The closest thing you will ever find to an Indy roadster for the street, the Kurtis 500S is one of America’s great sports cars. This rare example will be offered at the Mecum Monterey sale.
Today, California builder Frank Kurtis is best remembered for his exquisitely constructed race cars, including the legendary Indy roadsters he originated in the early 1950s. (Read about the Kurtis roadsters here.) But on multiple occasions Kurtis turned his attention to road-going sports cars, and usually with remarkable results. His 500S sports car was essentially a road version of the Kurtis-Kraft KK500 racer that won the Indy 500 three years in a row in 1953-55: light, simple, and effective. Approximately 30 were built, Kurtis authorities say, and they are highly prized today.
Reportedly inspired by the Allard J2, which had a reputation for evil handling and didn’t impress Kurtis at all, it’s said, the 500S was closely patterned on his no-nonsense Indy roadster chassis, with beam axles front and rear and transverse torsion-bar suspension. A very simple body of hand-formed aluminum panels just barely covered the machine work, and a tight, minimal cockpit (above) provided barely room for two. The 500S was also offered in unfinished kit form as the 500KK.
The Kurtis sports car was designed to accommodate virtually any drivetrain, from the flathead Ford V8 to the Hudson Twin-H six to the Chrysler Hemi. This example is fitted with a potent ’56 Cadillac V8 boasting 365 cubic inches and nominally rated at 285 hp in stock tune, coupled to a LaSalle manual gearbox and a Ford V8 rear axle.
The car headed to the Mecum auction in Monterey on August 15-17 comes straight from the personal collection of Dana and Patti Mecum, and is said to be one of the most original Kurtis 500S roadsters in existence. Before arriving in the Mecum collection, for decades it was owned by famed Beverly Hills lawyer, car collector and Motor Trend columnist Robert Gottlieb, who called the raw-boned roadster his “Cheetah-eater.” Owing in part to the car’s rare original condition, no doubt, the auction house’s market experts have estimated a sale price of $450,000 to $600,000. Photos by Mecum Auctions.
