Meet the American supercar inspired by a Le Mans legend.
Briggs Swift Cunningham Jr., better known as Mr. C, is an important part of American automotive and racing history. With his own Cunningham Le Mans race cars and sports cars, as well as his team which campaigned Jaguars at Le Mans for class and overall wins, Cunningham was a respected name in the racing world. In 1960, Cunningham’s Corvette won the GT5.0 class, marking the Corvette’s first International Motorsports win, and he retired from racing in 1966.
During his time in racing, Cunningham was credited with pioneering radio communication in race cars, and even invented what we now know as racing stripes. With racing using national colors at this time, Cunningham had to figure out a new way to display America’s white and blue colors because the body of the new cars at the time covered the frame which originally displayed the blue portion of the livery. Eventually, after being dissatisfied with other designs, Cunningham finally settled on two blue stripes that ran down the middle of the car and contrasted with the white body, now known as Racing Stripes, which are seen on performance cars of all kinds today as a symbol of motorsport.
Carrying on Mr. C’s legacy, his son, Briggs Swift Cunningham III, formed Cunningham Automotive Inc. with Antonio Pierce in 2019, reviving automotive production with the Cunningham name. The first Cunningham Automotive project is a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the 1960 #3 Cunningham Corvette that won its class. Based on the C8 Corvette, the Cunningham Corvette is an amazing celebration of American automotive excellence on the race track and beyond.
Not only does it celebrate the motorsport history that the Cunningham name is attached to, but it also celebrates the first mid-engined generation of the Chevrolet Corvette, something that fans of one of the first world-class American performance cars waited for decades since the beginning of the Corvette’s legacy. The modern Cunningham Corvette comes both as a 60th Anniversary Edition, and a Briggs Edition that celebrates the incredible 100 years of Le Mans.
Names like Peter Stevens in design, Brian Wiillis in engineering, Lingenfelter Performance Engineering in mechanical upgrades, Alcon for brakes, Michelin for its Pilot 4S tires, and HRE for wheels behind the project, the Cunningham Corvette is a stunning creation and historic homage, with the added bonus of 700 horsepower with a low-profile supercharger, available as an option on the 60th Anniversary car and standard on the Briggs Edition car. While the production of electric sports cars lies in Cunningham Automotive’s future, this special Corvette that celebrates the past is an amazing way to start.
