1952 Emil Diedt Bell Special

Emil Diedt was a metal fabricator from California. He worked on many racing cars and specials in the early postwar era. He worked for Lance Reventlow on the Scarab project and with Sterling Edwards on the Edwards Specials and Edwards America. In the mid-1940s he built the Blue Crown Special Indy race commissioned by former driver Lou Moore and underwritten by the Blue Crown Spark Plug Company. It had an unusual front-wheel drive setup which allowed it to sit especially low. Another car built by Diedt was the Rochester Special for Eddie Anderson, a popular comic actor in the late 1940s, and designed by Roger Evans Bacon.

Other vehicles associated with Diedt include Miller Fords, the Brady Special, Novi Indy cars, Nat Round's rear-engined Offy, the Norman Timbs Special, Edwards America, and the Von Neumann MG Special.

By Daniel Vaughan | May 2019