The Model 6-45 offered here is the earliest known surviving Kissel speedster, actually predating the famous “Gold Bug” moniker. Its history has been traced back to the mid-to-late-1950s, when it was acquired by early enthusiast C.R. Funk of Orchard Lake, Michigan. Around 1970 it was purchased by the famed Harrah’s Automobile Collection and was featured the following year in Automobile Quarterly. Exhibited in Sparks, Nevada, for 16 years, it was sold at the last of the fabled Harrah’s dispersal auctions in 1986 and soon found itself in the hands of renowned collector Knox Kershaw of Montgomery, Alabama, who in 1990 passed it to Jane and Larry MacElree of Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

Noted restorer David George purchased the car from the MacElrees in 2017, and over the next year his renowned D.L. George Historic Motorcars of Cochranville, Pennsylvania, completed a full restoration, documented by photographs on file. Great attention to detail and authenticity included rediscovering and refitting the original aluminum dash behind a newer replacement, as well as using period-correct materials for the running boards and flooring, and rebuilding all of the mechanical systems save for the engine and rear differential, which while disassembling and refreshing, were found to be in good condition and did not require rebuilding. Most interestingly, when the body was stripped, the original paint color was found to have been black, inside and out—and thus, the present and correct livery is a menacing and muscular change from the more common Kissel Chrome Yellow.

The car was shown by Mr. George at The Elegance at Hershey in 2017, receiving the Heritage Award, and at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance in 2018. The following March, it was acquired by Janet Cussler, to her great thrill, and has since been one of the favorites in her collection, occasionally taken out for joyful exercise and otherwise displayed to the delight of all who see it. Significantly, it was appropriated by Mrs. Cussler’s late husband, renowned adventure novelist, and car collector Clive Cussler, for a cameo appearance in his 2020 NUMA Files novel Journey of the Pharaohs, where, naturally, it helps save the day.

Boasting some of the richest provenance of any extant Kissel, this glorious speedster is sure to be a star attraction within its next owner’s collection.