Historic Kieft De Soto Sports Car

Peter D · 06-14-09, 09:10 AM

I was lucky enough to be invited to witness the maiden voyage of this beautiful '50s sports car after its complete restoration here in Oz.

The car was in very bad shape when bought by the British owner of the only running Kieft F1 car, & he commissioned Greg Snape to return it to its former glory. Greg's other awful job is to maintain the F1 car & ship it all over the world so he can race it at historic meetings - poor chap ! (The V16 s/charged Kieft F1 car is arguably even more impressive than the classic BRM V16 in the "music" department - & that is saying something !).

Greg did the full mechanical rebuild, then passed the rolling chassis (along with a few remnants of the old aluminium body & a bunch of pics) to a local mate (Ken, I think, didn't catch his full name) who took a year or so to craft an astounding new body in aluminium.

The original De Soto motor was rebuilt, and it ran faultlessly - talk about LOUD !! This "Fire Dome" motor (a bit under 5 litres) was the original "Hemi".

Unfortunately, the British owner did not live to see his car in the flesh - but he did follow the build via pics & got to hear it run over the phone shortly before he passed away.

There is some discussion going on as to whether the car will join its F1 stable-mate in the UK Donnington museum, or will be based here in Oz. Either way, it looks like both cars will continue to be actively campaigned.

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

Some pics :

egoman · 06-14-09, 09:53 AM

It may not help it appear as original but a hilborn fuel injection would look killer on that motor.Oh yea and if they moved the steering wheel to the "proper" side.

Duncan Potter · 06-14-09, 10:18 AM

Is that motor from the old US DeSoto car company? If so, I've learned something today!

JimmyMac · 06-14-09, 10:55 AM

Peter,
Thanks very much.

DeSoto Hemi on TheHemi.com

Aaron L. · 06-14-09, 01:12 PM

love the side exhaust

Neal · 06-15-09, 10:02 AM

Nice! "That thing got a Hemi in it?!"

Peter D · 06-15-09, 10:48 AM

Yep, it is a Hemi ! I believe that the original owner who commissioned the car was from the US, and having seen the unspeakable costs associated with the Kieft F1's V16, decided on something a little more practical - a production V8 from the US !

Over a decade later, someone else came up with the same idea again - so we got our GT40 !

JimmyMac - I think that the motor is one of the earlier, smaller ones (capacity, that is - physically, it is a very big motor).

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

domtoni · 06-15-09, 11:50 AM

Beautiful car !!

Terry Cornelius · 07-06-09, 09:18 PM

Responding to Peter D, thanks for the accolade re the "astounding new body". Allow me to put you straight though.
The original car was found to have been destroyed in the US in the 80's, so nothing at all was left of it. The GP car shared suspension componentry and various other things, which the owner, Bill Morris, had spares of, which then formed the basis of Greg's reincarnation of the (very basic) chassis, which he presented to me, along with magazine articles and photos taken in the factory in 1954. I then recreated the superleggera-style bodywork over the following 15-or-so months
I would class Greg as a mate, but old car bodywork is what I do for a living, and we are not 'local', unless you believe that a 5 hour trip is just that.
I'm afraid I also have to put you straight about the GP car. While I agree that its sound is quite something to behold, and I concur that in that respect it compares with the BRM V16, it is in fact powered by an all-aluminium 21/2 litre quad-cam Coventry Climax V8 with 4 dbbl down-draught Webers, running on alcohol!

As for the RHD configuration of the sportscar, we find that a bit hard to understand, but that's the way it came from the Kieft factory and was only ever equipped with one door, so in that respect, absolutely authentic.

Erwin Goldschmidt was the original US owner, and he had a previous history of racing a Cadillac Allard to some success.

The car left Aus two days ago, bound for its world launch at Goodwood.

Peter D · 07-08-09, 02:14 AM

Hi Terry - my apologies in not getting your name right (old age, plus a Kieft De Soto running in the background does not make for good hearing !!).

Thanks for providing the accurate story on the car.

The GP car's engine is now a bit of a mystery to me - I took the attached pic at Donnington last year & just assumed that the poster on the wall behind the car (describing a V16) referred to it !

Its a bit hard to read in this low res pic, but the sign says "Utilising twin overhead camshafts and with the drive taken from between the two blocks of 8 cylinders each, this V16 was a "Tour De Force" which required more development than finances allowed. The centrifugal supercharger was a contribution from Rolls Royce and was essentially that of a scaled down Merlin aero engine. The shriek from the stub exhausts had to be heard to be appreciated"

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

Jack Houpe · 07-08-09, 06:01 AM

The body has similarities to the early Ferrari TRs. I really like the looks of the 50s and 60s vintage motor cars.

Terry Cornelius · 07-09-09, 07:09 PM

Peter, apology accepted, it was that cold at Wakefield Park that your ears were probably frozen over anyway!
What the poster on the wall describes, quite acurately, is the BRM engine, which is also displayed (perhaps next bay) at Donington.
The Kieft GP car was actually commissioned by Coventry Climax and was built to order for their new "Godiva" engine, previously described. Before it was finished, CC pulled out, believing that their opposition were making more horsepower, and the car sat in that form until Bill Morris (and Greg Snape) brought it to its obvious conclusion in about 2002. It was that project which then laid the foundatioin for the Kieft DeSoto reincarnation. These two cars (built side-by-side) were the only V8s that Kieft made. The Kieft DeSoto went straight to the US and very little is known of its activities there... any thoughts/memories/clues would be appreciated. It was painted white then, but when 90 y.o. Cyril Kieft himself chose the colour for the (previously unfinished) GP car in 2002, it was fait acompli that the sportscar should be finished in the same team colour.

Terry Cornelius · 08-05-09, 04:56 AM

In case there is still interest out there, the Kieft DeSoto is, as of yesterday, officially accepted/invited to contest the Freddie March Memorial Trophy at Goodwood Revival in September.
The car is presently on the water and due in the UK very soon. All is on track for Bill Morris' dream to come to fruition, sadly without him.

I have it on good authority he will be there in spirit.