This one-of-a-kind sports car was handcrafted by a Michigan builder in 1954, who named it the Thanon. What’s more, it still exists.

Our story begins with the photo above from the Petersen Digital Archive, recently posted on social media by fellow Hot Rod magazine alumnus Cam Benty in the search for more information. We immediately recognized the setting as the Cranbook Institute in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, the backdrop for countless Motor City photo shoots through the years. That was the easy part.

Meanwhile, we couldn’t possibly identify the car. We’d never seen anything like it. But we knew who would: Geoffrey Hacker. The man behind the Undiscovered Classics website and YouTube channel, Geoffrey is a walking super-encyclopedia of one-off, kit, and handbuilt sports cars. After a few phone calls with Geoffrey, we had the information (and the leads to more information) we’re sharing here. At that moment, he was recovering from the ravages of hurricanes Helene and Milton, but he generously lent us his time anyway.

The Thanon was created by enthusiast Ted Ongena of Lapeer, Michigan (1915-2014), a longtime member of the Sports Car Club of America and Antique Car Club of America. Basing his special on a refurbished 1939 Mercury chassis with a 116-in wheelbase, he relocated the crossmembers to set back the engine back a full 24 inches in the frame, improving the weight distribution and giving the car its fabulous dash-to-axle proportions.

Mr. Ongena constructed the all-steel body using a variety of shaped panels borrowed from other makes, then modified, welded together, and metal-finished. The hood was the top from a ’37 Chevrolet, while the deck lid was also Chevy but turned around backward. The rear fenders are ’51 Chevrolet, while the long front fenders are pairs of ’51 Chevy parts sectioned together. The rest of the panels were formed by hand. The bumpers are from a ’49 Chrysler; the windshield and convertible top mechanism were adapted from 1937 Packard components. Under that long, long hood area was a hopped-up Mercury flathead V8 with an overbore and a 3/4-race cam.

Geoffrey has located the Thanon still in one piece, though it’s in rough shape the last time he saw it. If not for his sleuthing, it might be lost and forgotten forever. As far as we know, the sole published item on the Thanon appeared in the January 1955 issue of Motor Trend magazine, in a piece written by MT Detroit Editor Don McDonald (below). In fact, his wife Teddy is the model in the photo. And if you look, the bottom photo in the magazine article is the same image as the lead photo above, but with the Cranbrook background removed.  -Thanks to Cam Benty and Geoffrey Hacker. Lead photo courtesy of the Petersen Digital Archive.