmer's Golden Spirit. In: TravelLady Magazine. December 14, 2006, archived from the original on August 29, 2008 ; accessed on March 27, 2020 (English).
  5. ↑ opencorporates.com to Art Zimmer Neo-Classic Motor Car Company (accessed December 26, 2016)
  6. ↑ Information from the manufacturer (accessed on December 26, 2016)
  7. ↑ NYS Department of State Division of Corporations Entity Information (accessed March 28, 2020)
  8. ↑ a b Ben Branch: The Zimmer Quicksilver - Mid-Engined - Extremely Rare - 100% American. In: Silodrome. 2019, accessed on March 26, 2020 .
  9. ^ A b Daniel Koch: Zimmer Quicksilver - eccentric coupé from Florida. In: Zwischengas.com. December 24, 2019, accessed March 26, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Zimmer Quicksliver (1987). In: AllCarIndex. Retrieved March 26, 2020 .