![The Dannenhauer & Stauss Sportkabriolett Classic & Sports Car – Seventy years in the making: Dannenhauer & Stauss Sportkabriolett](/sites/default/files/styles/article/public/2022-11/Classic%20%26%20Sports%20Car%20%E2%80%93%20Seventy%20years%20in%20the%20making%20%E2%80%93%20Dannenhauer%20%26%20Stauss%20Sportkabriolett%20%E2%80%93%2005.png?itok=6KBos9tg)
You can’t keep sports cars down for long.
From the ruins of war, various coachbuilders in Germany and Austria were building roadsters and coupés on the running gear of the relaunched Volkswagen by 1950.
Porsche had hired Reutter of Stuttgart to build bodies for the 356, having taken two years to create the first 50 by itself in Gmünd, Austria.
Making such cars at a lesser rate – although not drastically so – was Dannenhauer & Stauss.
![This Dannenhauer & Stauss Sportkabriolett was restored by VW specialist and fanatic Mark Reynolds Classic & Sports Car – Seventy years in the making: Dannenhauer & Stauss Sportkabriolett](/sites/default/files/2022-11/Classic%20%26%20Sports%20Car%20%E2%80%93%20Seventy%20years%20in%20the%20making%20%E2%80%93%20Dannenhauer%20%26%20Stauss%20Sportkabriolett%20%E2%80%93%2011.png)
This immaculate Dannenhauer & Stauss has been restored by air-cooled VW specialist Mark Reynolds
Having worked on the bodies of the KdF-Wagen prototypes with Reutter before the war, Gottfried Dannenhauer knew how to take apart a Beetle better than most.
With the new Federal Republic of Germany founded in May 1949, Dannenhauer could see a return to normality and, with that, demand for a drop-top sports car based on the ubiquitous and well-supported Volkswagen.
Son-in-law Kurt Stauss, also an accomplished panelbeater and mechanic, joined the venture, and the pair set up shop in Stuttgart.
![Mark Reynolds’ very rare Dannenhauer & Stauss Sportkabriolett still has plenty of period details Classic & Sports Car – Seventy years in the making: Dannenhauer & Stauss Sportkabriolett](/sites/default/files/2022-12/Classic%20%26%20Sports%20Car%20%E2%80%93%20Seventy%20years%20in%20the%20making%20%E2%80%93%20Dannenhauer%20%26%20Stauss%20Sportkabriolett%20%E2%80%93%2009.png)
Simple but high-quality period details remain throughout Mark Reynolds’ D&S Sportkabriolett