KURTIS KRAFT/OFFENHAUSER
MIDGET RACE CAR              

Country of Manufacture: USA    
Vin #: Chassis #: 0-296-48   Engine #: JP 22
Body Designer: Frank Curtiss assisted by Buzz Lowe, Dean Whalen, and Tom Lewis
Engine: Offenhauser 110 cubic inch, 1.8 liter (1802cc) inline 4 cylinder with gear driven overhead camshafts. Compression 15:1+. Hilborn Fuel injection
Horsepower: 180.4 bhp @ 6284 rpm (per Van Dyne dyno sheets)
Torque: 157.7 lb
Transmission: Offenhauser built-In/Out gearbox
Quick-Change: Halibrand
Steering Box: Norden
Suspension:
Front- 1937-40 Ford friction shocks with torsion bars.
Rear- Torsion bars
Wheels: 3 Sets: 1. Original Kurtis Kraft magnesium 12” rims with dirt track tires. 2. Aluminum reproductions of original 12” magnesium wheels with slicks. 3. Modern 13” rims with Hoosier slicks   
Brakes: Front & Rear-Kurtis built ventilated drums
Top Speed: 110 mph with standard gearing
Dry Weight: 802 lbs

History: Frank Kurtis spent the pre-war years customizing cars and building race car bodies. In 1935 he started building midgets but that work was replaced during the war years with government contract work building tooling for Plexiglas canopies for fighter aircraft. Immediately post war he resurrected his midget race car business using techniques he had learned from the aircraft industry: lightweight chrome-molybdenum tube frames wrapped in complex pressed aluminum body panels held together with aircraft type, Dzus fasteners. Kurtis also introduced other aircraft industry developments, specifically, spherical bearings (Heim joints) allowing for a better handling torsion bar sprung race car chassis. Jubilee threated/& serrated band hose clamps were also new innovation that migrated to race cars. Collectively, these innovations allowed construction of a lightweight, streamlined, superior handling race car that today is considered the most attractive racing car of the mid-twentieth century period. Powered with “Offy’ engines, they had no equal on the track.

Production: Total production was 367 complete cars with numbered chassis tags (plus approx. 131 kits): 1946: 55, 1947: 162, 1948: 120, 1949: 26, 1950: 1, 1951: 1, and 1952: 2.
Offenhauser engines produced for these same years were: 51, 107, 82, and 19,13,2 respectively. Some engines in 1950 and 1951 were obviously replacement engines for cars built in previous years. The most successful midgets were powered by Offenhauser but the Kurtis chassis could also accommodate Ford 60 flathead motors.

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