BS Cunningham

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Cunningham C-4R (1952)

The BS Cunningham Company was an American automobile manufacturer based in West Palm Beach (Florida) from 1951 to 1955 . The company's founder was the racing driver Briggs Cunningham .

description

1950 Cunningham took the Cunningham Spider Le Monstre the 24-hour race at Le Mans in part. In 1951 he designed his own sports car, the Cunningham C2-R . The open, two-seater roadster again had a Chrysler V8 Hemi engine, this time with 5426 cc and an output of 180 bhp (132 kW) at 4000 revolutions per minute. The chassis had a wheelbase of 2667 millimeters and the car was 4343 millimeters long. Cunningham took 18th place in Le Mans and several copies were sold as a result.

In 1952, Cunningham designed the Cunningham C4-R , a smaller and lighter car. Again a Chrysler V8 engine served as the drive. With the same displacement, however, it achieved 300 bhp (221 kW) at 5200 revolutions per minute with the help of a quadruple carburetor from Zenith . The wheelbase had shrunk to 2540 millimeters. Three cars were entered at Le Mans, two of which were canceled during the race. But the third took fourth place.

Due to the homologation requirements for the Le Mans race in 1953 , Cunningham developed a corresponding car with road approval. The C3 , which is based on the C2-R, was intended not only to fulfill the regulations, but also to finance racing. This involved a two-door hardtop - coupe that of Vignale was designed. The car was powered by the well-known 5.4 liter Chrysler V8, which achieved 220 bhp (162 kW) at 4000 revolutions per minute. The wheelbase had taken on the old dimension of 2667 millimeters, the total length was 4343 millimeters. The car was sold for US $ 9,000 in 1953 and for US $ 10,120 in the following year. A total of 26 copies were made in these two years.

The C5-R model was created for Le Mans use in 1953 . The chassis corresponded to the C-2 and the 5.4 liter V8 developed 310 bhp (228 kW) at 5200 revolutions per minute. The three-speed transmission came from Siata . The sales price was US $ 9,000.

In the last year of production 1955, the C-6R was launched. While the chassis corresponded to that of the earlier Le Mans racers, this time a four-cylinder in-line engine from Meyer-Drake was used. The engine generated an output of 272 bhp (200 kW) at 7000 revolutions per minute from a displacement of 2941 cubic centimeters. The only specimen registered in Le Mans fell out during the race. Cunningham's money was gone, and his company had to stop building racing cars.

Web links

Commons : Cunningham  - collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • John Gunnell: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946-1975. Krause Publications, Iola 2002, ISBN 0-87349-461-X . (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Silodrome: 1953 Continental Cunningham C3