That thing is super cool. I'm realizing lately I value the driving experience over anything else. I don't expect that out of the boring dailies but I could see myself getting way too deep into vintage racing, autocross etc.. sitting around at car events is boring, and I've been doing it since I was in the womb. I'm setting up an OT car right now, and I raised up the front suspension and installed a heavy duty sway bar so I could put it hard into corners. For years I've been lowering everything I touch to look cool and here I go raising something up? Must be old age.
My latest build goes right along with the theme of the Kurtis: simple, light and FAST! There's nothing on it that doesn't make it faster...'cept the brakes.
Wonder if the Kurtis roadsters are where Steve Moal got the inspiration for some of the cars he's built? The black roadster in your lead picture is stunning.
@Ryan , when you say Jake Delhomme are you taking about the former starting quarterback for the Carolina Panthers? That Jake Delhomme?
Yes. More untapped traditional performance... I don't think he's old enough to have had one of these in the 1980's?
I love those Cad powered Allards as well... And a few of these Kurtis' got Cad power initially too. I like em cuz... well, Cad motors are just so damned gorgeous... Thing is though, they are wholly inappropriate for any kind of road going race car - a lesson that Briggs Cunningham taught us. Essentially, they are just too heavy and while the torque is nice they just don't have the power up high needed for momentum. That's one of the reasons the SBC is so special historically. Think about... a 331-inch Cad prolly weighs somewhere around 700 pounds? Meanwhile, a typical SBC is only around 550 or so pounds. That's important in a front engine car and you are tying to get 50/50 distribution. Apparently, these Kurtis 500s were just short of that 50/50 goal when they had Cads and Chryslers in them. When the SBC came out in '55, Frank Kurtis put one in his test mule, got 50/50, and suddenly had a car that felt much closer to his Offy powered roadsters.
Gotta be fake. Gimpy says it can't be done. And he knows about everything that's automotive. He'll tell that guy it can't be done...
Looks like an EFI conversion to me if you pause it... That said, MFI is totally doable on the street... Even a hilborn setup... I gotta buddy here in Austin that runs one on a SBC. He uses a hand pump that he designed to prime it... He does always seem to be fiddling with the tune though.... I'm sure it's not a set it and forget it type of deal.
I did pause it and it looked like the mechanical setup to me. I ran a Hilborn setup on my sprinters and they felt quite street drivable to me. They started easily, idled good and pulled from idle to wide open and I only had high gear. It was one of the thing I didn't really have to fiddle with. When I was getting rid of my race cars I always thought I'd save an engine setup and put it in a Camaro or Nova complete with fuel injection. However, a guy made me a deal on a complete car rather than a roller and I took it.
Looked like the one on my Sprinter too. And I used one on the street. Just carry a pill box. Fiddling is what hotrodders do. The set it and forget it deal kinda sounds like something modern.
Ron Popeil was not a hot rodder! Set it and forget it! Don’t try to improve anything by fiddling with it? Not me.
Hello, There are two Kurtis Kraft cars I would like to drive. One is this Tahitian Red Kurtis Sports Car from the Sam Parriot camp during the mid 50s to the 60s. It was one of the most consistent competitors from that era. There are plenty of stories going around about the background of his sports car builds, good or bad from the City of Industry. Despite those stories, that is just a part of history of drag racing in the 1959-60 time line. Not too many people knew about the history, except for the fact that the Kurtis Sports car won almost every time he raced. Just think about the power of the Cad motor in that lightweight sports car !!! Much has been written about Sam Parriot and his fast Kurtis Sportscar. He usually took home the trophies at the end of the day. We saw and filmed his Kurtis Sportscar at Lion’s Dragstrip in 1959-60. @Dean Lowe and his trusty camera took this classic photo in 1959. Great shot... It was quite a build, all top notch stuff, including that bright Tahitian Red Color. It also went fast. In the film, he is behind at the start, but comes from behind to win against the modified Corvette, easily. then... starting to pull ahead 1959 Jnaki The other Kurtis Kraft build would take some doing in the “magical” sense, as we would have to go back to 1957-58 season. @Dean Lowe Look at the determination in that driver’s face… this is/was serious business in the name of fun. The second Kurtis that my brother and I saw was a fantastic build of a quarter midget at our local So Cal race track. When we went to the track to see some other friends, the atmosphere was electric. We were so impressed that we instantly saw the next level of participation for us. As we walked around the pits and saw the intensity from all of the competition, it was totally appealing. But, the appeal was short lived. My brother told me that we could not fit inside of those quarter midgets. We tried to sit in the one our friend drove, but it was not enough space to sit down. So, we liked the Kurtis quarter midgets and wished we could have raced them in the local races. That would have been really something back then, and now.