Frank Kurtis based the design for the 1953 Kurtis 500S sports car on his successful Kurtis 500 Indianapolis roadster chassis, widened to accommodate two people and the V8 motors available at the time. Between 20 and 30 of the cars were built in one year only, at Kurtis Kraft in Glendale, California.
This Kurtis 500S was ordered from Kurtis Kraft by Dr. Harold S. Coulston, a gynecologist in Fresno, California equipped for road-racing. The engine chosen was a 240 cu.in. Dodge Red Ram Hemi V8 which was modified by noted race engine builder Tony Capana. It developed about 250 hp. The transmission was a Ford 3-speed with Lincoln Zephyr gears. Rear end was a Hallibrand quick change unit with a 4:11 gear ratio. Brakes were Lincoln drum. Wheels were 16” magnesium.Dr. Coulston and Roy Wylie, also from Fresno, entered the car at road races at Bakersfield, Reno Stead AFB, Madera, Moffett Field, Long Beach Reeves Field and Pebble Beach in 1953 and 1954. Usually Coulston drove in the novice race and Wylie in the Senior race.Dale Young of Denver, Colorado acquired the car from Dr. Coulston in 1955. He entered it for various drivers in road racing events in Colorado and Wyoming in the late 1950s. Young was a team owner and consistent participant in the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. In 1964 he converted the car to a hill climb special installing the first of a series of ever-larger Chevrolet V8 motors and a Muncie T-22 close ratio gear box. With driver Charlie Louderman and several sponsors the car was a solid finisher but never a winner. It finished 5th in 1964 and 4th in 1966 in the Sports Car category and 4th in 1969 in the Open Wheel category. Dale Young and his family owned the car for 35 years.The third owner Kim Eastman, returned the car to race trim and actively competed in vintage road racing events on the East Coast until 2015 when the car was returned to the Monterey Peninsula. It is presented by Rob Manson in the 2020s as it was raced in the 1954 Pebble Beach Road Races.
Manufacturer: Kurtis KraftEngine: Dodge Red Ram Hemi 240 cu.in V8.
Edelbrock Intake, 3 Stromberg carburettors.
Drive Train: Muncie M-22 transmission (installed in 1963)
Halibrand quick-change center section with 1940 Ford axle housings.
Suspension: Kurtis torsion bar with telescopic shock absorbers.
Brakes: Drum, Lincoln.
Body: Original steel, aluminum and fiberglass, leather interior.
Wheels: 16” aluminum kidney bean style.
Based: California
Entrant: Rob Manson
Driver Rob Manson and friends
Dodge’s Red Ram Hemi was third in the company’s increasingly successful series of Hemispherical-combustion-chambered V-8 engines: Chrysler’s FirePower Hemi displaced 331 cubic inches and churned out 180 horsepower when it was introduced in 1951; a year later, it was De Soto’s turn, and its 276-cu in Hemi also put out 180hp. It had been 20 years since an eight-cylinder had been available in a Dodge, but when its version launched for the 1953 model year, it was rated at 140 horsepower from 241 cubic inches and 7.1: compression. In ’54, compression was bumped to 7.5:1 and the power rating rose as well, to 150hp in Dodge’s 40th anniversary year. Dodge’s Red Ram Hemi had the smallest bore center distance of any of Chrysler Corporation’s Hemi engines, at 4.1875 inches. https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/dodge-red-ram-hemi
