The Cunningham C-3 – A Rare American Homologation Special

The Cunningham C-3 was a high-performance GT car developed by America’s Cup winning sailor and racing driver Briggs Cunningham. The C-3 was never intended to be profitable to manufacture – it was created to meet the 25 car homologation requirement to compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Cunningham was by all accounts an incredibly talented racing driver, he also happened to be the son of a wealthy American financier and heir to the Swift meatpacking fortune – this meant he had almost unlimited funds to pursue his dreams of competing at Le Mans in an American car.

Fast Facts – The Cunningham C-3

• The Cunningham C-3 was developed to meet the 25 car minimum production homologation limit to compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ultimately there would be five cabriolets and twenty coupes produced.
• Cunningham established his new marque in West Palm Beach, Florida. Chassis would be completed and sent to Turin-based Carrozzeria Vignale to have the bodies fitted – bodies that had been designed by celebrated Italian automotive designer Giovanni Michelotti.
• The C-3 was never designed to race though it was a high-performance car for its day with excellent handling and ample power provided by the Chrysler Hemi V8 engine which was tuned to produce 220 hp – up from 180 hp in stock configuration.
• The beautiful styling of the C-3 won it many fans though relatively few could afford it, with a price tag in the $10,000+ USD range – well in excess of $100,000 in 2022 USD.

Briggs Cunningham

Briggs Cunningham was one of those people who was fast in whatever they were piloting, be it a sailing vessel, an aircraft, or a race car.

Above Video: Jay Leno shows off his recently restored Cunningham C-3 in this episode of Jay Leno’s Garage, he discusses the restoration process, and gives some interesting historical insight into Briggs Cunningham and the C-3.

He was born into one of the wealthiest families in the United States but he was never one to sit on his laurels – he was a highly-competitive tennis player, a brakeman on the Olympic bobsled team, an America’s Cup winning skipper, an accomplished pilot, and a dedicated racing driver who loved nothing more than racing at Le Mans.

Le Mans would become a lifelong obsession for Cunningham, he competed in the event nine times from 1950 until 1963 with a four year gap from ’56 to ’59. In 1950 he raced the highly unusual Cunningham “Le Monstre” Spider – a Cadillac Series 61-based vehicle with a custom lightweight body.

This seems to have wetted his appetite for racing his own cars, he founded the B.S. Cunningham Company to build custom cars specifically for racing at Le Mans. He raced his own cars at Le Mans in ’51, ’52, ’53, ’54, and ’55. In later years he would race a Corvette and later an E-Type Jaguar.

In order to race at Le Mans you needed to have at least 25 production versions of a car made, a homologation requirement that was intended to stop people from building extreme prototypes. being a man of means, Briggs Cunningham simple founded his own automaker and built the required 25 cars – all of which are still accounted for.

The interior of the car is beautifully trimmed in tan leather, it has a wood-rimmed steering wheel, radio, heater, and a full suite of instrumentation housed in a leather-wrapped dash.

The Cunningham C-3

As an homologation special the Cunningham C-3 was intended to pave the way for Briggs Cunningham and his team to claim an American win at Le Mans, driving a car that was built in the United States.

The C-3 was built up on an American-made chassis fitted with many components from period American production cars, like suspension and brake parts, engines, axles, and transmissions. Cunningham opted to use the powerful new Chrysler 331 cubic inch FirePower Hemi V8 topped with four Zenith single-barrel carburetors.

In stock trim from Chrysler this engine produced 180 bhp but after some attention from Cunningham’s men it was turning out 220 bhp with 300 ft lbs of torque – a prodigious power figure for the 1950s.

Once the rolling chassis was completed it was shipped off to Vignale in Italy, a coachbuilding company that also built many Ferraris in the 1950s. In fact may have noted the similarities between the body of the Cunningham C-3 and the body of the Ferrari 212 Inter.

Once Vignale had fitted the body the car was shipped back to the United States for completion and sale, with pricing varying from just below $10,000 to well over $13,000 USD – far in excess of $100,000 in 2022 US dollars.

Cunningham and his team built a special version of the Chrysler 331 cubic inch FirePower Hemi V8 with four Zenith single-barrel carburetors that produced 40 bhp more than the original engine.

Despite the cost all 25 cars were built and sold, with five cabriolets and twenty coupes produced. Today these cars typically sell for somewhere around the $1 million dollar mark when they (infrequently) come up for sale.

The 1953 Cunningham C-3 Cabriolet Shown Here

The car you see here is a 1953 Cunningham C-3 cabriolet, it was bought new by racer and rare book collector Irving Robbins and shown at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 1956, 1957, and later in 2015.

When it was first delivered back to the United States with its new Vignale body this car, chassis 5441, was placed on display at Alfred Momo’s in New York. When Irving Robbins bought the car he part traded in his race-damaged Cunningham C-2.

Over the intervening years this car was owned by a number of people, it passed through three well-respected private collections, one of whom had the car carefully restored.

Briggs Cunningham’s daughter Lucie would later buy the car to enjoy with her mother, and she showed it at the 2013 Greenwich Concours d’Elegance.

The car is in excellent shape throughout and it’s due to cross the auction block with RM Sotheby’s on the 5th of March, the price guide is $900,000 – $1,200,000 USD and you can click here to visit the listing.

Images: Steven Klucik ©2022 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

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Full Documentary: Tucker – The Man and The Car

Tucker – The Man and The Car is a half hour long film created for the Tucker Corporation in the mid-1940s to showcase both the groundbreaking new Tucker 48 production car, and the story of its creator – Preston Tucker.

The story of the Tucker 48 became famous after the release of the 1988 film Tucker: The Man and His Dream by Francis Ford Coppola starring Jeff Bridges and Joan Allen. Interestingly, Coppola is a Tucker 48 owner and he displays his car at his winery in California.

The Tucker 48, also known as the Tucker Torpedo, was a revolutionary car for its time. It incorporated a wide range of features designed to make it as safe as possible – this was decades before the wider automotive community would start really paying attention to the crash safety of their vehicles.

Preston Tucker standing next to a Tucker 48 outside his factory, this photograph is believed to have been taken in 1947. Public relations image courtesy of the Tucker Corporation.

With its perimeter frame and integral roll bar for crash protection, the Tucker 48 would have been one of the safest cars on the road if had made it into full production.

The sheer number of safety features that were rolled into the 48 is remarkable, it featured pop-out windshields, seat belts, a padded dashboard, and the central headlight was designed to turn with the front wheels to illuminate around corners.

The sheer number of innovations that were incorporated into the Tucker 48 was remarkable, many of them decades ahead of their time. Click the image to see a larger version so you can read the text.

This film gives a good insight into both Preston Tucker and the Tucker 48, it is a promotional film so it can be a little fawning at times, but well worth the watch. If you’d like to read and see more about the car and the man behind it you can click here to see the IMDB listing for Tucker: The Man and His Dream by Francis Ford Coppola or you can click here to read the Smithsonian article on the company.

Interestingly, Preston Tucker’s great-grandson Sean Tucker is proudly carrying on his family’s legacy – he’s currently building the original Tucker Torpedo concept car. If you’d like to follow the project you can click here to follow him on Instagram.

Perhaps the most famous feature of the car was that central headlight, it gave additional illumination of course but it was originally designed to follow the steering – so it would light your way around corners.

 

This is the film poster for the 1988 movie “Tucker: The Man and His Dream” starring Jeff Bridges, directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

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For Sale: A 1978 Porsche 924 Built To Safari Rally Specification

This is a 1978 Porsche 924 that has been rebuilt to classic Safari Rally specification, with lifted suspension, a wider track width, larger all-terrain tires, front-mounted spotlights, and a roof rack carrying a spare tire and sand ladders.

The Porsche 924 was raced regularly in-period, its aerodynamic styling and almost perfect weight distribution thanks to its rear-mounted transaxle made it a perfect choice for a variety of motorsport formats. and Porsche created two variants specifically for racing – the Carrera GT and Carrera GTR.

Fast Facts – The Porsche 924

• The Porsche 924 was originally developed by Porsche for Volkswagen. It was planned to be introduced as a VW sports car and it was designed with many VW and Audi parts including the engine and transmission.
• Volkswagen ultimately decided to axe the car quite late in the development cycle, Porsche bought the rights to the design, then released it as their own new entry level model to replace the Porsche 914.
• Though it was initially deemed to be underpowered, the 924 was praised for its styling, aerodynamics, and handling. Later versions like the 924 S and the 924 Turbo would significantly increase power. The Porsche 944 that came later was closely based on the 924.
• Special racing versions of the 924 were made including the Porsche 924 Carrera GT and the Porsche 924 Carrera GTR.

The Porsche That Was Almost A Volkswagen

Volkswagen hired Porsche in the early 1970s to build them a new affordably-priced sports car. They were instructed to use as many pre-existing parts as possible (including engines and transmissions), and it’s possible that the design of the car was influenced to some degree by the Volkswagen SP2 from Brazil.

A slew of modifications and upgrades have been applied to this 924 to bring it up to Safari Rally specification, among other changes it now rides on lifted suspension and Toyo all-terrain tires.

Due to a number of factors including the 1973 Oil Crisis, VW decided not to proceed with the project quite late in its development. Porsche negotiated to buy the design, a deal was struck, and Porsche further developed the car as a replacement for their outgoing 914 model.

The Porsche 924 has long been viewed as a somewhat undesirable vehicle due to its lower entry level price point and the lower power output of the original 1970s-era 924. In recent years they’ve been seeing their popularity begin to rise alongside the closely related Porsche 944.

Though it was never as desirable as the Porsche 911 or other exotics from the Stuttgart-based automaker like the 944 Turbo, the Porsche 924 played a key role in keeping the company in business through the late 1970s and into the 1980s.

150,000+ examples of the 924 were sold which brought in much needed capital, and the model is remembered today as the first front-engined Porsche, the first Porsche powered by a liquid-cooled engine, and interestingly enough, the first Porsche offered with an automatic transmission.

The interior of this 924 has been significantly modified, with Auto Style bucket seats and harnesses, a hydraulic handbrake, VDO gauges, a Vigor steering wheel, a fire extinguisher, and retrofitted toggle switches.

The 1978 Porsche 924 Safari Shown Here

The car you see here is a significantly modified 1978 Porsche 924, it’s been built to Safari-specification, a reference to the great African safari rallies.

The team behind this car integrated a range of modifications to bring the car up to Safari Rally standard, the suspension has been lifted, the track width increased with spacers, and Toyo all-terrain tires have been fitted to the original 15 inch mesh alloy wheels.

A roof rack has been added up top, it carries a spare tire and a pair of sand ladders, presumably for use in the Sahara. Martini Racing livery has been added to the outside and hefty spotlights have been installed up front.

Inside the car you’ll find Auto Style bucket seats, D1 Spec race harnesses, OMP footwell plates, VDO gauges, a black Vigor steering wheel, a hydraulic handbrake, a fire extinguisher, and a number of retrofitted toggle switches.

The car is currently being sold in a live online auction on Collecting Cars, and at the time of publishing there are a few days left to bid. You can click here if you’d like to read more or register to bid.

Images courtesy of Collecting Cars

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Flamethrower Equipped: A 1968 Chevrolet C20 Longhorn Franklin Camper

This 1968 Chevrolet C20 Longhorn pickup and its Franklin camper may be the perfect home-on-wheels for the modern age. It’s equipped with a flamethrower that shoots out of the nose of the grille-mounted Longhorn skull, and it has matching propane flamethrowers fitted to the exhaust tips.

Inside the Franklin camper on the back you’ll find accommodation for two people, with a toilet, a hot shower, kitchenette, and dining table – everything you need for life on the road.

Fast Facts – A Chevrolet C20 Longhorn Franklin Camper

• Campers like this are becoming increasingly popular due to the surge in popularity of the “Van Life” movement, fueled in equal parts by a desire to travel after two years of Covid and the unattainable cost of housing in many major cities.
• This camper is made up of two parts, a restored 1968 Chevrolet C20 Longhorn pickup and matching a restored 1968 Franklin 11FK6 camper, it’s also been modified with front and rear mounted flamethrowers and a front mounted CO2 sprayer. Because reasons.
• The C20 has been fitted with Firestone Ride-Rite rear air springs to allow the ride height to be modified depending on whether the camper is fitted or not.
• It’s powered by the 396 cubic inch L66 V8 with a towing-specific camshaft, paired with a New Process four-speed manual transmission that sends power to the Dana 60 rear axle.

The Chevrolet C20 “Longhorn” Pickup

The Chevrolet C20 Longhorn was a factory special built from 1968 until 1972 with a frame and bed that were 6 inches longer than stock – with a wheelbase of 133 inches versus the two shorter wheelbase options of 115 inches and 127 inches.

This Longhorn C20 is equipped with both a propane flamethrower and a CO2 blaster that shoot out of the skull’s nostrils. No explanation is given for these unusual additions, but it would certainly make starting and extinguishing campfires much simpler.

The Longhorn was intended for the booming camper market and for the cattle industry in Texas, the longer bed in the back made it ideal for accommodating campers. Engine options included V8s up to 402 cubic inches (6.6 liters) offering plenty of power to get the truck and camper up to highways speeds when needed.

The benefit of this bolt-on campers was the fact that they could be quickly removed when needed, leaving you with a standard pickup truck. Campers with permanently built-in camper sections lack this additional functionality.

The Franklin Coach Company

The Franklin Coach Company was founded in 1945 by Paul Abel, it was one of the earliest camper manufacturers in the United States and the company played a pivotal role in the development of campers and caravans/trailers.

Abel was one of the founders of the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) which established safety standards for the industry. His company remained in business for over 60 years, well into the 2000s.

Inside the Franklin camper there is sleeping accommodation for two, with a dinette table and seats, a kitchenette, and a toilet and shower with hot water.

The Flamethrower Equipped Camper Shown Here

The unusual combination of a Chevrolet C20 Longhorn and a Franklin camper you see here is equipped with triple flamethrowers. No reason is given for this unusual modification but if the past few years has taught us anything, it’s that it’s probably a good idea to have a flamethrower handy because you have no idea what’s coming next.

Both the truck and camper back have been restored to a high level, before and after photographs are included in the listing, and the entire rig is now ready to hit the highways and byways of North America.

Should you need to light a campfire it should be just a matter of placing a pile of wood in front of the longhorn skull mounted to the grill and hitting the red button on the shifter knob. No need to fiddle about with firelighters or kindling.

Power is provided by a 396 cubic inch L66 V8 with a towing-specific camshaft, this is to better cope with the weight of the Franklin camper on the back, and power is sent to the Dana 60 rear axle via a four-speed manual transmission.

If you’d like to read more about this camping rig you can click here to visit the listing on Bring A Trailer. It’s currently being auctioned live with seven days remaining to bit at the time of writing, and the current highest bid is $30,200 USD.

Images courtesy of Bring A Trailer

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