We are still 100% bummed out about the news of Bonneville Speed Week 2015 being cancelled this year due to poor conditions on the salt but that doesn’t mean we have lost our land speed racing jones. No way. In fact, we went trolling for cool land speed racing vehicles for sale on the internet and happened to find this awesome period built belly tanker that the seller claims was raced in the 1950s and 1960s. Equipped with a flathead V8, it is a literally rolling time capsule and it has all the looks of the most iconic creation of land speed racing. The conversion of airplane belly fuel tanks (this a 750 gallon unit from a P-38) was a brilliant stroke of genius by hot rodders living in the most incredible era of war surplus in American history. There was a nearly immeasurable stockpile of stuff left over from the war and it was sold for pennies on the dollar.
The men who first recognized the fact that these aerodynamically designed tanks could be used as the body for a race car kicked off a revolution of speed that continues to this day. The seller believes a man named Bill Burke originally built this car. After racing for years, it was put into a private car collection and when the current seller got it, the engine was missing but many of the associated components were present. There is currently a flathead V8 bolted in place as a mock up but you get lots of the vintage speed equipment like heads and other pieces with the car.
While we’re not sure if the LH Special was a record holder or land speed racer of any significance, we think that that the car is awesome and maybe even cooler if it was NOT some hot shot world beater. Why? Mainly because it seems to represent a grassroots effort and something homespun that regular guys were campaigning. The history of land speed racing is interesting because it went from a sport of royalty to an activity defined by the creativity, gumption, and guile, of hot rodders in this country who reset marks that the rich guys couldn’t get back to.
Cars like this belly tanker need to be both preserved and raced. Seems like two things counteracting each other but to have it sitting stationary in a museum would be a travesty and belie everything about the car’s life. We’re in love!
CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS AND THEN HIT THE EBAY LINK –
