Cunningham C-3

To have his namesake cars homologated as a manufacturer for Le Mans, Cunningham needed to build 25 examples of the C-3.[3][4][5][6]

Two pre-production cars similar in appearance to the C-2Rs were built at the company's West Palm Beach location; a roadster with chassis number 5205, and a coupe with chassis number 5206X. A third chassis, number 5206, was sent to the workshops of carrozzeria Vignale in Turin, Italy, where it received a new coupe body styled by designer Giovanni Michelotti, then working at Vignale.[5][7][8][9] The factory considered chassis 5026 the official prototype, and subsequent cars received the Michelotti body style.[10][11]

Twenty-seven C-3s were built. One reference reports eighteen coupes and nine convertibles.[3] Others report twenty coupes and five convertibles with bodies by Vignale, plus the two cars bodied at the West Palm Beach factory.[12][7] While early factory pricing was US$8,000 (US$97,440 in 2022 dollars) for a Sports Convertible, and US$9,000 (US$109,620) for a Coupe, the cost of a C-3 had risen to US$15,000 (US$182,701) by 1951.[7]

The New York Museum of Modern Art named the C-3 Continental Coupé one of the "10 Best Contemporary Automobiles".[13][3][14]

When production of the C-3 ended, fourteen chassis in various states of completion remained. In 1955 during a disbursement of parts by Hilltop Trailer Sales, Chassis #5235 was purchased by Jack Shakespeare of Indiana. In 1957 subsequent owner John Hanley of Wisconsin commissioned a custom body designed by someone from Brooks Stevens Design Associates, which was fabricated by Bob Jones of Indianapolis.[15][16]

The engine in the C-3 is the 331 cu in (5,424 cc) Chrysler FirePower V8 that Cunningham had first used in the C-2Rs, but now with a new intake manifold and four Zenith single-barrel carburetors, and a dual exhaust system. This raised power to 220 hp (164.1 kW) from the factory version's 180 hp (134.2 kW).[7]

The majority of cars received one of two different transmissions offered; the first four cars had a three-speed manual from Cadillac, while subsequent cars used Chrysler's Presto-Matic semi-automatic fluid-coupled two-speed with electric overdrive, for an effective selection of four forward ratios.[17][18][16] An exception was chassis 5223, which received a Chrysler PowerFlite transmission.[16]

The C-3's large-diameter tube chassis was similar to that of the earlier C-2R, but the racing car's De Dion tube rear suspension was replaced by a coil-sprung live axle located by an upper and lower trailing arm on each side.[19]

• 
  1951 prototype 5206X
• 
  1952 C-3 Coupe
• 
  1953 Cabriolet, rear three-quarter view
• 
  1954 C-3 Cabriolet
• 
  1954 Coupe, rear three-quarter view
• 
  C-3 5235 by Brooks Stevens Design Associates

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cunningham C3.

• Burke, Erin (1 June 2022). "Cunningham C-3 Articles". www.briggscunningham.com.