1976 Franke Joker 76

The Franke Joker 76 was a pick-up variant of the Franke Buggy 75, a fully enclosed buggy-style vehicle based on the rear-engined VW Beetle platform. First shown at the 1976 Geneva Motor Show, the Joker 76 followed the debut of the Buggy 75 a year earlier.

Franke, a Swiss kit-car manufacturer, aimed to offer a more practical alternative to the traditional dune buggy, with the Joker 76’s small cargo bed adding extra versatility. Despite their unique designs and the growing kit-car market of the time, Franke struggled to sustain production and eventually went out of business in 1983. Today, both the Buggy 75 and Joker 76 remain rare and intriguing examples of 1970s automotive creativity.