1947 Kurtis-Omohundro Comet

58 Pebble Beach Concours d ’ Elegance: 2012 Hemmings Motor News Announcement Concerning the Class of Sport Custom Cars Forthcoming at Pebble Beach, 2012. Posted On Their Website July 16th, 2012. One - Off Sport Customs to Gather for Featured Class at Pebble Beach By Geoff Hacker / Posted July 16th, 2012 Not quite a sports car, not quite a custom car, the one - off cars we ’ ve come to call sport customs blended a little bit of both and have always been considered in a class of their own. At this year ’ s Pebble Beach Concours d ’ Elegance, a group of significant sport customs will take the field in a literal class of their own. Most stories about custom cars start in the 1950s and stories about American sports cars start with the introduction of the 1948 Jaguar XK120 and the MG in the post - war era and the influence they had. Those are great mile markers, but what we ’ re finding out is the best stories about American sports and custom cars are the ones that led up to these events – the history and heritage of America ’ s sport custom cars. Back in the 1940s and 1950s, custom cars were truly one - of - a - kind cars that were all, or nearly all, built by coachbuilders of the day. These included cars built by Frank Kurtis, Bohman and Son (of Bohman and Schwartz f ame), Derham, Diedt & Lesovsky, and others. One - off uniquely designed custom cars were also built by individuals such as Jay Everett ( Astra). What we would now call customs – which involved taking a stock car or stock component parts and modifying them extensively to get a new look and/or design – were then referred to as “ restyled cars. ” Some of these were modified so extensively that it might have been easier to build the same car from scratch! Examples of restyled cars included ones built by Gerry Huth (Custom Cadillac), Robert Monroe & Alexis Dowydoff (Rogue), and Lloyd Templeton (Saturn). Of course the coachbuilding shops restyled many cars too, so some of their work belongs in this category, as well. After the 1940s, sports car design separated from custom car design and each became a distinct classification of car. Sport customs continued being built through the 1950s, and most of these were designed as large, “ sporty, ” cars – an “ American boulevard cruiser ” type of design. That ’ s what makes this class of cars so interesting – and their history compelling. Like my favorite Forgotten Fiberglass cars of the 1950s, Sport Custom Cars are always handcrafted, taking hundreds – if not thousands – of hours to complete. Most of the cars that we ’ ll see in this class at Pebble Beach took more than 2,000 hours to build back in the day. That ’ s 50 weeks of 40 hours a week work – and two weeks off for good behavior – one full working year. In modern terms, at 50 bucks an hour, you ’ ll arrive at $100,000 in labor before accounting for the first bolt. The Sport Custom cars that will be on display at Pebble Beach took quite a bit more than 2,000 hours for their builders to complete, and represent some of the best of what was fabricated at the time. Over the last several years, Rick D ’ Louhy (my co - author and partner in these car research adventures) and I have been tracking the early history of the cars we call Forgotten Fiberglass, and our research on sport customs grew out of that focus. The history of modern fiberglass cars started with the Glasspar G2, Irwin Lancer, Skorpion, and the Wasp. Each of these debuted at the November 1951 Petersen Motorama a t the Pan Pacific Auditorium. As Rick and I began to learn more about this pivotal time in 1951 and 1952, we began focusing on what led up to the creation of these cars, and that ’ s when things got fuzzy. 1940 Coachcraft Special 1948 Norman Timbs Special