It's kind of a shame that he gets very little credit for being one of the first builders of "custom" cars, I guess his later accomplishmwnts overshadowed these car's impact. Plus very little ink was available so long ago.
Kurtis Kraft never built any TQ's. Only half midgets, and very few of those. This gentleman is the late Johnny Moorhouse. One of the best in the 40's and 50's, and a super nice guy. He was very proud of his restored V8-60 Kurtis.
Kurtis Kraft go kart from about 1960. It is as found just recently. It features torsion bar suspension and friction shocks ,front and rear. It has twin engine mounts and disc brake.
Yes you did... She came home a broken girl but will be back stronger than ever next year. Two other Kurtis cars are stablemates of the Tommy Lee Speedster... <iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/txtFKFUUfuA" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe> and the ex-Mickey Thompson 500SX...
UUHHHHGGG! Right click, save. Right click, save. I haven't used those muscles in a bit until this thread!
I have many pictures of Atlas Chrome Specials and some Kurtis working on cars or in cars with engines only in the frame etc. Will try to get them up soon as I am new to the site. You can email me with questions or thoughts. Love the keeping the history alive site.
Here is a copy of a photo I took at a mid 1960's Winternationals. It was signed by his son some 30 years later at a California Hot Rod Reunion.
Curious in that Bruce Meyers bought the No. 98 car. Is this the same car and maybe on loan to the Lemay Museum?
The lobby of the Justice Brother's Museum. Dad's '47 Kurtis V8 60, #93, second generation Kurtis midget #1 that dad built in 1992 when Arlen tooled up his continuation series of 10 cars, and the prototype Kurtis Kraft 1/4 midget I drove to the national championship in '57. 50+ years of our family history on display.
I lived at 352 West Wilson, just two blocks from KK, I was fortunate in that I Franks daugher Leona, was in my 5th grade cl***, so I had a "back stage" p*** and could go over there after school and see what was going on, the biggest names of the time walked in and out of that little shop ( the original building is still there, or it was a couple of months ago. My first "job" was washing display cases for Ernie's Camera on Wilson near Brand. Ernie was running KK sprint at the time and was part owner of one of the current Indy cars, this really put me on main street, by 6th grade I was going to the local sprint car races with them, ironically , those events moulded my life, as I eventually went to work for Mickey Thompson doing his PR chores , which was pretty ez as all the mags wanted access to the projects, that position put me right into the early speed equipment industy, which I am still enjoying, my company slogan "when does work start or the fun stops, never , both the same" pretty lucky guy
Correct, and most of those photos come from the Geoff Hacker Collection. (its always a good idea to give credit!!!) Some of the photos show the car sitting in front of the Jimmy Summers shop.
Dean, Did he really only build 10 Ch***is in 1992? I have a frame that was from Arlen Kurtis... still has all the tags on it from shipping from "The Frank Kurtis Company"... I wonder if this is one of the 10? A friend of mine, Joe Devine bought it to use to build bodies on for other cars... never was built into a complete car... Joe told me he specifically ordered it without a few pieces welded on... I know at least the torsion bar brackets are just wired onto a hole in the frame.... thanks Zach
Yes, Arlen built 10 frames in '92. He came to our shop a few times to measure and photograph Dad's midget, so dad got frame #1. It was the most complete original KK midget he could find. Arlen built the frames, axles, etc, and it was up to the buyer to finish the car. Arlen reccomended Jim Allen for building the bodies.
Thanks for this wonderful thread and all the great photos!! A good friend has a 1954 Kurtis 500M real neat Olds powered !! I try to post some photos.
The Jalopy Journal
