1947 Kurtis-Omohundro Comet

59 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. We had trouble finding one source that told the story of American sports car development in the 1940s. Sure, there were individual stories about independent car companies and individual efforts, but nothing that strung together the story from the 1940s forward. As we researched the sport customs and the men who built them, we found that, not surprisingly, the story of individual effort and achievement turned out to be much like the same stories of design and entrepreneurship that percolated through our Forgotten Fiberglass stories. These were exciting stories to write, interesting cars to review, and fascinating people to meet. One of my favorite interviews was with Gerry Huth, who started Hollywood Plastics with Bill Campbell (fiberglass cars and boats), but is best known for his company, Huth Mufflers, and the bending equipment he designed and built in the 1950s. Gerry built one of my favorite cars from the 1940s, the 1948 Huth Custom Cadillac, pictured above. I interviewed Gerry about this sport custom, and was curious about why he built it. “ I built it to attract attention to our muffler business, which was much more like a speed shop than what you think of a muffler shop today, ” he said. “ People were fascinated by the new designs of cars right after World War II and crowds would gather at our shop to watch the progress. It was a lot of work, but worth the effort – just once, though. It took me over a year to build that car! I built cars before the Custom Cadillac, but that one was my last. ” I asked Gerry what shows he took his Custom Cadillac to. He burst out laughing and said, “ Geoff, there weren ’ t any shows back then to take cars to. That didn ’ t start until later. ” Indeed, the first car show of significance was the Hot Rod Exposition in 1948. The Huth Cadillac, by the way, has been missing since 1950, so if anybody knows where it is, we ’ d like to hear from you. Fortunately, we are lucky that two people were documenting what was happening when it was happening: Dan Post and Ed Almquist. Post started publishing manuals on how to customize your car in 1944 and Almquist soon after, in 1946. Photographs, techniques, illustrations – all of these were being documented at a time before the first post - war automobile enthusiast magazine appeared (Speed Age in May, 1947). Both Dan Post and Ed Almquist sold their booklets through magazines that were available prior to then, such as Popular Mechanics and Mechanix Illustrated. By the time Speed Age started publication, Post had been selling books on custom cars for nearly three years; Almquist about a year. We believe the sport customs out there have long been denied their place in post - war automotive history, so we ’ re more than excited to see sport customs getting their day on the lawn at the Pebble Beach Concours d ’ Elegance. Special thanks goes to our good friends Rik Hoving and Tony Miller; both worked with us to help provide the best information possible about the history and heritage of sport custom cars in America. And, of course, great thanks goes to Ken Gross for making the Sport Custom class a reality for Pebble Beach this year. While we ’ ve been honored to help with information and support, it has taken Ken ’ s insight into these cars and their importance – as well as all the right persuasion and effort – to develop the first recognition ever of Sport Custom cars at a major concours event. This year ’ s Pebble Beach Concours d ’ Elegance takes place August 19. For more information, visit PebbleBeachConcours.net. For more information on sport custom cars, visit SportCustom.com Geoff Hacker is a Tampa, Florida - based automotive historian who specializes in tracking down bizarre, off - beat, and undocumented automobiles. His favorites are Fifties American fiberglass - bodied cars, and he shares his research into those cars at ForgottenFiberglass.com; more recently he started SportCustom.com, BellyTanks.com, and Undiscovered - Classics.com. 1947 Kurtis - Omohundro Comet Sports Custom Gerry Huth ’ s 1948 Custom Cadillac