Although initially founded by Ralph Engel, he left the company in the early 80's again to start a new company named Car+Driver wich had similar bussiness and even bought cars from Styling-Garage. Styling-Garage itself had, at the top of their game, over 100 employees and had moved in 1984 from Pinneberg to a larger premises in Schenefeld (also near Hamburg). On top of that, many subcontractors, specialists in one of the many aspects of creating a coachbuilt car, were used to create the many conversions built over the years.

 

In early 1986 disaster struck for Chris Hahn's Styling-Garage: bankrupcy. The company was at it's peak when it happened, but due to the fact the company had grown too big and possible economic troubles in the Middle-East (where most of Styling-Garage's customers came from) the end was enivitable.

 

Chris Hahn wasn't a man to give up though. After the bankrupcy of the original Styling-Garage in 1986 Chris wasn't planning to return to the automotive industry. Left for America though he soon was tempted to return to the bussiness that had made him famous and by 1987/88 he was back in the game. His new company was named Design+Technik, allthough the SGS name was still used as a brand. Design+Technik was a company less focussed on extreme paintjobs and over-the-top gold-plated interiors, but more on the engineering side of things. Under the new name SGS continued producing S-class stretch limousines, SEC convertibles and many new designs like the Porsche 928 based Gullwing. By this time Chris Hahn also made various prototypes for major car companies, mainly convertibles of existing models. With ups and downs the Styling-Garage continued to exist untill 2005 when it was finally over, though Chris Hahn has plans to let SGS relive once again...

 

1985: Co-founder and owner of Styling-Garage Chris Hahn in front of a selection of his creations: we see three SGS Marbella 500SEC converibles, two 500SEL / 1000SGS modifications and of course the SGS Arrow Gullwing based on the 500SEC.

 

 

 



Text: copyright Bram Corts 2013

 

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