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Kurtis Sports Car (Update 1/27/17)


RancheroSteve

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For my next (ahem . . .) challenging project, I will attempt to turn this piece of resin:

 

819Muntz-vi.jpg

 

Into a scale replica of this (Frank Kurtis's 1949 Sports Car):

 

Kurtisonalger-vi.jpg

 

Fortunately, I was able to find a good profile shot, and knowing that the wheelbase of the Kurtis is 100", make a 1/25 version, which I was then able to take a bunch of critical dimensions from:

 

Kurtisprofilewithdimssmaller-vi.jpg

 

I've got the body all marked up - gonna take a deep breath and start slicing. This may take a while . . .

 

 

Edited by RancheroSteve
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Art - it's a Muntz Jet, which is essentially a stretched Kurtis. Some history here: http://www.americansportscars.com/muntz.html

Whew, this thing isn't exactly the best piece of resin! Worth a try though . . .

I see. Thanks for the link, Steve. Very interesting read.When I was a kid, i had the honor of meeting Frank Kurtis and Sam Hanks, both mentioned in the article. I have a signed copy of the Kurtis Kraft Story somewhere around here..

Edited by Art Laski
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I see. Thanks for the link, Steve. Very interesting read.When I was a kid, i had the honor of meeting Frank Kurtis and Sam Hanks, both mentioned in the article. I have a signed copy of the Kurtis Kraft Story somewhere around here..

Great story, Art! I picked up that book not long ago on EBay - not exactly cheap, but very well worth it, and I was also able to check out a Kurtis biography from the L.A. Public Library. Kurtis had quite the interesting life! Several of his shop locations are not far from me, which really brought some of the history alive for me.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Kool bit o' slice-n-dice to make a really unusual and historically important car. Fascinating project. Really like your scaling-from-a-photo technique...good stuff going here. I've been collecting data and images for a while now to do a model of the rather more common Kurtis sports car...

270px-Kurtis_500S_Wheatcroft_Straight.jp

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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Kool bit o' slice-n-dice to make a really unusual and historically important car. Fascinating project. Really like your scaling-from-a-photo technique...good stuff going here. I've been collecting data and images for a while now to do a model of the rather more common Kurtis sports car...

270px-Kurtis_500S_Wheatcroft_Straight.jp

Actually from what I read, the Kurtis 500S wasn't too common either - only about 25 - 30 built. I saw one driving around Ojai once.

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  • 1 month later...

Actually from what I read, the Kurtis 500S wasn't too common either - only about 25 - 30 built. I saw one driving around Ojai once.

Steve here are some pictures of the Kurtis cars I took at a recent Racers Reunion in Dallas. The yellow Kurtis is being restored by Arlen Kurtis (sons?). Enjoy!

http://public.fotki.com/retabeth/racers-reunion-2013/

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Thanks for posting those pixs, Len. I started a KSC many years ago, but didn't have a good pix of the rear, especially the tail lights. I wrote or e-mailed Arlen, don't remember which, but never heard back from him.

Does anyone know what those tail lights are from?

Edited by wisdonm
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Thanks for posting those pixs, Len. I started a KSC many years ago, but didn't have a good pix of the rear, especially the tail lights. I wrote or e-mailed Arlen, don't remember which, but never heard back from him.

Does anyone know what those tail lights are from?

Glad to help Don.

Good article here: http://www.motortrend.com/classic/roadtests/1110_1949_kurtis_sport_car_drive/viewall.html

With lots of excellent pics of a beautifully restored car.

Nice stuff Steve.

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