News 
 Local News 
 News 
 General 
 1954 Kieft Desoto second coming 

1954 Kieft Desoto second coming

03 Jul, 2009 04:00 AM
Cyril Kieft's engineering firm was a small volume UK manufacturer of small racing cars in the fifties. In what would be his swansong, Kieft began work on two V8 powered cars in 1954. One, a Grand Prix car, became a stillborn project, while the other was shipped to the US for sports car racer Erwin Goldschmidt.

The car you see here is the reincarnation of that sports car, the brainchild of the late Englishman Bill Morris, whose research showed the original as having been destroyed. It was Bill's initiative, drive and ownership that saw the Kieft G.P. car brought to reality in the year 2000, and now his second dream, to have the two cars together at England's Goodwood Revival meeting is set to go ahead, sadly without him. Bill passed away on May 5 this year. The 1954 restored Kieft Desoto started its voyage to England yesterday for the race, which will see Greg Snape don his racing helmet and take the wheel.

The sports car employs the same suspension systems as the GP car including Kieft I.R.S. with Jaguar centre. Power comes from a 4.5 litre DeSoto Firedome hemi V8 coupled to a Jaguar gearbox. Apart from diff housing, suspension parts and wheels, (re)construction was undertaken via contemporary photos and magazine articles only, there being no factory specifications available. Kieft Racing Green is as specified by Cyril Kieft himself in 2000.

Chassis construction and mechanical work was undertaken by Greg Snape.

Aluminium superlegerra-style body re-construction and paintwork was completed by Terry Cornelius. Upholstery and trimming by Glenda Snape.

Print
Increase Text Size
Decrease Text Size

comments


Date: Newest first | Oldest first
The craftmanship in this body build is amazing - Full credit to Mr Cornelius!
Posted by Rusty, 14/08/2009 2:25:23 PM, on Yass Tribune

post a comment


Screen name  *
Email address  *
Remember me?
Comment  *
 
We invite and encourage our readers to post comments. Comments are moderated and will appear as soon as our editor has approved them. When posting comments you agree to be bound by our Terms and Conditions.
Greg and Glenda Snape in the 1954 Kieft Desoto before in left for England yesterday.
Greg and Glenda Snape in the 1954 Kieft Desoto before in left for England yesterday.

Most popular articles

1) Apple iPhone 4 32GB43 plans 1%
2) Apple iPhone 4 16GB44 plans 5%
3) HTC Desire4 plans 3%
4) Apple iPhone 3GS 8GB33 plans 2%
5) Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro37 plans 1%

Mobile Phones | Broadband Plans

Get the best deal at Fairfax Digital - Rural Press



Yass Tribune







Weather brought to you by:

Weatherzone

Navigate

Classifieds

More Ways to Read

Front Page

Current Issue
Privacy Policy | Conditions of Use | Advertising Terms | Copyright © 2010. Fairfax Media.
 SEND...
 SAVE...
 SHARE...