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John -

 

It's embarrassing that I missed this. This is also an unusual color for a Cisitalia. Here's the one on display at MoMA:

 

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Funny, the Cisitalia 202 coupes seem have two different fender configurations - one with two vents on either side and the second, without as in my post. Maybe one intended for competition and the other for street use. Notice that the MoMA example also has knock-off wire wheels while the other has what appears to be wheel covers. Anybody know the details on these differences?

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John -

 

Having now looked at dozens of images of the 202 coupe body (and not the 202 derived SSM coupe or spider, as raced by Nuvolare) in almost all instances the cars with vents also have knock-offs, and the cars without vents have solid wheels with wheeel covers, though there are a very few that do not follow that rule. Only about 200 in total were made (including the SSMs), with the body constructed of aluminum shaped by hand over wooden bucks. I suppose your guess that the vented/wire wheeled version was intended for road and track.

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Well, it seemed to make sense, Stuart, as even the Cunningham Le Mans Corvettes had knock-off wheels whereas production models never did. No idea about the Farina badge, though. Some sixties Alfa GTAs have their Bertone badge on both sides of the car while others have it only on the left side. Your guess is as good as mine, although in the end it could very well boil down to whatever the "badge installer" finisher felt like doing on a particular day.

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Does this vehicle have a Kurtis chassis and a Lincoln engine?

 

Yes - that's as close as we're gonna get to a correct answer. It's a Kurtis coupe, one of two built by Mickey Thompson to compete in the 1955 La Carrera Panamericana (which was cancelled after the '54 race) Mickey bought two Kurtis chassis, and made a fiberglass body for each. The story is that he saw a snazzy italian coupe in George Barris' shop, and snuck in overnight and used it to make a mold! He then widened and lengthened the body to fit the Kurtis chassis.

 

These photos were taken in the 2008 La Carrera Panamericana. After finishing in Tehuacan on the 2nd day, the car had developed electrical trouble, so we ended up in a local shop making repairs. My car had already blown a motor on the first day, so I was just part of the traveling circus at this point. Luckily for me, the co-piloto of the Kurtis was ill, so I got to take over for a late night run over the mountains to Mexico City. Very cool car.

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