Thread: VISIT TO KURTIS KRAFT IN BAKERSFIELD

Whilst on holiday I visited Arlen Kurtis, son of the legendary Frank of Indianapolis and midget racer fame, at the Kurtis works in Bakersfield.

Arlen tells me they can still make anything they ever did and new midgets, parts for same, and the occasional KK500S sports car are still produced.

There was a KK500S there, the red car, that he built for the owner about 4 years ago. This is for sale, US$140,000. One recently sold at auction for just that. It has a 430 hp Chev and weighs 2000 lbs. I was taken for a ride. Goes like a rocket and handlers like a race car. These are virtually a two seat version of the car that Bill Vukovich drove to Indy 500 wins in 1953 & 1954.

There is a new chassis under construction for another car. There is considerable flexibility in custom building one of these. Wheelbase and cockpit length can be altered to customer requirements. Pretty well any engine can be accomodated other than a Chrysler Hemi. Hemi cylinder heads are too difficult to get the steering gear around. Arlen personally prefers Buick 425 "Nailhead" engines as having plenty of cubic inches and horsepower and are an easy fit.

The yellow car is "Kurtis Sports Car" Serial No. 17, the last of the line which is Arlen's personal car. He built it whilst at high school with help from the guys in the shop. It was completed in 1951 and has a 49-50 Cadillac engine.

The car on the hoist is Serial No. 16 whch has been undergoing a prolonged restoration. The owner has had some problems with the IRS and funds have not been readily available.

Serial No. 7 is in the Museum of American Speed, Lincoln, Nebraska. Their tour guide erroneously tells visitors that it is the last one.

There is a new Kurtis midget being built. A dummy V8-60 engine is installed for build purposes.

The fresh V8-60 in the orange box is for another client. The engine on the floor is another 49-50 Cadillac that belongs to No. 16.USAgen 072.jpg

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Originally Posted by digger

Brian,

Are these made of metal?

I like the yellow one, (except the grille area!)

I am loving these reports from your trip, sort of a aulro roving reporter!?!

cheers
Digger

The KK500S are part metal, part fibreglass. The "Kurtis Sports Car" (the yellow car) was designed in 1947-48 and the styling is quite typical of the period. These are all metal bodies. Frank Kurtis was a highly skilled metal worker who made custom bodies for his own vehicles and commercially from the 1920's on. He once made an exhaust system for the Sumar Special Indy car from sheet metal and did it at a garage in Arizona with a minimum of equipment.

They made bodies, complete big race cars, speedway midgets and quarter midgets, drag boats, karts, sports cars, rocket sleds for the USAF, starter carts for the F100 fighter and so on.

Suggested reading:- The Kurtis Kraft Story by Ed Hitze

Kurtis-Kraft Masterworks of Speed and Style by Gordon Eliot White

The Indianapolis Cars of Frank Kurtis