American Customer Sports Racing Cars of the 1950s

Everyone has heard of the scandalously beautiful Scarabs, the ground-pounding Cunninghams and the tantalizing Corvette Monza SS. These cars and others were the products of companies determined to win at any cost… which was a good thing since Lance Reventlow, Briggs Cunningham and Chevrolet spent fortunes building their creations without regard to whether or not they ever made a nickel. But there were many others in the U.S. who did not have the luxury of an unlimited bankroll and who dealt with the double whammy of having to produce a car they could sell in sufficient enough quantities and at a reasonable enough price to turn a profit.

In many ways, commercially produced racing cars are the most fascinating vintage racers of all, since the odds of finding a “lost” Scarab or C-4RK is essentially nill. What I mean by this is, when they only built one or two, it’s no real trick to account for all of them. But there are other great limited-production sports racers out there just waiting to be discovered and put back on the track – some for much less than an equivalent Ferrari or Lister, others for less than a tired Miata. Let’s take a look at some of these domestic bargains, relegating ourselves to companies that built complete cars in kit or assembled form, not just bodies. We won’t be covering cars, like the Arnolt Bristol Bolide, that were built in Europe for American companies.