i just googled it and found this: http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z8710/Cunningham_C4R/default.aspx
Furry....One of my favorite AMERICAN early race pioneers....Briggs Swift Cunningham.....Awesome innovator. I tried to find where his old shop was in West Palm was....but I this there was a mall there...
I have a decent number of photos in my archives. Trouble is, I'm not finished unpacking from the move from South California to Utah. As an aside, I was a member of the Briggs Cunningham Museum in the early 80s. Wayno
cool! if there ever was a collection of absolute perfection, the Cunningham collection would have to been it. He was supposed to have had one of Nuvolaris' Alfa's with a pair of his gloves...amongst other great cars. you coming down for the endurance run or the revolution?
Briggs was the man. Cunninghams are insane in person, that car looks like it wants to get into a bar fight just sitting still. I've got to say Biscut you have good taste in cars, hope I can make it to the Revolution and see your speedster inperson. I think I may have some old Classic & Sportscar mags somewhere with good features on the Cunnigham cars, if I can find them I'll bring them to the Rev (if I can go that is).
Have a nice sit down chat with it and explain all the benifits of attending and I'm sure it will see reason and go.
I went to the Cunningham museum in Costa Mesa in the late 70's. Alot of cool stuff!!. It's no longer there. I'm sure I took pictures but I think I lost them in a box of photos that got flooded. there is an article on the museum in an issue of 1001 Custom and Rod Ideas.
The entire collection was purchased a while back and shipped to Naples, Floriduh. It is now called the "Collier Collection" it is completely private w/ no public admission. On occasion the cars are shipped out to "important" events.
What happened to the company that was building C4 replicas? .They were supposed to authentic right down to the Early Hemi and french{?} four speed trans.
Found this today. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/a...s/13-cunningham-c-3.html?_r=1&ref=automobiles Anybody find out any more info about the Collier Collection? Would love to visit it but I think its private. Thanks. Slim
There are a lot of pics on the web, just Google C4R or C4RK Wikipedia has pics and info on Briggs Cunningham http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cunningham_C4R.JPG Also: http://www.briggscunningham.com/cmuseum.html I also have some pics that were digitized from 35mm slides from 1953 or 54. I will try and find them.
The Collier Collection always has a trailer full of cars at the Fall festival at Lime Rock Labor Day weekend here in Connecticut. Briggs had a home in Southport were he keep all his cars before the move to Costa Mesa. They RErestored the engineturned Delage G.P car and it is now in the "correct' flat French blue paint. i just loved that car when Briggs had it. Back in the mid 1970's John W. Burgess was the curiator of the collection and asked if I'd like to hear a car run (they all did) I asked to hear the Delage, great memory.
Try this link - www.briggscunningham.com - and the one below. Mart3406 ------------------------ www.briggscunningham.com/home/sportscars/c4-html/ Cunningham Sports Cars 1952 C-4R/C-4RK Text by Kane Rogers The 1952 roadster-bodied C-4R and C-4RK coupe were smaller and lighter than the earlier cars and, thanks to more engine development, were now putting out 325 horsepower. Once again, a three-car, six-driver team took up the challenge at Le Mans, and once again, two cars retired, but Briggs drove the race of his life, staying in the cockpit for almost twenty hours before handing the car over to Bill Spears. They finished an incredible fourth place. Team Cunningham scored more victories back home in the U.S., and in 1953 more developed versions of the C-4R and C-4RK finished seventh and tenth respectively at Le Mans, while the new C-5R, long considered the best of the racing Cunninghams, finished third overall, a mere forty-two miles behind the second of two disc-brake-equipped Jaguar C-Types. Reflecting on the event years later, Briggs commented, Three cars, third, seventh and tenth, in the top ten at Le Mans. I guess thats not too bad. Serving yet another tour of duty in 1954, the two C-4Rs finished at Le Mans in third (Spears /Johnston) and fifth (Cunningham/Benett), while a newly-acquired Ferrari 375MM (Fitch/Walters) retired with broken valve train. SPECIFICATIONS Engine: Chrysler V8 Max. HP 325@5200 RPM Capacity 331 C.I. Bore: 3.81 inches Stroke: 3.62 inches Valves: OH Pushrod Comp. Ratio: 7.5:1 Carburation: 4 Zenith DD Oil Filter: Full Flow Oil Capacity: 7 Imp. Quarts Brakes - Rear: Hydraulic Drum Brake Dia. Front - 13″ Brake Dia. Rear - 13″ Suspension: Front: Wishbone/Coil Rear: Coil Springs Shock Absorbers: Dual Hydraulic Wheel Type: Cast magnesium Tire Size 7.00″x16 Steering gear: Worm and Roller Steering Wheel: 17″ Spring Spoke Dimensions: Wheelbase: 100″ Dry Weight:2410 Lbs Overall length: 156″ Track: Front/Rear 54″/54″ Overall Width: 64″ Height: 39″w/o screen Ground Clearance: 4″ Fuel Capacity: 50 Imp. Gal. Electrical System:6 Volt Battery Capacity: 130 Amp/Hrs Transmission: Gearbox:5 Spd synchro Clutch: Single Dry Plate Final Drive: 3.36:1 Source: Automobile Topics, December 1952 =======================
I have been luckey enough to have seen at least two different models of his over the years at different vintage events in New England . They stop me in my tracks every time.
here is the coupe at Mulssane from a modeling site and an open one at the Colorado Grand and another with blue mags
Actually the collection is open to car clubs for viewing from time to time. I've been several times after it was "closed" to the public.
Some from the 2007 Monterey Historics. Some form the internet. There are a couple of books that have photos of both C4R & C4RK; Cunningham Automobiles 1951-1955 from Motorbook International Cunningham Sports Cars American Racing Legends 1951-1955 (the Ludvigsen library Series) Both are available from Amazon.
Here's a post card I picked up from a visit to the Cunningham shop many years ago. <style>@font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style> Back in54, after my freshman year at Missouri U. I spent that summer with my folks who were living in Ft. Lauderdale. I was crazy about cars and racing back then so I immediately made the trip up to Palm Beach to visit the James Melton car collection and the Cunningham shop that I had read about. As I remember, the shop was somewhere around the airport. It turned out to be a low brick building with no signs or ballyhoo, just a small brass plaque next to the door that said B. S. Cunningham, Competition Cars. I was way impressed because it was the first real race car shop Id ever been in. They had a dyno setup in a glass booth with a hemi on the stand as I remember and they were building a new car called the C-6. It was going to be an Offy powered sport roadster I think, but it was just a tube frame set up on a steel table with a guy next to it on an English wheel shaping the panels for it. I never heard anything more about it and I wonder if it ever got built? Does anyone know?
Nice piece jpbanjo, I worked with a guy in the 1970's that was a welder at Cunningham's Palm Beach shop. After he passed away I got two sales brochures on that coupe, not in good condition they were singed in a garage fire, should have kept them I guess, but they went down the road like a lot of things. I never knew that Jimmy Melton was close to Cunningham in Florida they both lived in Westport, Ct. before the move south.
Apparently there was a Cunningham sedan in the works: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2009/07/02/cunningham-planned-a-sedan/ dan
New guy here. I own the first of the four Larry Black/Briggs III "continiuation" C4R roadsters built by the revived Cunningham Motor Co. during the late 1990s. As mentioned elsewhere, Bob Lutz owns one of these cars and the other two are owned by gentlemen in Chicago and New Hampshire. My car was the prototype and "media demo" car featured in the magazines, driven by John Fitch, Phil Walters, Denise McCluggage, Brock Yates, David E. Davis, etc. The plan was for the Cunningham family to retain my car, but as the project came crashing down, the decision was made to "clean it up" and sell it to a paying customer (not me -- I'm the third owner). It's important to keep in mind what these continuation cars are, and what they're not. As has also been stated, the two original C4R roadsters are in the Collier Collection (former Cunningham Collection, Naples, FL) and Simeone Foundtion (Philadelphia). The four replicas ARE Cunninghams, and they ARE C4Rs, but they have no historical significance, other than the drama associated with their construction and the rise and fall of the revived Cunningham Motor Co. I've been priviledged to own a few neat cars, but nothing comes close to displaying the "wow factor" this thing generates on the street. It's a blast. I'd love to hear from anyone who has a story about these continuation C4Rs or had some involvement with project when they were new.
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