I had the pleasure of seeing this car in action back in 2010, I'll include some of my pictures and the following two short pieces that accompanied the car in the paddock:
1954 KIEFT DESOTO SECOND COMING
Cyril Kieft's engineering firm was a small volume UK manufacturer of small racing cars in the fifties.
In what would be his swansong, Kieft began work on two V8 powered cars in 1954. One, a Grand Prix car, became a stillborn project, while the other was shipped to the US for sports car racer Erwin Goldschmidt.
The car you see here is the reincarnation of that sports car, the brainchild of the late Englishman Bill Morris, whose research showed the original as having been destroyed.
It was Bill's initiative and drive and ownership, that saw the Kieft G.P. car brought to reality in the year 2000, and then his second dream, to have the two cars together at England's Goodwood Revival meeting, October 2009, was achieved in grand style, but sadly without him.
Bill passed away on May 5th 2009.
Since its shakedown run at Historic Winton May '09, the car has competed successfully at Wakefield Park (Aus), Donnington (UK), The Goodwood Revival (UK) and Historic Eastern Creek (Aus).
The sports car employs the same suspension systems as the GP car including Kieft I.R.S. with Jaguar centre. Power comes from a 41/2 litre DeSoto Firedome hemi V8 coupled to a Jaguar gearbox. Apart from diff housing, suspension parts and wheels, (re)construction was undertaken via contemporary photos and magazine articles only, there being no factory specifications available.
Kieft Racing Green is as specified by Cyril Kieft himself in 2000.
Chassis construction and mechanical work undertaken by Greg Snape.
Aluminium superlegerra-style body re-construction and paint by Terry Cornelius.
Upholstery and trimming by Glenda Snape.
Owned by Victoria Morris.
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The Kieft DeSoto was built in the UK alongside the Kieft Grand Prix car in early 1954, for an American customer named Erwin Goldschmit.
Although the chassis is vastly different from the GP car it does share the same suspension geometry and was originally fitted with a spare set of Grand Prix car suspension compunents.
A 4.5 litre V8 DeSoto Firedome engine was installed, the gearbox was a Jaguar 4 speed "Moss" box with close ratios and, same as the GP car, an ENV rear Axle in a Kieft made housing.
On its arrival in the states we can only find evidence of it being used at a hillclimb where it suffered damage to the front of the car in an accident. Kieft in the UK sent parts to have the car repaired shortly after, but its history largely remains a mystery until it turned up again and was restored in the early 80's. In the mid 80's, it was stolen from an aircraft hanger and was subsequently destroyed by and an insurance pay out was made on the car. If there were any remains, nobody knows what happened to them.
