Letters To Kit Carchives
Kelmark Query
I have been a kit car enthusiast since the early days of Devin, Kellison, and Fiberfab, so my favorite part of KIT CAR magazine is naturally Kit Carchives. In the the early '70s I was interested in starting a kit car buildup and collected quite a few catalogs and brochures from the manufacturers of that era. One of these was Kelmark Engineering, who had an attractive mid-engined design. They used transaxles from the late-model Corvair or Tornado, and they even had a transverse Saginaw four-speed setup. My question has to do with the identities of the founders of Kelmark. I have read in your articles that Jim Kellison was the "Kel" and Randy Markham was the "Mark." However, in the '73 vintage literature from Kelmark I have, the company founders are identified as Randy Markham (president) and Russ Keller (VP engineering). Could it be that Russ Keller and Jim Kellison are the same person? One interesting thing I found regarding Russ Keller was that in the late '70s his name shows up on the Condor Coachworks literature. Condor had the first Lamborghini Countach "replica" I ever saw advertised. It was not a close copy, having a Sterling-like canopy. Condor offered everything from VW to Tornado TH425 sidewinders (another transverse arrangement with a custom-built differential section). They even had a TH425 inline design with an extended input arrangement for getting the drive axles behind the bellhousing rather that going through the oil pan. In any case, Condor apparently never got off the ground with the Lambo kit, but there was an odd reference to Condor's transverse TH425 differential in an '80s vintage issue of Car & Driver discussing the drivetrain layout of the then-new twin-turbo Vector. What I'd really like to know is what Russ Keller is doing these days. He seemed to be a guy with some good ideas and the ability to get things done in the kit car business. Thanks for making KIT CAR magazine even more enjoyable with old kit articles.Don FreelandPlacentia, California
Thanks for the kind words. Researching old kits is a lot of fun! You bring up some good points. In the May '93 issue of Vintage Motorsport magazine, there was an article on Jim Kellison, which claimed that he founded Kelmark. However, I have also come across Kelmark literature and articles that state that Keller was the "Kel" portion of the company. Until I can locate Kellison, Markham, or Keller, I now tend to believe the latter version. The Kelmark transverse-transaxle setup was unique and very clever. It used a Chevy four-speed manual transmission bolted to the back of the engine in the normal fashion. A gear train on the rear of the transaxle turned the drive around and drove it back to a Corvette final drive assembly mounted on the back side of the engine/transaxle assembly. I don't know how many were sold, but I've never seen one. I have also not seen a Condor Stinger, although I have copies of some of their ads.
It doesn't look a lot like a production Countach, but is much closer to the first Countach prototype of '71 which lacked the scoops and ducting. The Condor was on the market in 1978, which would be later than the '72-74 introduction of the Kelmark. From the brochures it sounds like both kits offered similar transmission options, so I suspect it was the same Russ Keller involved in both projects. Russ, are you out there?