The Ledl AS 130 & 160

Posted by John Mellberg November 12, 2020

The Ledl AS 130 & 160

The Ledl AS (Picture credit: © by Garagen Liebling)

With styling cues cribbed mostly from the Lancia Stratos, the Ledl AS was a handsome car. It was created by Gunter Ledl in Austria, who had previously made a name for himself with the production of buggies and replicas based on VW Beetle chassis. Gunter had a vision: he wanted to produce an Austrian sports car with its own chassis and thus provide for the first Austrian car in more than 30 years..

The Ledl AS was a two-seater sports car produced between 1981 and 1987 in a quantity of 249 units. The vehicle was an in-house development, from the ground up. As such, it was not a kit car, per se, though many parts of vehicles from other manufacturers were used in its construction.

The Ledl AS - rear 3/4 view (Picture credit: © by Garagen Liebling)

The Ledl AS series model was developed in extensive tests from the Ledl Tanga prototype, which was introduced in 1978, and was presented at the IAA in Frankfurt in September 1981. The abbreviation AS in the type designation stands for "Austrian Sportscar", of course. The reason for the name change was the too great similarity of the originally intended name "Tanga" with the name "Targa" used by Porsche.

The two-seater sports car featured a body made of GRP and used numerous parts of series models from other manufacturers – for example, the pop-up headlights were from the Porsche 928, the tail lights from the Ford Granada, and the handbrake was from the Renault R8. However, numerous Austrian companies were also commissioned in the production as subcontractors.

The Ledl AS - interior

The engine was also based on proven technology, but the OVH four-cylinder engines From the Ford Escort, with their comparatively low performance, were somewhat at odds with the body, which is reminiscent of a supercar.

After a promising start – 128 orders were available by the autumn of 1982 – the problems with the Austrian bureaucracy began: despite a successful approval by the TÜV in Munich, the Austrian authorities refused the Ledl AS road approval.

As a result, Günter Ledl was denied the important domestic market, only 17 vehicles could be registered in Austria by court order. However, exports also faced some difficulties at that time, such as the customs formalities required before Austria joined the EU. Nevertheless, vehicles could be delivered to Germany, France and the USA, Japan, New Zealand, and even Ukraine.

The Ledl AS - front 3/4 view

In 1987, the introduction of new catalytic converter regulations in Austria marked the end for the Ledl AS. Although the 1.6-litre fuel-injected engine of the Ford Escort XR3i had an operating license, the Ledl AS failed during the official inspection. Since delivery of a suitable engine from Ford would have taken too long, and the resulting loss of production would have been untenable for such a small company, the project was ended.

A total of 249 examples of the Ledl AS were produced, of which only twenty were in the AS 130 model.

Ledl also made a number of VW Beetle based kit cars including; Dune Buggies, a Bugatti Type 35 replica, and others. He also did some racing himself, meaning that he knew how to build a chassis. So Ledl continued on in that direction. The Ledl AS is known as Austria's first mass-produced sportscar.

The company is still a going concern, selling Tuning accessories and Motorsports parts today.