Cunningham C7

The Cunningham C-7 Grand Touring car was first introduced to the public at the 2001 Detroit International [1]. Had it gone into production, the C-7 would have represented the most expensive and perhaps the finest performance vehicle America has ever produced. How it came into being is a small chapter in America's automotive history.

The beginning

Immediately after World War II, one well-known American was aware of the rapid recovery of the European economy, especially the European automobile industry. Within four years of war's end some European firms such as Ferrari, Maserati, Jaguar, Mercedes Benz, Talbot, Aston Martin, Bentley, etc., were already offering Grand Touring cars and sports cars. This was high end automotive product, not "one offs" built for their respective home markets, but series production for export to the United States. Despite the fact that American machinery had won the war, this nation had nothing automotive to offer that was comparable to the Europeans even though America's industrial landscape had not been devastated by war.

Perhaps others had this same realization, that the industrial giant that America had become could not or would not offer anything comparable to a Ferrari or a Jaguar, but Briggs Swift Cunningham II of Greens Farms, Connecticut could do something about it since he was wealthy. His family had funded the founding of Procter and Gamble, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Bank of Ohio. Briggs Cunningham was proud of his country and he was convinced that America should build Grand Touring cars and American sports cars and that they could compete with the best from Europe.

West Palm Beach

The team he assembled was up to the task. Working from the Cunningham factory Briggs established in West Palm Beach, Florida, Briggs Weaver (former chief engineer of Indian Motorcycles), Phil Walters, a brilliant race car driver and intuitive chassis designer, and John (Jack) Donaldson surrounded themselves with other fine craftsmen and fabricators and developed a line of extraordinary cars that put American cars center on the World stage.

Together, they would produce a series of "firsts". The first modern American sports car, the C-1, was an aluminum bodied, front engined, V-8 powerhouse, a design that became the template for every American manufacturer from then on. And the first modern American Grand Touring car, the C-3, was seen as the equal of Europe's best, yet with a distinctive American flavor.

The ultimate American car

Then, in 1952, came the definitive Cunningham, the C-4R [2], built in both coupe and roadster configurations. Powered by the original Chrysler 331 Hemi V-8, by the end of its development it was a 2400 pound, 400 horsepower demon. It would be ten years before another American sports car could challenge the C-4R for performance. The 427 Cobra, now an American performance icon, was directly inspired by the Cunningham C-4R. Carroll Shelby knew full well about Cunningham when he introduced the Cobra. In 1952, Shelby was driving for Aston Martin at Le Mans against the C-4R and lost to them. Shelby even copied Cunningham's paint scheme, which was white cars with two racing stripes, which Shelby reversed.

Cunningham's efforts were big news in America. At one point Briggs and his cars appeared on the front cover of Time Magazine (April 26, 1954). The Time Magazine writer, thinking that the operation was financially successful, remarked to Briggs that he seemed to have made a small fortune from his motorsports efforts and asked him how he had done this. Briggs answered by saying "start with a large fortune".

The end of the beginning

Sadly, in 1955, Cunningham came to an end. Unable to turn a profit, Briggs closed the factory after producing just 37 cars. Briggs then established an incredibly successful race car team and Jaguar cars made him their eastern US distributor. Briggs also pursued his other love, competitive sailing. He went on to win the America's Cup in 1958.

The modern Cunningham

Fast forward to 1993. Another American realized that little had changed since the 1950s. A successful person seeking to reward themselves with an exotic car had much the same choices in 1993 as they did forty years earlier. Ferrari, Aston Matin, Rolls or Bentley were on the shopping list but again there were no comparable American Grand Touring cars. Most automotive enthusiasts would maintain that the last true American Grand Touring car was the C-3 Cunningham from the early 1950s.

Lawrence (Larry) Black, a writer, manufacturing consultant, entrepreneur and former racer, recognized this, that America lacked a Grand Touring car and likely the best identity to attach to a modern Grand Touring car would be Cunningham, the builder of the last American Grand Touring car. Black approached a car enthusiast in Seattle, Washington named Stephen Norman. Norman owned the BMW dealership in downtown Seattle and he provided the initial capital for Black's efforts to resurrect Cunningham as an American auto manufacturer.

The first thing Black had to do was to secure the trademark and gain the Cunningham family's approval for the project. Contact with Mr. Cunningham's son was very positive. The founder, Briggs Swift Cunningham II, was elderly and in poor health, but his only son, Briggs Swift Cunningham III, was very interested. Briggs the Third was so interested he bought out Steve Norman's interest in the firm.

Virtually Integrated Manufacturing

Black's idea of how to launch the new car company was novel. There was a significant degree of unused manufacturing capacity in the automobile industry. This might make it possible to create a "virtual" car company, where Cunningham Motor Cars would be a design, engineering and marketing firm but would have other firms build the major components. Perhaps it might even be possible to enlist the support of one of America's big three auto manufacturers in the project.

To accomplish this, Black sought advice from America's premier automotive journalist, David E. Davis, the founder of Automobile Magazine. Black asked Davis about Bob Lutz, who was well thought of in the enthusiast community. Davis advised Black about contacting Lutz, who was then President of Chrysler Corporation. Chrysler had been the second engine supplier to Cunningham (after Cadillac) in the 1950s so this was an appropriate marriage. Once again, the reception was positive. It turned out that Lutz was a Cunningham enthusiast and even had a signed C-4RK race photograph in his office.

Cunningham and Chrysler

At Lutz's urging, Chrysler quickly produced a prototype engine, a V-12 331 c.i. They achieved this by grafting together 2.7 liter V-6 engines. At the time, it seemed to all involved that Cunningham was going to come into being again. Ironically, the Cunningham project re-kindled interest within Chrysler for their "Hemi" engines and work began bring the Hemi back to market for DODGE trucks.

Cunningham efforts continued on other fronts as well. Black, now the managing partner of Cunningham, thought it crucial to establish creditability for the "new" Cunningham by once again building 1952 Cunningham C-4Rs. An operation to build continuation C-4Rs was formed in Lime Rock, CT, at the race track designed and built by one of the original team drivers for Cunningham, John Fitch.

Media attention

That operation gained significant press attention, thereby reminding the potential customer base of what Cunningham had once been. Many auto and general interest publications sent correspondents to test the C4Rs being built in Lime Rock. including Car and Driver, Automobile Magazine, Road and Track, Forbes, London's Sunday Times, the New York Times and a number of European car publications. The coverage for the resurrected C-4Rs was so intense and at the same time great interest was also being created in the upcoming modern Cunningham, now being called the C-7.

Interest too, was gathering for the "virtual car company" idea. Forbes Magazine [3] would later put Bob Lutz on their cover under the words "Bob Lutz's Secret". The real secret was how little money would have to be raised to launch the new company. Careful financial research predicted that a 80% savings would be realized over a conventional automobile start-up.

Daimler/Chrysler

What no one involved could have predicted were the consequences of Mercedes taking over Chrysler, which they did. The Germans saw the new C-7 Cunningham as a threat to their Maybach project and support within Daimler/Chrysler evaporated. Lutz left Chrysler and became the CEO of Exide Batteries and Cunningham lost their automaker ally. Cunningham needed a big three sponsor again.

Efforts continued, since the basic idea of having the virtual company build an American Grand Touring car and marketing it under the Cunningham brand was inherently strong.

Cunningham/GM

Once again, David E. Davis intervened. Since the first Cunningham race cars were Cadillac powered, Davis suggested that the partners approach General Motors. Lutz said that he didn't know anyone at General Motors, so Davis arranged for Black and Lutz to meet with GM executives. This meeting served to remind GM that in 1950 Cunningham raced Cadillac based cars at Le Mans and the 50th anniversary of that was approaching.

Black was now consulting with Arv Mueller, the head of GM Powertrain, on what would be the GM approach to a Cunningham powerplant. Once again, a V-12 configuration was selected as the market demanded an exotic engine in an exotic car. The precise layout came from Black, who requested a 60 degree angle between the two banks of cylinders. The reason for the request was simple. The exhaust note of a 60 degree V-12 is near musical and Black recalled hearing Ferrari race cars in his youth, all of which used 60 degree V-12s.

Lutz had selected a retired designer from Chrysler to draw the Cunningham C-7 exterior, but none of the his submissions appealed to Briggs or Black, so, once again, David E. Davis came to the rescue. When asked by Black who was the best independent designer in Detroit, Davis' immediate answer was Stewart Reed. Unknown to Black or Davis, Lutz was asking the same thing of his people and they gave the same answer. Stewart Reed it was.

Stewart Reed design

The initial Stewart Reed design submission was approved by Black, Lutz and Cunningham and the refinement process began. What emerged was stunning, a broad shouldered, muscular and very American Grand Touring car [4]. The debut was just six months away and there are few firms that could handle such a deadline. Reed suggested Special Projects in Plymouth, Michigan and he and Black met with their principal, Kenny Yanez. Yanez agreed.

In the interim, Lutz had chosen another fabrication firm, but despite having been paid $750,000 in advance, they produced nothing. As a result, Reed and Black had to go back to Yanez and see if he could still do the project. Yanez again agreed and just days before the show, it was finished.

The end of Cunningham

The debut at the 2001 Detroit show was both the triumph and defeat of the modern Cunningham. The car and the low cost of the project so impressed GM that they invested in the firm and made Bob Lutz Vice-Chairman of GM. Larry Black and Briggs Cunningham were forced out of the firm by Lutz and all that would result from those nine years of effort was a lawsuit [5]. The cars were never built.