The Muntz Jet remains one of my favorite American car designs from early and 50s. This great car is not a Jet, however. It’s the car’s precursor, a 1949 Kurtis Kraft Sport created by Frank Kurtis.

Frank Kurtis was famous for high-performance sports cars long before he created this line of cars. Starting in the Twenties, Kurtis built a series of successful and highly competitive racers. In the early Fifties, in fact, Kurtis stepped up his game building cars that won the Indy 500 four times in five years.
Kurtis couldn’t resist applying his knowledge to a street sports car. His first attempt was this car, the Kurtis Kraft Sport of 1948, a slab-sided two-seat convertible that Motor Trend magazine reported had “all the features a sports car should have: speed, maneuverability, acceleration, power, and sleek looks.” Unusual for the day, its chassis was integral with a body comprising 10 panels, all aluminum except for hood and rear deck, which were fiberglass. The car came equipped with a flathead Ford V8.

Ultimately, Kurtis Kraft was a small company, and building production cars by hand did not result in high profits. So, after finishing only 36 cars through 1950, Kurtis sold his operation for $200,000 to Los Angeles used-car dealer and pioneer TV pitchman Earl “Madman” Muntz. Muntz stretched the Sport into the luxury four-seater Jet and sold it with Cadillac or Lincoln power. The Muntz Jet garnered 349 sales through 1954 before being discontinued.