Amelia Island Concours d’ Elegance – Forgotten Fiberglass Class

Hi Gang…

You’ve heard me mention many times about how excited I am that the Amelia Island Concours d’ Elegance is hosting a class of fiberglass cars early next year. Amelia is one of the most recognized shows not just here in the USA but abroad too. It draws people from across the globe, and the cars that appear there are some of the most recognized in the world. Here’s a website to learn more about the upcoming event in March 2010:

www.ameliaconcours.org

It’s with great honor and pride that I recognize Bill Warner and Tom Cotter, who host and present the Amelia Island Concours d’ Elegance to the public at large. We’ve had no better friends than these two gentleman in recognizing and appreciating these American Fiberglass Specials of the 1950’s. It was Bill who first recognized these cars in 2007 with a class titled “Fiberglass Sports Cars, 1951-1960”, and his interest and support of our group has continued to grow.

In March 2010, we are staging our first “Forgotten Fiberglass” class which focuses on fiberglass sports cars from 1951 through about 1960. In March, we hope to have cars represented from the following marques:

Glasspar G2
Byers SR100
Meteor SR1
Victress S1A
Allied Swallow
Bocar
Almquist
Devin

And maybe even a “Mysterion” or two…

Over the next few weeks, I’ll feature each of the cars that are planning to attend, with a bit of the story of the owners and the cars. I’ll also share something about some of the attendees we hope to have and an exhibit we are in the midst of building as we speak (or I write this..). And…for our first car feature, we’ll start by discussing Dudley Cunningham and his Meteor SR1.

Years ago, Dudley found what turned out to be one of the finest Meteor SR1’s built back in the day. The person who built it was using the components from a damaged corvette from the late 1950’s, and bodied the Meteor on a Kurtis KK chassis. They even used a Corvette hardtop and tailored it to the Meteor body too. And what a fine job they did. The car even had a heater for cold Northeastern mornings. Dudley found the car near where the original owner stabled it. The owner drove it from out west to college on the East Coast, and enjoyed it for several years. Once he acquired the car, Dudley found just the right person and organization to bring this car back to life and that was Chris Cassidy of KTR Motorsports. What a beautiful restoration this is. Chris and KTR did a fabulous job.

I’ll let the pictures tell the story and Dudley can help answer questions on the forum as well.

Great car Dudley and we look forward to seeing it on the grass at Amelia.

Geoff

Technical Specifications
Body	Meteor SR1
Designer	Dick Jones
Paint	KTR Motorsports
Upholstery	KTR Motorsports
Frame	Kurtis 500 KK
Suspension	Torsion Bar
Engine (make/year)	Chevrolet Corvette
Carbueration	Inducation / 3 deuces
Displacement	283 cubic inches
Horsepower (estimated)	280 HP estimated
Transmission (type/year)	Corvette t-10
Rear Axle / driveshaft (open/closed driveshaft)	Ford 9″
Wheelbase	100
Track/Tread (front/rear) (distance between center line of tires)	Front: 58 inches Rear: 60 inches
Tire Size	205/75R15
Curb Weight	2600 lbs
Top Speed (0-60)	135 mph est, 6 second est
Special Features	Serial number KK2 – second KK chassis made by Kurtis Dudley Cunningham, current owner, 2nd owner of car Car signed by Arlen Kurtis