K Is For: 1947 Kurtis Kraft Midget vs 1951 Kaiser Henry J

Welcome back! We’re eleven letters deep into the alphabet, and today we’re taking a look at a couple of incredibly cool ways to die – I mean, go fast – from ages past. Think your friend’s Civic with the eBay turbo setup is scary? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

We wrapped up last week with a couple of British cars that haven’t seen the road in years. A lot of you thought they were both too much of a project to take on, but as I have said before, that’s not how the game is played. You gotta choose. V8 power won the day, as it so often does, as the Jensen Interceptor took home a decisive win over the Jaguar Mark II.

The Jensen would be my choice too. And I don’t think I’d bother restoring it; just get it running well and enjoy it, rust and all. But what about the holes in the hood, you ask? Slap a high-rise intake on that 440, and you have an excuse to take the hood off altogether. Problem solved.

It has been said that the first automobile race happened a few minutes after the second automobile was built. There’s something about cars, and driving, that just makes people want to see who’s faster. Over the years, we have invented dozens, maybe hundreds, of ways to race cars, and built cars in countless different ways to run those races. Often such race machines end up either being torn apart for parts to build the next racer, or hauled off to the junkyard after pushing the limits too far. The two cars we’re going to look at today survived such fates, and are ready to relive their glory days – if you’re brave enough to try.

1947 Kurtis Kraft Midget Racer – $19,900

Engine/drivetrain: 200 cubic inch flathead inline 4, three-speed manual, RWD

Location: Norwalk, OH

Odometer reading: What odometer?

Operational status: “Ready to drive, show, and enjoy”

Auto racing is not a cheap sport, as we all know. Speed costs money, after all, and one little mistake could take your whole investment away in a split second. It’s why sponsorship deals are so crucial to professional racing teams. But there is a whole spectrum of less expensive and more accessible forms of racing, in which “the little guy” can have a chance at glory. In the 1930s, “Midget” race cars emerged, small lightweight single-seat cars powered by simple four-cylinder engines, and while the cars have gotten faster and a little more complicated, the basic idea remains the same: Put the car on like a suit, go fast, don’t die.

Kurtis Kraft, of Glendale, California, was a legendary builder of race car chassis, with many Indianapolis 500 titles to its name, but it also built midget racers like this one. Most Kurtis midgets, as well as its Indy cars, were powered by the celebrated “Offy” dual overhead cam four-cylinder, but this one appears to have a Ford Model A engine. It’s a flathead four with plenty of go-fast parts including twin carbs and a really cool-looking finned aluminum head. There’s a video of it running in the ad; it sounds terrific. A three-speed manual, probably also Ford, sends power to the rear axle, located directly under your butt. That rear axle, by the way, features the car’s only brakes – the front wheels are just free-wheeling.

It’s cramped inside; you’re basically straddling the transmission, with the shift lever between your legs. There’s a five-point safety harness and a simple hoop of a roll bar to keep you “safe.” You’ve got a steering wheel, a few basic gauges, and some toggle switches to control everything – and that’s it. And whatever you do, don’t hang your right arm out the side; that’s the exhaust right there next to you.

But you have to admit, it looks cool, and a couple dozen of them sliding sideways around a dirt oval is even cooler. Obviously you would have to find vintage events if you wanted to actually run it on a track, but just in case you do, it comes with a trailer to get it there, as well as a bunch of extra wheels and tires, some body panels, and a roll cage, in case the little hoop doesn’t feel like enough.

1951 Kaiser Henry J Gasser – $33,900

Engine/drivetrain: 355 cubic inch overhead valve V8, three-speed automatic, RWD

Location: Commerce Township, MI

Odometer reading: 60,000 miles (but probably not accurate)

Operational status: Runs and drives great

Drag racing is motorsports in its simplest form: line up two cars next to each other, set up a finish line a quarter-mile away, and hit it. First car across the line wins. To do it well, though, requires lightning-fast reaction times, nerves of steel, and a carefully set-up car. Several different classes of drag racers have come and gone over the years, but one of the coolest has got to be the “Gasser” class, popular in the 1950s and 60s. Gassers were production cars modified for drag racing, with big engines, big rear tires, and usually sky-high front ends, intended to transfer weight more quickly to the rear tires. Because power-to-weight ratio was all-important, smaller cars were popular, such as this Kaiser Henry J.

The Henry J was originally equipped with a four- or six-cylinder engine, tuned for fuel economy. That, of course, won’t do when you’re trying to get down a dragstrip as quickly as possible, so this Henry J uses a Chevrolet small-block V8, backed by a Turbo-Hydramatic 400 transmission. Automatics are king when it comes to drag racing; launches and shifts (done manually via a B&M ratchet-style shifter) are simply more consistent without a clutch pedal.

Inside, it has the stock steering column, steering wheel, and dashboard, complete with speedometer, though I’m guessing it probably isn’t hooked up anymore. Almost everything else has been stripped out in the name of weight reduction. It does have two bucket-style racing seats with harnesses, so you can share the terror of a quarter-mile pass with a friend.

Gassers aren’t just about speed; style counts too. The high front end, the exposed exhaust headers, the big rear slicks – it’s all part of it. Usually the paint jobs are flashier than this one’s dark green metal flake, but I like this one. It does have a few flaws in the paint, pointed out in photos in the ad, but you won’t notice them when it lights up the rear tires and goes roaring down the track.

Old race cars, if they survive, often end up behind velvet ropes in museums, or tucked away in private collections, never to be seen again. And that’s a shame, because it’s unbelievably cool to see vintage racing machines doing their thing. And these two, if you have the means, you could actually buy, and experience first-hand. So – if you did have the means, which would you rather try: going around in circles in the dirt, or going straight down a dragstrip?