Cunningham Replica 1950 Cadillac

The owner of this beauty sent us the following letter:

“Larry,

I was able to send some pictures of my LeMans Cadillac that I recreated.

I am a volunteer at the Collier Collection in Naples, Florida. As such, I have the wonderful opportunity of seeing all the great cars in this collection.

Being a Cunningham admirer for more years than I want to admit to, I just had to have one in my collection.
I decided that the 1950 Cadillac would be the one I would attempt to copy.

The actual car had lost much of its original details and had things added over the years that were not there on race day in France. After the race, Mr. Cunningham used the coupe as a tow car! A chassis hitch and wiring connection were added. The back number light was taken off as well as the extra full tank and filler. All the radio equipment is gone as well.

I have attempted to redo my car with all these details the car had when it was actually in the LeMans race. I have found, not yet installed, a NOS military WWll radio. I also found Firestone racing tires as used on sprint cars to go on the wheels that came off the original car. The museum determined that the original car ran 16” limo rims and tires, so they sold me the 15” rims that were on the real car. I must assume these were the rims supplied by GM when the car was purchased by Mr. Cunningham.

I have driven the car over a thousand miles since the restoration – as far south as Key West, FL. Naturally, it attracts lots of interest. I was stopped by a couple in Naples who thought it was the original car. We are running the hydro rear end gears plus a standard 3-speed tranny. At 31 mph per thousand RPM, I do not see the tack much over two thousand. It cruises beautifully, even with the suspension upgrades we did.

If you need more information, just let me know.

Best Regards,

John Aibel
Email: jnsaibel@att.net”