As part of this year’s “Peaksmas,” Dugpa and I are diving into stories about Twin Peaks in Japan. One of the more notable creations from the “Land of the Rising Sun” is the 1993 Georgia Coffee commercials with characters from David Lynch and Mark Frost’s wonderful and strange show. Dugpa covered the numerous coffee can variations created for this promotion along with Georgia Coffee’s marketing campaign. This time, I’m taking a closer look the Von Senger Waibel car seen in these David Lynch-directed commercials as it has an unique connection Twin Peaks producer and “The Cowboy” from Mulholland Drive, Monty Montgomery.
WHEN DOES THE VON SENGER WAIBEL CAR APPEAR IN THE GEORGIA COFFEE COMMERCIALS?
In the first commercial titled, “Lost,” we are introduced to the Von Senger Waibel car when local detective Ken Saito (Taka Higuchi) meets with Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan).
He shares a photo of girlfriend Asami Hara standing next to the green car near the edge of a forest. They found the photo (and a deer head) when they searched her room at The Great Northern Hotel.
Dugpa cleaned up and upscaled the photo to get a fantastic shot of Asami by the car.
In the next commercial titled, “Cherry Pie,” Cooper and Ken make their way to Big Ed’s Gas Farm after seeing a symbol from the gas station’s sign on the base of the deer head. “The very rare Von Senger Waibel,” Cooper remarks after snapping his fingers as the duo approach Asami’s car.
The detectives look inside the passenger side windows to find a rack of 15 red Snooker balls placed on the driver’s seat. Ken “doesn’t get it.”
Developed by British Army officers in India in the 1870s, Snooker is a a cue sport played on a large, baize-covered table with six pockets, using a white cue ball, 15 red balls, and six colored balls (yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, black). The object is to score points by potting the balls in a specific sequence, aiming to pot a red then a color, and clearing the colors in order at the end of a frame.
The game has nothing to do with Twin Peaks but the Snooker balls suddenly transform into a slice of cherry pie. Seeing the rack, Cooper tells Ken they should think about it over a pie and Georgia Coffee at the Double R Diner.
This commercial is the last time we’ll see Asami’s rare green vehicle.
WHAT IS THE VON SENGER WEIBEL CAR?
The vehicle in the the commercial was a 1948 VW Special Sport Cabriolet once belonging Monty Montgomery, producer for the Georgia Coffee commercials. For years, the vehicle was thought to be an early prototype of a Porsche 356. But after extensive research (and the vehicle changing hands a few times), this idea was later debunked.
Montgomery served as Associate Producer for the groundbreaking Twin Peaks pilot episode that aired on April 8, 1990 via the ABC Television Network.
Years later, he appeared on screen as “The Cowboy” who speaks with Adam Kesher in David Lynch’s 2001 film, Mulholland Drive.
“Yes, the Von Senger Waibel was mine,” Montgomery shared with author Scott Ryan. “I had restored by Hill & Vaughn and took it to Pebble Beach for a show. I do not recall how or why it wound up in the [Georgia Coffee] commercial which I produced. I guess David, having seen it at my place, wanted to use it. Originally, it was believed that the auto might have been one of the first prototypes for the Porsche 356. After extensive research it was determined not to be.”
The name “Von Senger Weibel” was made up but it was a nod to Swiss Coachbuilder and one of the creators of the early Porsche 356, Hans Waibel, and Ruprecht von Senger, who financed and established early European Porsche dealerships.
According to “European Car” in June 1992, Waibel’s ties to Porsche date back to 1939 when he produced “two prototype bodies for Dr. Ferdinand Porsche before [World War II]” and was commissioned by Ferry Porsche to “prepare two show cars for the 1948 Industrial Trade Fair in Vienna.”
Von Senger first contracted with Porsche in August 1946 for design studies of a passenger car. Two years later on June 8, 1948, he purchased the first Porsche 356 roadster built at Gmünd. Von Senger along with Bernhard Blank also imported the first Gmünd chassis sold in Switzerland.
In October 1988, Waibel recalled building the sport cabriolet on a Volkswagen chassis in 1948 and 1949. His designed was “inspired by the early Porsche prototypes.” The wraparound windshield was made to order by Securit of Geneva which wouldn’t be seen on Porsche cars until 1953. The one-off, all-aluminum body featured “suicide doors, style rear fender skirt and a Morris Minor front grille.” Waibel recalled painting the car a “metallized green that had an almost emerald hue.”
In May 1986, Waibel’s son, Hans S. Waibel Jr. of Waibel Works AG Zurich wrote that his father had built the car on a “Volkswagen chassis fitted with a Porsche motor.” A serial number – 1-085552 – was found stamped in the engine compartment on the right side of the floor pan. Porsche historian and author Karl Ludvigsen noted “several chassis were delivered to Von Senger without bodies. Thus it is entirely possible that one of these chassis was bodied by Mr. Waibel from a chassis provided by Porsche.”
A letter on Sept. 19, 1988 from Dr. B Wiersch, Volkswagen AG in Wolfsburg stated the serial number was from a VW produced on Oct. 8, 1948 and delivered to a client in Switzerland ten days later.
Inside, Waibel fitted the car with leather and fabric which resembled styling found on early Gmünd vehicles.
Robert DeMars Ltd. of Oakland, California spent a tremendous amount of time researching the history of this vehicle. He spoke with a surviving individuals who had knowledge of the car and made visits to Porsche and Volkswagen in Switzerland and Germany.
In 1989, DeMars stated he “believed the sport cabriolet was inspired by Porsche but was built on a Volkswagen platform.” Waibel, Sr. maintained he built a custom bodied Volkswagen. DeMars disagreed saying regardless of the chassis, “Since Waibel was one of the principal creators of the 356-type pre-Gmünd cars, the Waibel sport cabriolet was a historically significant automobile.”
HOW DID MONTY MONTGOMERY GET THE VON SENGER WABIEL CAR?
Waibel sold the vehicle in 1953 to A.M. DeBrunner for 12,000 Swiss Francs. According to Wendax in the Autopuzzles Forum on March 14, 2021, DeBrunner “let the VW engine be replaced by a Porsche 1500 unit with 55 instead of the VW’s 25 hp.” It eventually ended up in Von Senger’s hands where he replaced the original Volkswagen badge on the hood with a chrome “V” emblem.
Registration would change hands a few more times in the 1950s with the last dated Sept. 21, 1959. Karl Schonbachler put the newly acquired car into storage for more than 25 years until Michael Rizutto purchased it in 1988.
He then sold the car in unrestored condition to Monty Montgomery around 1990 (the same year as Twin Peaks aired on network television).
For two years, Hill & Vaughn of Los Angeles, California restored the car for Montgomery. They were one of the one of the first ground-up restoration shops in the United States, run by retired F1 champion Phil Hill and collector Ken Vaughn. The vehicle was stripped down to the bare aluminum body for the restoration and repainted.
The restoration was completed in time for Montgomery to show the car at the 42nd Concours D’Elegance held on August 23, 1992 at The Lodge at Pebble Beach. I’ve been unable to find any photos of the car at this beloved car show. Interestingly, the car show was held only five days before the North American debut of Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.
While Lynch’s prequel to Twin Peaks was still in movie theatres, filming for the Georgia Coffee commercials took place in September 1992. The car was fresh from being shown at Pebble Beach and found it’s way into the fictional Pacific Northwest town.
WHERE IS THE VON SENGER WAIBEL CAR TODAY?
According to Sports Car Market, at the November 30, 1996 Brooks London Auction, the VM Sport Cabriolet sold for $33,120, less than the market value of a decent, garden-variety Speedster. It’s unclear who purchased the vehicle as records aren’t readily available online.
By the end of the 2000s, the vehicle was residing at the Imperial Palace Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada as part of their extensive car collection. According to a Dec. 27, 2009 article on Hemmings.com, the unique vehicle was on display at least since April 2009 with a price tag of $275,000.
The Auto Collection at the Imperial Palace casino was opened in 1981 by Las Vegas legend Ralph Engelstad. Two years earlier, he had transformed the decaying Flamingo Capri into the Palace. Ralph was an independent casino owner who loved collecting classic and antique cars. At one point, the museum had the largest concentration of Duesenbergs anywhere (52) and contained more than 1,000 cars.
When Engelstad stepped away in 1999, Don Williams and Richie Clyne transformed the museum into a hybrid adventure – making it part classic car showcase and a dealership for buying and selling automobiles. In 2011, the museum attracted about a few thousand Las Vegas visitors a day. The museum closed on Dec. 30, 2017.
On January 4, 2010, the VW Sport Cabriolet made was offered for sale by Cooper Classics out of New York, New York for an undisclosed sum. It’s unclear who purchased the car from Cooper Classic but it ended up in Argentina.
This is the part of the story where I get sad at what happened next.
The Argentinian owner Matías Garfunkel supposedly repainted the car from the emerald green color to white/beige and tan.
Parts of the interior, such as the gear shift and carpeting, kept the original green coloring.
On March 21, 2024, the user Wendax commented on the Autopuzzles forum that it was for sale: “The car is in Argentina right now and up for sale, again falsely labelled, this time as a ‘1948 Waible [sic]/ Porsche 356 Cabriolet’.”
Side note – when I read the car was in Argentina, I couldn’t help but think maybe Phillip Jeffries is driving around in the Von Senger Waibel. It’s wild that there is a connection to the country seen in Part 5 of Twin Peaks: The Return.
Someone purchased the car around June 2024 as they took it to Carenzo Customs in Buenos Aires for engine service. The shop did the following: complete engine disassembly; connecting rod bearing replacement; cylinder head servicing; spark plug thread insert; body sandblasting and painting; 6V battery replacement; installation of a 6V electric fuel pump, Engine assembly, installation, start-up, and tuning.
In November 2025, Archivo De Autos reported seeing the Waibel Sport Cabriolet at the AutoClássica 2025 held at the San Isidro Hippodrome in Argentina from October 9-12, 2025.
Readers who saw the story confirmed that it’s the same car that Monty Montgomery once own (per the translation below):
“It’s the same green car that traveled from Europe to the United States. It was repainted white, and the original Porsche engine seized. It’s unknown whether this happened in Europe or the United States. Later, a Volkswagen engine was installed, which is the one it has today, and it now resides in Argentina.”
Mitutu Classified in Argentina posted video of the car at the AutoClássica. They responded to a reader’s comment on their Instagram channel that the car is not for sale. So they could have been the one who purchased the vehicle in 2024.
How I wish I had endless amounts of money so I could buy the car and repaint it to the beautiful green seen in the Georgia Coffee commercials.
The closest I may get owning the car is the NEO 1/43 scale model of the Waibel Special Sport Cabriolet 1948 (Catalog number NEO46190).
I would totally make 15 red Snooker balls in a rack for the driver’s seat if I purchased this. I’ve found a few for sale via online auction sites like Ebay.
I close this deep dive in the “Von Senger Waibel” car from the Georgia Coffee commercials with something fun created by Dugpa. He imagined what it would have been like for Asami to drive the rare green car into the town of Twin Peaks.
Special thanks to Dugpa for finding an initial article about this car that led me to fall down the deepest rabbit hole ever.
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