Hot Rods Kurtis Hemi Roadster

They used a remote electric starter.

Here is a vid of an Offy powered roadster being started.



In this pic notice the Joe Hunt Magneto Special in the background with a starter installed.

 

Mike McLoed did all the orginal computer ***isted design and grunt work to have the HH Chrysler alum heads produced as well as the corresponding alum intake manifold. Mike was a software guru and was made an job offer he could not refuse so he sold to Walker. Who in my opinion has added nothing of value to the original concept underlying Hot Heads. Basically HH is a merchandiser of other people's products. One thing for sure the original inspiration is long gone. If Mike had stayed on board we would probably have alum heads for the Dodge and DeSoto. I spoke, by phone, with Mike many times (and his wife Melody??). I was one of his first Dodge Hemi customers.

Bummer.

 

I believe this may be one of the other Hemi powered Kurtis Firestone test cars. Bob Osiecki purchased it from Ray Nichols and with aerodynamic improvements and GMC 6.71 supercharged Chrysler wedge power turned it into the World's Closed Course Speed Record holder in 1961 at Daytona with Art Malone driving. Osiecki died in '64 but his family owned the car until last year. It is in Garlits' museum now.

 

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Before boB bought HH, he was "Power Play", still have one of the old catalogs. In the "used" section there was an Edmonds 2X2 with carbs for 350$, if only I'd known then....

 

That's a stock Ford '39ish three speed in there.

 

Some really cool stuff in this thread! I'm excited about the response. I didn't know how much interest there would be in the topic.

HUGE bummer is RIGHT!!! Call him and tell him to PLEASE come back! Very disappointed in HH for a number of reasons, but no need to get into that here. (slides soap box back into closet)

You hit the nail on the head right there...

 

Scott - You crack me up! ... in the OP, you stated:

... then you proceeded to side-track this thread with a "discussion" about Hot Heads! ... Glad to see you've decided to "slide your soap box back into the closet".

 

HAHA! Whooops! I'm done... I promise!

 

Might Just be me, but I believe that Kurtis never made a race car that wasn't just flat ***y...

 

It's not just you!

 

Nope ... Bob Osiecki's "Mad Dog IV" was actually Ray Nichels' third "Firestone Test Car" ... a Pontiac V8 powered 1958 Kurtis Kraft SPL Roadster (#3-58):

click thumbnail to enlarge​

Here's a couple of pics of Nichels' second "Firestone Test Car" ... a 331ci Chrysler HEMI powered 1954 Kurtis Kraft 500C Roadster (#379-54):

click thumbnails to enlarge​

NOTE: The second "Firestone Test Car" is rumored to still be sitting (unrestored) in the ba*****t of the IMS HoF Museum.

 

Thanks.

 

Anyone have more information on the plug terminals/insulators that are shown here in this picture?

 

The Firestone test car with the hemi in it is indeed in unrestored but well preserved condition in the ba*****t at he museum.
The Meyer-Drake transmissions were basically copies of a Ford transmission with a magnesium case and nicer gears. A Ford will bolt right up.
The remote starters had electric motors off a B-17 landing gear.
I wish the present day Indy cars showed as much variety as the roadsters did.

 

That could be said for all racing today Steve, except at Bonneville.

 

which is exactly why modern racing is sooooo unappealing to me... Still haven't quite figured out what is so settling to the rest of the world about having everything look the same.

 

I saw it there in 2006 as well. I remember him getting black flagged as I was watching them. He was poking along on the front straight, past the tower, but you could hear him open it up coming out of the turn on the back straight. I wish I had gone back there to get some video. I think a lot of the other drivers were doing the same thing.

 

Tony Capanna and family were great family friends of ours for many years. Lloyd and myself were dumping nitro into our mini bikes before anyone else. LOL.

I have quite a bit of the WILCAP history but it's all "up here"

The 55 Indy challenge and small failure was due to improper oiling - mostly. General lack of complete funding ***istance from the Chrysler factory as well. By the time the factory boys saw how much faster our Hemi was than the Offy's during practice, it may have been too late.

Coulda, shoulda kind of deal. I have a couple of pistons from that car on my bookcase right now.

One thing the historians never mention is that Tony, George Austin JR and Bill Seifert would have probably returned in 56 with a real world beater had it not been for Vuky SR. being killed at the 55 race. Gotta remember that too.

Tony was pretty busy with the marketing and transmission adapters business, Austin was at Northrup and Convair working aerodynamics and the focus for these two kind of shifted to Bonneville.

Austin, Seifert (sic) and Clint Brawner did return to Indy in 58 and won going away with Jimmy Bryan in a Kurtis/Offy.

Quite a bit of this history comes through the oral tradition so I apologize for minor inaccuracies.

Our family's Indy tradition actually goes to Harry Miller who brought my grandfather in during the late 1920's to develop fuel injection systems for the Miller 91CID and 151 (sic) at the Los Angeles/ Long Beach shop for the crackerbox boats and Indy roadsters.

 

George_Austin -

Welcome to the H.A.M.B. !!!

Thanks for contributing to this thread ,,, and please feel free to chime-in on other topics ... the HAMB is full of threads about Indy, Kurtis, Miller, Offy's, Chrysler HEMIs, WILCAP, Bonneville, etc, ... and all would benefit from your insight & stories!

 

Wow! It is seriously awesome to have you chime in about the car and the history! Thank you for your contribution. Please keep the info coming! Anything you could share is valuable information.

Any chance you might know who is responsible for the injection and intake manifold design? It resembles a Hilborn, but with some differences I've not seen in other designs. Maybe another maker? Or a one-off ***embly?

 

Saw this at Lime Rock this past year, loved it.
From a previous post:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=637950

Bill

 

It's in here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6SD_agBEjc