I'd never heard of them either, but apparently they have a following. The $25K price seems optimistic to me, but apparently complete examples can sell for a lot more.
Kellisons were built in the early 60s , near Sacramento ,
the one Bill Burke ran at the salt flats did 237 mph , it was a scary car !
There are still a few of them around , but probably less than a dozen that ever got finished , one of the cable shows did one that I saw at LA Roadster show a few weeks ago .
Kellison also made a VW dune buggy
That is a nice looking car. Never see one before. That guy in Florida that was in Classic Motorsports should check that one out. I do not remember seeing one of those in the pictures in the article
Most were sold as kits, and were a fiberglass body that you would drop onto the frame of your choice. I didn't know that you could also get them factory built with a proprietary frame.
They're kind of goofy looking in person. Low and fat.
I spotted one in a backyard a few years ago... probably bought and never finished. Unfortunately, the guy isn't very approachable. The yard is completely surrounded with hacked together stockade fencing, complete with multiple No Trespassing signs.
I never thought of them as race cars, only kit cars, but I saw one at the vintage festival last year. I think it's the only completed one that I've ever seen.
They ran ads in the back of Road & Track et al back in the 60s, so they were no secret back then. Still, I have to think that the best one on the planet can't even be worth $20k, unless it's got a Ferrari or Maserati engine.
...and I'm sure the frame on this one is still minty fresh after having sat outside, on dirt for the last decade, or so, with no windows in the car. That said, how scary fun would an LS and a 6-spd manual be in this?
Jam Lamm, owner of Lemons, has owned one for 15+ years that he jokes about as a project he'll never drive.
That's more like it. Although I'd be afraid that the fiberglass might be very brittle at this point.
There was a Delta Airline (in ATL) employee that had one that was driven on a very regular basis - almost daily I would think. I saw it often in the employee lot there in the 80's maybe even into the 90's.
I had a Kellison project back in the 90s. Like many of these, it sat for a number of years before I sold it. At the time, it was beyond my skill set and budget to complete it. The J5 and J6 Kellisons are more desirable because they are usually SBC powered. The one above on eBay is likely a J1 or J2, which were smaller, and mentioned to be used on a Triumph, MG or VW chassis. The price of the two listed on Facebook (the same guy had a J6 roadster) is pretty optimistic, as I have seen completed/drivable J6s for sale for 15-25k. If I still had my old one today, I would have ditched the cobbled up chassis, and just put the body on top of a Corvette C3 chassis.
There were many different Kellison models available over the years from dune buggy bodies, Formula Vee, sports racers and his whole line of kit car bodies. I have a J-2 Competition body & chassis in the warehouse and look forward to building it some day. I think its shape is reminiscent of an early Ferrari Testarossa.
Here is a Link to one of their pages and catalogs of different models available.
My project.
Mine went to AZ to be built by the same guy who built the one that was on all the magazine covers.
Wish I still had it.
Now replaced with the Dio Tipo build.
In reply to drock25too :
Now on marketplace
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/777166417487806/?mibextid=dXMIcH
Rmead8 said:In reply to 128racecar :
Where's the car? That's my old race car.
Good question. I sold it years ago to someone in California who wanted to turn it into a vintage race car. Never heard from him since.
Rmead8 said:In reply to 128racecar :
Is it for sale? That was my car at one time.
Rmead8.rm@gmail.com
As I said, sold 25+ years ago to a guy in California. I have no recollection or record of his name.
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