INTERMECCANICA INTERNATIONAL INC.

Frank Reisner, a Canadian born in Hungary, established the Intermeccanica marque in Turin in 1959 and produced a number of memorable sportscars. In 1975 Frank developed what was probably the world’s first Speedster Replica and in 1976 formed Automobili Intermeccanica in partnership with Tony Baumgartner in Santa Ana, California to build Speedsters and about 600 Speedsters were constructed there.

In 1979 Tony Baumgartner bought out Frank Reisner’s 50% share and later sold the Speedster project to Classic Motor Carriages in Florida. CMC produced several hundred more Speedsters before going out of business in 1995.

Frank Reisner moved to Vancouver in 1981 to form Intermeccanica International Inc and developed a Roadster RS model based on the 1959 Porsche Convertible “D” and made full tooling for this car. Frank developed markets in Canada, the U. S. and Japan for the Roadster RS and in 1985 developed a new tubular chassis for the Roadster RS to replace the original VW pan. In addition to the Convertible D replica, development work started on a Speedster replica also based on the new tubular chassis.

In 1996 a replica of a “Kubelwagen”, a Porsche designed VW jeep used in World War II, was undertaken and production was initiated.

In October 2001 Frank Reisner died of complications due to sarcoidosis. His son Henry, who had worked at Intermeccanica part-time during high school and university, and full-time since, took over as president.

In 2016 Henry Reisner continues to work on increasing production of Intermeccanica Roadsters, Speedsters and Kubelwagens. Currently they produce two types of Speedster replica, one based on the 1955 Pre-A Speedster and the other on the 1958 356A Speedster. From the cars I have seen, their reputation for top quality is well deserved.

Intermeccanica have a nicely detailed website which gives more details of their products and history.