| Jay Rodgers' Kurtis 500M
I sent an inquiry to Geoff Hacker of
"Forgotten Fiberglass" after reading this
article about a Kurtis 500M the other night. "I think that's
the car I now own!
The article shows the 500M, photo by
none other than Lester Nehamkin, in what I interpret as being red with
white door panel area. Those are what I have deduced was the original colors
of my project. Actually previous to 1965 it was flipped to a white with
red door areas, including experimenting with blue door areas somewhere
in between. But of course red was a popular color back then as much as
it is now. Tho this is the first time in much research that I have seen
a picture of one with white door areas.
| Man, I would love to get a hold of the
original picture from Mr. Nehamkin. I understand he gave Joe Playan (the
race car driver) boxes of photos from the day as he transitioned to doing
golfing work. It's interesting that he would even bother taking a shot
of this Kurtis when it obviously had just recently been damaged from an
accident, as witnessed by the broken left headlight, tweaked front bumper,
(like mine), and if that is a crack in the lower right valance, I have
an old repair patch in that same spot. I'm hoping the car looking like
it does had a story behind it that he would have noted on the back of the
photo. |
 |
| From Jay: "I bought the car here
in Las Vegas off Craigslist of all places, last October. The owners were
the late Anthony DeAngelis, and his wife Connie "Carmela" DeAngelis. He
traded her 1958? Continental for it back in 1965 when he owned a gas station
in Arcadia, CA. As you can see it's a restoration project that Anthony
started but never completed before his passing in 1999. " |
 |
| With Carmela DeAngelis, 80 years old.
She had owned her Kurtis since 1965, it will always be called Carmela in
her name. |
| From Jay: "But the kicker
is in the smaller details. The headlight bezels, grill, parking lights
are all the same, and yes, there are some differences I've seen on other
cars. The interior of mine is all missing, but behind the heater was 3
layers of carpet. Two were red on top of a bottom tan layer. The photo
washes out the interior in the bright sunlight so I can't tell if the seats
or steering wheel are tan as I think they should be. But the steering wheel
looks correct to mine as it looks like a Kaiser wheel with the finger nubs
on the outer perimeter. The soft top looks correct because I was told it
was a cream color. The detail I can't make out is whether the door has
a handle on it like mine, or a push button up on the rear fender." |
 |
| More from Jay: "Circa 1965, but
she was originally red with white door areas, it was flopped somewhere
in the first ten years.
I guess I'm hoping you might know how
to get in touch with either the Nehamkin or Playan families about the photo
at the top of the page. I've also sent an inquiry to Edgar Motorsports
as they have an extensive 50's archive and use some of Nehamkins photos
themselves."
If you can help Jay with info about his
car or the photos above: Please
email me! |
Next: Ron
Duly's Aluminum Body Panels
Back to: 1946
Cisitalia 202-Chevrolet
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Cars -- 3
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