Appetites whetted by their impressive finish (10th and 11th) in the 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans in a virtually stock Cadillac Coupe Deville and a similar car with an aerodynamic body, the Cunningham team embarked on a program to design and build its own cars and win the race outright.

Four roadsters and a coupe were planned, and the first real Cunningham, the C-1 (above), was finished in late 1950. It utilized a Cadillac OHV V-8 engine and Cadillac three-speed manual transmission installed in a massive frame made of three-inch steel tubing with a tubing cruciform x-member in the center to augment the front and rear crossmembers.

A Ford-based coil spring independant front suspension was used, along with a Cunningham-built de Dion rear axle assembly. The wheelbase was 105 inches and the track, front and rear, was 58 inches. The C-1 was the prototype from which the C-2 was to be developed and, as things turned out, the next three cars were C-2s, but with Chrysler Hemi V-8 engines instead of Cadillacs.