Earl “Madman” Muntz, creator of the Jet, was a genius and a showman

If Earl Muntz was a madman, as his nickname suggests, then we should all strive to be a little crazy. Muntz, born 110 years ago this week, was no ordinary child—or teenager, or man. Muntz was a creative and technological genius who made, and ultimately lost, several fortunes, most with direct ties to the automotive industry.

Born on January 3, 1914, in Elgin, Illinois, Muntz was always fascinated by how things worked. He built his first radio at age eight, and by 14 he had already created a radio for his parents’ car. Higher education wasn’t meant to be, however. Muntz didn’t even graduate high school; he dropped out during the Great Depression to work in his parents’ hardware store, but he never stopped learning or inventing. Muntz also never stopped striving to make a better life for himself.

At age 20, he started his own dealership selling used cars, but until he turned 21 his mother had to sign all of the required documentation whenever he sold a vehicle. Muntz was earning a decent living when, at 26, he vacationed in California and decided there was even more money to be made on the West Coast. He opened a used car lot in Glendale, then lucked out by purchasing a handful of new cars that were scheduled to be shipped to Asia before World War II broke out and kept the vehicles stateside. Muntz decided to drum up hype in the local newspaper, and the cars quickly sold. He realized that the more attention he got, the more cars he would sell. The “Madman” was born.

Nothing was too over the top for Muntz, as long as it generated publicity. He would don red full-body underwear and a Napoleon-like hat and boast on billboards and in newspaper ads that “I wanna give ’em away, but Mrs. Muntz won’t let me!” His commercials bombarded the radio airwaves. He would often feature a car, threaten to smash it with a sledgehammer if it didn’t sell by the end of the day, and follow through, which only generated more attention. His dealerships made millions.

Already a Southern California legend, Muntz turned his attention to manufacturing televisions, drawing from his early interest in electronics. He was all about simplification, making intricate TV sets a little less complicated by reducing the number of components required while also reducing the price. The “less is more” philosophy became known as “Muntzing.”

The Madman’s TVs sold for about $100 in 1949, about one-quarter the price of most of his competitors, and he made millions—again. The good times didn’t last, however, as Muntz’s stripped-down televisions required more maintenance than other brands, and he folded his TV venture in 1959.

During the same time, although Muntz had rejected an opportunity to sell Volkswagen Beetles when they rolled into the U.S. market in 1949, he owned Kaiser-Frazer dealerships on both coasts, one in Los Angeles and another in New York. The experience motivated him to create a car of his own, the Muntz Jet, beginning in ’49.

Oddly, while Muntz emphasized simplification when it came to TVs, he went in the other direction when designing his automobile. After purchasing Frank Kurtis’ two-year-old Kurtis Sport Car Company, Muntz transformed the KSC design into the Jet. He offered upgraded V-8s, built by Cadillac and Lincoln, that propelled the car to 125 mph and could be mated with either a General Motors Hydramatic automatic or a three-speed Borg-Warner manual transmission. He also extended the wheelbase by 13 inches to allow room for a backseat, which had a drink cabinet in the armrest. Buyers could order upholstery made of alligator, emu, leopard, or snakeskin. Each hubcap wore an emblem of a Napoleon-like cartoon character wearing red underwear.

Built both in Glendale and Evanston, Illinois, the aluminum-bodied Jet was fast, luxurious, and innovative, with cutting-edge features like seat belts and a padded dash. Notable buyers included Hollywood stars Grace Kelly and Mickey Rooney. Once again, however, Muntz’s venture was unsustainable. The Jet retailed for $5500 in 1953 (about $63,250 today), but it cost $6500 ($74,750) to build. Only 198 were sold—Muntz claimed the number was twice that—and the Madman lost nearly a half-million dollars before shuttering his car factories.

He wasn’t done, however. Turning his attention to car stereos in the late 1950s, Muntz took great interest in the new Fidelipac audio tape, the first recorded audio tape cartridge. It used an endless quarter-inch tape loop with three tracks, but Muntz added a fourth track so it could play full albums in stereo. Launching Muntz Stereo, in Van Nuys, California, in 1962, the Madman offered pre-recorded albums and Stereo-Pak players for both home and automobile. He made another fortune—and, once again, it didn’t last.

The graphite on Muntz’s tapes didn’t bond well with the tape—a problem that Muntz chose not to correct because the supplier offered him a favorable credit agreement—giving the tapes a short lifespan. Consumers eventually looked elsewhere, namely to Bill Lear’s new 8-track cartridge. Already buried in debt, Muntz Stereo suffered a warehouse fire in 1970, and the company folded.

Muntz trudged on, offering an alternative compact videotape in the 1980s that competed with VHS and Beta (and failed), and he later rented motorhomes (a venture he called Muntz Motor Mansions) and sold Hitachi cell phones and satellite dishes.

Earl “Madman” Muntz died of lung cancer on June 21, 1987, at the age of 73, having won and lost several fortunes and an endless number of fans. He will long be remembered as an ingenious and relentless inventor, entrepreneur, unconventional showman, and—most importantly to auto enthusiasts—the creator of the Muntz Jet. And you can always find him on the hubcaps.

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