That is one of the most beautiful cars I have ever laid on! 142 mph in 1949 is truly amazing. The amount of work to restore it must have been monumental (and expensive). It's lineage makes it that more special..
And the rest of the story. This was once my car, I found it in a field in rural Missouri with a tree growing through the floorboards. I sold the car as a basket case to Arizona with no motor , transmission, gauges and metal was in poor condition.
I am an insurance agent, noticed it in one of my clients fence rows. It literally had a tree growing through the floor board. In the 1960s he had a shop in the Kansas City area and towed it after it had a brake fire and bought the salvage for its drivetrain and left the bones to rust. The funny thing is after cutting the tree and lifting the car with a loader onto the trailer I aired the tires and rolled it off, those tires held air for years in spite of their age.
The road he's driving on is the two lane country road on the West side of Utah Lake with the snow tipped Wasatch mountains in the background.Still today that is an amazing automobile that was built in the same year that I was born, 1949.
I wish someone made a kit car version of the KSC today - not sure what it could be based on, but if it were a green-field project, might as well electrify it ... I know back in the day they presented both turn-key and kit car versions ... but today, I think it would be a good alternative to the tired Porsche body on VW frame alternatives. It is a beautiful, elegantly simple design.
Beautiful car, but whenever someone says there are however many cars left out of however many cars were made, I always wonder what happened to the others that didn't make it, especially with a car this rare. I really hope the owner keeps it in tip-top shape for as long as he owns it, so it doesn't become one of the lost ones. Great clip MotorTrend!
shocking to me that i saw one recently parked in our small town. that was the first time i ever saw a car like that and I had to drive by it again. i didn't realize they are that rare...
If I had to wager a guess... he probably spent 400k - 900k on the unrestored car. He probably spent roughly another million on the restoration. Hard to guess what it's worth now, probably 2-4mil depending on the auction.
You guys, it's not about performance with this car. It's the fact that it was doing something new at the time and that it would've been a good investment.
@LoveTheCity123 "Hardly no one" ever hears about super cars unless the media gives them attention either. Most people never even knew companies like Pagani and Koenigsegg existed until shows like Top Gear made a big deal about their cars. What's the point of reviewing those cars?
"Drove this car to an incredible 142.515 mph" Thats incredible indeed cuz how in the world were they able speed with such accuracy in 1949?? why does MT have to be soo geeky?
+Randy Gardner Almost the same...except the Muntz is made from steel and 15" longer and is considerably heavier. The driving experience is not the same...
