In yesterday’s SIA Flashback on sport customs , the astute among you may have noticed the mention and one small photo of the car that Frank Kurtis built with Paul Omohundro. And if you had the opportunity to attend the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance this year, you would have also have the opportunity to view the Kurtis-Omohundro in person as Geoff Hacker, the current owner of the Kurtis-Omohundro, debuted it.
According to Geoff, the Kurtis-Omohundro, built in 1947, is perhaps the most important sport custom, not because he owns it, but because it is America’s first post-war sports car. Kurtis and Omohundro had planned wide-scale production of their car, which they called the Comet, based on a 112-inch wheelbase  Ford chassis using a 1946 Mercury flathead V-8. They hammered the first body out of aluminum and planned on taking molds off the body so they could pop out identical fiberglass bodies, but Ford balked at supplying Kurtis and Omohundro with production chassis, so the two partners dropped the project after completing this car and went their separate ways. Geoff said Ford’s reluctance to provide chassis led to Kurtis’s later decision to build his cars on tube frames.
The car never received much publicity at the time, and it changed hands several times over the next few decades, winding up in the hands of Alex Boeriu, who restored it in the mid-1970s. Even then, Boeriu rarely showed it and kept it out of the spotlight.
Geoff only recently acquired it and has spent considerable time tracking down its history, including the above photos from the collection of Strother MacMinn, who also provided the photo for the SIA story.
For his effort at Amelia, Geoff took home the Bridgestone Most Elegant Sports Car Award. Congrats, Geoff!
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