Restored Rommel's headquarter vehicles

The exhibition “KM War & Peace” is a regular and always invites the rarest military vehicles. On this exhibition, on July 23, 2006, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's headquarters machine was presented.

The photograph shows Rommel’s headquarters car in the Western Desert - Horch Field Marshal Kfz 21 Cabriolet heading for the UK exhibition. Completely refurbished, this masterpiece is the property of Michael Gibb.

This car added to Michael's collection in 1997 after making a deal with a collector in Frankfurt, who insisted that Michael buy a car. Before that, the car was cleaned, then the interior trim, and even the steering wheel, was completely replaced. Upon returning to the UK, Michael began studying the history of the car and was shocked to establish its authenticity.

Michael said: “I could not believe that I was fortunate enough to stumble upon Rommel’s headquarters, given that at the beginning I was hesitant about it. Only 36 of Horch officer off-road vehicles were produced. A month later, after studying the photos, body and chassis numbers, I finally established the fact of authenticity.”

After the war, in 1945, a new car owner, a British officer, overtook it from Libya to Kenya, where the car was used as a hunting vehicle on a farm. Next, the car found its new home in Germany, then in England and again in Germany, where eventually the car underwent a complete restoration, which took 4 years.

The first public appearance of Horch took place on April 6 at “Techno Classic” in Germany. The car was driven personally by Hellmut von Leipzig, the driver of Rommel in the Afrika Korps in 1942-1943. Especially in order to get back behind the wheel of this car, for the first time since World War II, he returned to Germany from his farm in Nambia. Then from there the car went to Britain for the exhibition “KM War & Peace 2006”.

For 4 years, the restoration of Michael and the company from Germany collaborated with Mr. von Leipzig, collectors and museums, including the Audi Museum, to certify maximum identity.

Michael commented on this project: “This rare vehicle is the result of the team’s incredible efforts. We spent considerable time looking for spare parts and information necessary for the reconstruction of this car, since initially we had nothing to begin with. What we see is the reward of our entire team.”

Then the car participated in the tank festival “Tankfest 2010”, organized with the support of the Tank Museum in July 2010 in the English city of Dorset.

The photos below show exactly that restored Rommel's headquarters vehicle, which was attacked by fighter aircrafts in Normandy, and also another Rommel's headquarters vehicle in Tripoli in 1941.