I saw one of my grail/bucket list cars today heading north on I24 near Eddyville, Ky. A 1948-9 Kurtis SC. It was white over navy blue. Never seen one in person before and didn't get to see much at a closing speed of 130mph. These were made by Frank Kurtis who made all those midgets and dominated the Indy 500 in the 50's. At the 1949 Bonneville trials, Wally Parks drove a Kurtis Sport to an average speed of 142.515 mph. Frank Kurtis wanted everyone to know that his car was faster than a Jaguar XK120. It was considered the first American post WWII sports car. It graced the cover of the first issue of Motor Trend.
Frank sold the tooling for this to Earl Muntz who made it a 4 seater and named it the Muntz Jet. Both versions very rare today.
Muntz also lengthened the wheelbase 13" and gaudied them up. I have seen two versions of the Jet in person and didn;t care for either.
C'mon dude. The guy was named "MadMan" for a reason.... Would you expect anything less from an automotive entrepreneur in 1950? Conspicuous consumption was the name of the game. Gaudy was his middle name. At least give him a little credit for hiring Sam Hanks (Indy winner), and Robert Peterson (founder of HotRod magazine), among others, to help him out.
I've heard the Frank Kurtis was raised or lived in Pueblo, Colorado. Can anyone confirm that? "Kurtis" was supposed to be the english version of his actual Slavic name, which I don't know. Anyway, he was a very talented man and a pioneer in automotive sports.
Frank indeed did grow up working in his father's blacksmith shop in Pueblo Colorado. He customized his first Model T roadster at 13 years old. Frank was born in Crested Butte, Co. in 1908, and his Croatian sir name was Kuretic. Frank changed it to Kurtis when he came to California in 1914. He learned how to do body and sheet metal work when he hired on at Don Lee Auto Body & Coach Works at age 14.
The Kurtis Kraft Story is a good read if you want to know more about the man. Not sure I would pay these prices. http://www.amazon.com/Kurtis-Kraft-...BE0Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317472866&sr=8-1 Bart
Dean, thanks for the info about Frank Kurtis and Pueblo. The old blacksmith shop that you referred to is still there, just because of him, I think it should be placed on the National Historic Registry. What a great story of a great car builder in a great period of America. I've seen several examples of his work, and it is outstanding, especially considering the time and equipment available.
I knew the blacksmith shop still exsisted. His son, Arlen, went there and visited it and told me about it. A better book, with much more Kurtis history is Kurtis-Kraft Masterworks of Speed & Style by Gordon White. Published by Motor Books International, at 39.95, it's a lot better price than the used Hitze book, and was much better researched. I contributed some photos, and information to Mr. White, and was very impressed at his attention to detail. The Hitze book is mostly a pictorial history of the cars Frank produced, and is not as accurate as it could be.
The Jalopy Journal
