I never understood why Cunningham went for the heavy Cadillac when there was the lighter and more nimble Old 88 around, already being raced on the stock car circuits and hence more developed.
Damn would never have looked at one of those caddies as race car but it does look sublime and 10th at LeMans is no joke.
When you started posting and "schooling" us about Briggs Cunningham that brilliant builder/racer, I hoped you would include the Monster. American ingenuity at it's hot rod best! Thank you
I saw both those cars in a museum 30 years ago. I was impressed with how crude LeMonstre looked and how ridiculous a Coupe DeVille in racing livery is. Maybe this a better way to build hot rods now. Instead of fiberglass Model T kits or undrivable rat rods, find an early 50s roller with an interesting engine and re-body it.
Briggs Cunningham is a hero...up there with guys like Phil Remington, both of whom really embodied American hot rod ingenuity and soul in my mind. This is kind of a tangent, but it's a neat story about Cunningham that an old Georgia hot rodder named Frank Sessions told me when I was writing TRJ's "Scrapbook"... As it turns out, Frank's memory (and my fact checking) was a little foggy...this would have been 1954, and that year Cunningham was actually driving a Ferrari 375MM—but it still had little silver dollar-sized taillights. The idea of Frank running his three-window around Watkins Glen, and then tailing Cunningham into town is too cool. Here's a photo of the Deuce Frank owned at the time (and for most of his life). This car is now owned by Ty Wester and was featured in @HopUp annual #15.
I'm proud of you, Ryan. I'm honored to be a member of this place. These stories deserve to be told. Keep up the great work man.
Wonder what it weighted? That roll hoop structure looks heavy if an example of the rest. Guess ran auto trans & wonder what rear gear. Maybe another’s year of development would have helped. Looks like that front end would have a lot of lift. Surprised if Grumman airplane people built the body why not Owner that front nose
Money. As an American, one of the biggest obstacles to Le Mans is cost. Apparently, Cadillac was willing to help Briggs out… I also think there’s some marketing in that decision. Nothing is more American to a European than a big overweight Cadillac… And Briggs wanted to leave his mark at Le Mans so as to secure future funding. What better way to do that than as a novelty act of sorts? It worked too because the fans LOVED Briggs. Also, I think the livery on the stock bodied Cadillac is amazing… and we suck as humans if someone doesn’t build a homage to that car.
Not to mention a lot of the tanks that helped win the war less than a decade earlier were powered by Cadillacs (flathead Cads, but still...)
My pal Derek Drinkwater built and races recreations of the two Cunningham Caddys here in Europe - he has raced both at Le Mans. Even Derek’s support vehicle is a grey 4 door Caddy, same as the one Briggs used at Le Mans. Derek was racing the cars again at this year’s Classic Le Mans. Here’s a link to an article about Derek’s cars https://www.classicandsportscar.com/features/cunningham-plan-amazing-cadillacs-recreated Regards Jon.
I have read many times thathe 49 Caddy with a 3 speed in the lightest model was the fastest US production car..... The Cadillac performane and smoothness got the attention Mercedes and Rolls Royce .
On the side shot, the livery creates the illusion that there is a '54 Chevy hiding behind there. Great history and great cars. Thanks for sharing.
I always contend that a TJJ Blog and its resultant H.A.M.B. thread can never have enough vintage pics ... so:
In addition to racing cars, Briggs Cunningham won the first America’s Cup 12 Meter race in 1958 representing the New York Yacht Club.
A D. Drinkwater has what I understand is an exact repla-cloan of the org Le Monster. These screen shots are from the 2022 Classic Lemans race this year, last June . This is the "Grid 2" race.
Well, isn't this interesting. I can't quite remember his name, but it must have been Derek that contacted me concerning the gauges in his replication of Le Monstre. He told me that he saw the original car in a museum in Florida, when he was on vacation from England. And, it so happened that I had a 6,000 rpm bakelite Sun tach, exactly like the one in the dash picture (which I still have in my picture collection), which I did sell to him. And, I referred him to another HAMBer, who furnished the Stewart-Warner Wings gauges. It's always nice to see how things panned out & that there is a connection to the HAMB.
@HEMI32 - terrific photos. You must have quite a collection. Note the driver's side front got trashed at some point. @panhead_pete - it persists at other angles too. See @40LUV 's photos above. Weird right?
I volunteer at the REVS Museum in Naples where both cars reside. They are still in the original condition as raced and do get exercised and driven. The car not many know about was Brigg's 1927 Packard roadster that was a test mule at the proving grounds in Detroit. He got the car which had many miles on the test track and took the fenders off, put the headlamps on the frame rails, shortened the rear body, incorporated the original trunk forward and drove the car at home and on the Yale Campus while a student. He worked summers at Packard working on an engineering degree. See the car at REVS.org. This car was a 120 MPH car in 1927 with its straight eight engine and possibly the first Hot Rod! Jim Wood Bonita Springs Fl.
the car was 13 MPH faster than the coupe but his mistake was to not vent the brakes so they got so hot he could not maneuver the corners. It was faster than any of the competition on the track. He put the car in a sand pile, and it took him over 2 hours to dig the car out using his helmet to get back on track. The coupe finished LeMans 10th the LeMonstre 11th.
The Jalopy Journal
