Yowwwza! What a ride! An old friend of mine ran around with Bruce Trennery, owner of Fantasy Junction, in high school. Told stories about buying beat up old foreign cars and fixing them up to sell. Guess old Bruce has come a long way!
The George Takei "oh my" were the first words that came through my mind when I say that first pic. Absolutely beautiful...
Hey Pickle, When are we gonna grab that burger and beer @ the Broiler???? Ya gotta drive your ropadster from Teddy;s and I'll drive mine. I promissed that deal nearly 5 yrs ago when the broiler was just rubble. (Didn't mean to hijack this thread ).
I'm with everybody else: Damn near perfect. That place always has amazing stuff. I once had a chance to buy a car before it ended up at Fantasy Junction... seller didn't mention the (major) history and I didn't know what it was until FJ listed it 3 months later - at almost 50% more than I could have had it for. And it sold fast. That was about 9 years ago and I still kick myself regularly over it.
I am stunned, perfect in every way. There are 92 photos on the website and that's not nearly enough. This is one of those cars you could lay under for hours and examine every rivet, nut, bolt , and piece of safety wire. Thank you so much for posting!!
Super cool. But to be little bit of a naysayer, the car seems to have spent it's life in storage, being m***aged, etc. What is the actual racing record? Famous drivers, big races won, etc.? Anyone know? Compared to the other 50+ sister machines, how does it really stack up? Gary
Very tasty, however the inclusion of an alternator (a**** other items) during the "sympathetic restoration", although understandable, is a bit of a shame IMO.
My father in law sold his '66 Ferrari front engine v12 at FJ. I have one of his bent and broken con-rods on the wall of my shop. FJ rebuilt it, for more than all my junk put together. Thanks for the post, I will share it with him.
That's not the only thing that is sad/shame, check out the plastic caps on the master cylinders. Also an electric fan has been installed. IMO .02 The military fighter plane clock on the dash is interesting. The car as a whole is amazing. Did anyone catch this? >>>> "Even the invoice for the raw sheet aluminum to make the original body, dated September 19, 1955 is included. " Yet the car is a 1954
The builder actually was a fabricator at Kurtis so he probably built the frame himself. I knew him from the go kart era (1960 on) when he and Art Ingles had the company called Carretta. Art had also worked for Kurtis. "California" Bill Fisher was one of the founders of Go Power where I worked from 1960 to 1973. I bought his interest when he wanted to go back into the specialty book business with "H.P. Books". All three of them are now long gone. I hope the car eventually makes it to a West Coast vintage sports car race, but it was originally intended as a street machine. As many have said, it should be a wonderful sound even if it isn't super fast.
This car is a perfect example of why I love the HAMB and JJ! Absolute heaven in metal brought forth for all our enjoyment. This is the most beautiful car.
Damn! 3 pages and not one single negative comment, that's got to be a HAMB first. As everyone has said, LOVE IT! Just about damn perfect, the only thing wrong with it is that it's not sitting in my garage.
This car is even more stunning in real life. I'm fortunate to see it on a daily basis... The '55 Kurtis 500KK has the original engine in it...a fuel injected 283. They didn't show up until 1957. It took Jack Sutton 2 years to build the car so while it's listed as a '55, it wasn't on the road until after 1957. I suspect the year is based on the ch***is build date, not when the car was put into service.
That car is a work of art, from one end to the other. No detail was left unchecked. EVERY bracket and tab seems to have been drilled with lightening holes, and every fastener is wired. All the gauges seem like they're there for the sake of being there... like two fuel gauges. I can easily forgive the alternator... the electric fan will take a little more time to get over, but I can understand the need. But whoever added those master cylindrs and fabricated that clunky, amateurish box around them needs to have his tools taken away from him. That's like adding a plastic name tag under the Mona Lisa. Yeah, it gets the job done, but it's plastic on a masterpiece of craftsmanship. Anyone notice the engine seems to be offset to the p***enger side? They moved the trans tunnel over as far as they could too... over far enough that the torque tube isn't centered in it. More room for the driver to work. And the lightening holes! Like I said, every component was drilled, and they weren't drilled randomly... all those holes were laid out and placed... stunning. -Brad
Jay, Fantasy Junction is one of my regular stops also. This kind of car is the norm there. Always fantastic machinery to look at. I better get over there before this one disappears !
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