1953 Cunningham C-3 Vignale Coupe
Wealthy sportsman and engineer Briggs Swift Cunningham built just 25 examples of this American grand tourer between 1952 and 1955 to satisfy Le Mans homologation requirements.
The C-3 combined American power with Italian craftsmanship, featuring aluminum and steel bodywork designed by Giovanni Michelotti and built by Carrozzeria Vignale in Turin. The design bore a resemblance to contemporary Ferraris (particularly the 212 Inter) scaled up slightly in size, with elegant proportions and restrained use of chrome.
Cunningham’s West Palm Beach, Florida facility produced the rolling chassis, which were then shipped to Italy for body and interior construction. Each body reportedly took nearly two months to complete before being returned to Florida for final assembly and finishing.
The car’s design was so well regarded that the Museum of Modern Art in New York recognized the Cunningham Continental Coupe as one of the ten best contemporary automobile designs of its time.
Power came from a Chrysler 331 cubic inch FirePower Hemi V8, modified with Cunningham’s own aluminum intake manifold to accommodate four Zenith single-barrel carburetors, producing approximately 220 horsepower. Performance was impressive for the era, with 0-60 mph in about 7 seconds and a top speed near 150 mph.
Priced around $9,000 (more than double the cost of a new Cadillac) the C-3 was prohibitively expensive to produce, leading to a total of 25 cars built (20 coupes and 5 convertibles) before the program ended.
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