Can you identify these sports racers?

[KC]

Can you name these 1950s sports cars?

[Vitesse]

I don't pretend to any expertise on 50s sports cars but I'll go for AC Ace and Abarth (850?)

[TimD]

Second one's almost certainly an Abarth Fiat Allemano Spider. You can just see the front of it peeping out behind the bonnet (hood) of the silver car in the first picture.

The silver car isn't an AC, but I've no idea precisely what it is. But I'd lay odds on it being a limited run American machine. It's got that curiously stateside Ferrari California treatment to it, but I'll bet it's got a lovely lazy V-8 lurking inside.

I'd call it a Sadler, but I've seen a Sadler for real now, so I'm stumped.

[TimD]

The hub spinners also are just soooo American.

[djb]

Doesn't the rear end of the silver car have a Cobra look to it, but the sticking out bumpy bits on either side don't seem right. I am even less knowledgeable than any of you, so that's the only thing that popped into my head.

As for the (most likely) mid-engined little red thing, I once rode in an 850 Fiat convertible from around the late 60's that had a semblance of resemblance (sorry) to this, but again, that's about as far as I can go with this one. (what can I say, these questions and responses are usually more fun for me to read than to reply.)


An aside, isn't that a yellow TR 2 beside the silver jobee? Or is it a 3? The slanting lines are a definite give-away, but I haven't been around these types of cars since I was a kid growing up across the street from a British Car garage in Ottawa, and I have to admit that moss has grown over my TR name memories. Gut feeling is a TR 2.

[Vitesse]

Could be TR2 or TR3 - they were virtually identical!

[AndyF]

Originally posted by Vitesse
Could be TR2 or TR3 - they were virtually identical!

As it doesn't have a large front bumper I call it as a TR2, but could be wrong.

[KC]

The little red car is a 1954 Abarth Allemano. Congrats to TimD.

The silver car is another matter. In the 50s and 60s sports car racing was enjoying its best era in North America. Wealthy gentleman racers were enojoying the best products from England, Germany and Italy. This spurred the local builders to produce their own versions. This car is a 1955 Kurtis 500 KK powered by a 292 cu. in. DeSoto V8. A truly lovely car. Kurtis was known for their awesome Indy cars and Champ cars of the day. Until last month I has never heard of the Kurtis sportscar much less seen one. It has a tubular ladder frame with a fiberglass cobra-esque body.

There was indeed a sweet little Triumph TR3 parked near the Kurtis. The cars were all being campiagned by a gentleman named Tito Gallegos. His collection is quite nice. He has the Kurtis 500, Abarth Allemano, Triumph TR3A, Lotus Elise, and a beautiful 1969 Brabham BT-29 formula car.

The photos were taken at the Corinthian Vintage Auto Race at Hallet Motor Racing Circuit. Here is a link to some more of the pictures I took there...
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?i...ulation_page=Y

[Vitesse]

Nice pics KC, but one of your captions is wrong: the red Porsche #104 is captioned as a 356 - it's a 911!! And I'm pretty sure the Lotus is a 41 (could be a 35 though).

What's the Miller sports/racer?:confused:

[Roger Clark]

Which Lotus doyou think is wrong Vitesse? The two captioned Lotus formula ford look like a 51 to me.

[Vitesse]

I really must read my posts ... you're right Roger, it does look like a 51. Typing error/brain fade as the 41 & 35 were F3!!

[KC]

Sorry about the captions, I'll get them fixed. I think the Miller Sports racer is basically a Formula Super Vee with a full body on it and raced as a form of spec sports racer. The car definitely was VW part sourced.