1948 Kurtis Omohundro Comet

The Kurtis-Omohundro Comet was an attractive sports car with modern styling, a streamlined body, a high-performance engine, and a low center of gravity. It was the brainchild of Paul Omonhundro and his friend Frank Kurtis, and despite lofty ambitions, only two examples were built - one around 1947 and another in 1948.

Paul Omonhundro was the founder of the Los Angeles, CA.-based Comet Company, which specialized in drop hammer tooling and the making of metal parts. Expanding into reinforced plastics, he established the Paul Omohundro Company in Paramount, California, near the close of the 1940s.

American racing car designer Frank Kurtis would establish a race car dynasty during the late 1940s and into the 1950s. The founder of Kurtis Kraft, he designed and built Indy cars, Formula One cars, midget cars, quarter-midgets, and even sports cars. His race car building career began in the 1930s, and by 1949, his advertising slogan was the 'World's Largest Manufacturer of Racing Cars.'

The Comet sports car was intended to be built in collaboration with the Ford Motor Company, and during World War II, many of the plans were finalized. Frank Kurtis penned the design in 1945 and the original example was built as early as 1946. For production examples, Ford was to supply the chassis, and Paul Omohundro would construct the bodies using drop hammer tooling. After the war, Ford's designers and engineers were busy trying to keep pace with the eager American consumer and decided against selling chassis to the Comet Company. Supply was limited and materials were scarce, reinforcing Ford's decision to withhold its chassis.

The original 1947 Kurtis Omohundro Comet resided on a Ford chassis with a 112-inch wheelbase size, a platform that was built from 1933 to 1940. Fords built after 1941 through 1951 used a slightly longer, 114-inch wheelbase chassis. Comets were intended to reside on any stock Ford chassis, and the aluminum coachwork was to reduce the weight of the original Ford steel body by approximately fifty percent.

Without a chassis supplier, the solution was to build the Comet sports car using donor Ford chassis provided by customers. In addition to the chassis, the customer would have to shell out approximately $3,450, a considerable sum at the time. (In comparison, the 1947 Ford Super Deluxe prices ranged from $1,250 to $2,275, the average car cost $1,300, the average household income was $2,850, and the average home was $6,600.)

Although intended to wear fiberglass body panels, the Comet was formed from aluminum due to material shortages at the time. It was given a 1946 Mercury Flathead engine displacing 239 cubic inches and delivering 100 horsepower at 3,800 RPM. The engine was paired with a three-speed Ford manual transmission. The exterior wore a blue/black color scheme.

The second sports car built by Paul Omohundro was the 1948 Comet which was later featured in the February 1949 issue of Road & Track Magazine. It was one of the first coachbuilt sports cars featured in Road & Track and would be featured in numerous articles by other magazines, including Autocar Magazine, Popular Mechanics, Custom Cars, and Motor Trend.

The 1948 Comet, finished in a bronze-colored paint scheme, was built on a Mercury chassis and powered by a Cadillac V8 engine paired with an automatic transmission. Similar to the original car, it differed by having more interior space attributed to its longer wheelbase and changes to its grille and windscreen. The hood shape was different, as were the wheel openings and door size. All-weather protection was provided by roll-up windows and a folding convertible top.

Later in life, both cars disappeared from view until they were found by the Undiscovered Classics team. A restoration of the Kurtis Omohundro Comet was performed by Sciortino Customs.

by Daniel Vaughan | Sep 2023