Brooklin Models Cunningham C-3

By Harvey Goranson

Code 3 Models Based on BRK 128

Back in 2023, at the Countryside Toy Show (near Chicago, USA), Dale Dannefer told me of his plan to issue the Brooklin BRK 128 Cunningham C-3 in various authentic configurations, beginning with Briggs’s own C-3 coupe. I told him “I’m in!” A few months later, I had the model and accompanying info card. Mine is No. 10 of 25. It represents the black car used by two generations of the Cunningham family for over 61 years.

Hemmings says there were 20 coupes and 5 cabrios, other sources say 27 in all (including Dale’s card), and I also read somewhere that there was only one cabrio. My Cunningham book by Dean Batchelor and Albert Bochroch isn’t clear either, at one spot saying there were “less than 30” and in another a quote from Briggs saying “about 30 passenger cars, of which four were convertibles.” In the book price info varies too, stating first that it was $9,000 for the coupe and $10,000 for the convertible, then on a facing page saying it was $10K for the coupe and $12K for the convertible. Either way, quite pricey in the early 1950s.

Chassis were built in Cunningham’s West Palm Beach, FL, facility, then shipped to Vignale in Italy where the body, designed by Giovanni Michelotti, was fitted. Finished cars were shipped out of Genoa back to West Palm.

In 2017 Hemmings reported on the Sotheby’s auction of real car No. 5223. There was trouble with the semi-auto Cadillac transmission, so it was replaced with a PowerFlite tranny. It also differs from other C-3s in that it has a single 4-barrel carb to enhance driveabilty for daily use. It’s the only C-3 with power windows, and there is a Bendix power booster for the brakes. Briggs’s daughter Lucie had the car repainted in the same black it bore originally, and had the interior reupholstered. The Sotheby’s auction resulted in a $1M sale.

Dale Dannefer’s second C-3 represents car #5207. This car made the rounds for Briggs Cunningham’s promotions and was photographed for magazines. It won its class at two concours events in 1952 and was featured a Museum of Modern Arts publication featuring ten of the world’s most beautiful cars. After two years, it was sold to a new owner.

Notable changes from the standard BRK include the three-tone paint and replacement wheels.

The actual 5207 car went through six owners, eventually becoming a barn find for Tom Cotter. Found in flat black primer, the car was entered in various vintage racing events. Even in its present state, it has made its way to various concours – it is, after all, one of only 25 Vignale-bodied Cunninghams. In 2021, I saw the car (on track and in the pits) at the Chattanooga Motorcar Festival.

I can say that the modified version of 5207 as a vintage racer is quite accurate, including race decals over flat black paintwork, a bumperless front end, and new wheels, sans hubcaps. Only 20 of each version has been made.

The fourth version arrived a few days ago and is a beaut. This is car #5214, the ninth of 20 Vignale coupes. After restoration, the 1:1 was shown at a Cunningham reunion in West Palm Beach in 2011. Colors are Chrysler Yuma Beige over Florida Green.

Modifications include hood straps (ordered by the original Brazilian owner) and slightly different bumpers with bumperettes (the BRK originals are included in the box).

Paint is smooth with no orange peel. A very fine strip of chrome was applied along the doors and over the tail, perfectly along the color separation. As usual, all the window surrounds have been scraped/polished or BMF’d. Just beautiful!

Here are three more C-3’s. I had John Roberts modify one of the Brooklins as the Bob Lutz car. Recently, I bought the standard ivory over blue Brooklin version, and lastly there’s the cabriolet by Automodello.