We have showed clips of Ab Jenkins streaking across the salt in a 1932 Pierce Arrow, its big V12 engine rumbling away as he drove in a seemingly endless loop of 10 mile circles for 25 hours straight to break a string of world speed and endurance records set by the likes of Bugatti and Voisin a half decade before. The full length film is shown below and the entire story is pretty awesome. See, Pierce-Arrow was based in Buffalo, New York so engineers drove the car that Jenkins would pilot on the salt all the way from their factory to Salt Lake City, Utah. Once there, the engineers and mechanics stripped the fenders and wicked up the engine so that they could drive the car the 125-miles to Bonneville, set up base camp and get on with the longest day of Ab Jenkins’ life.

The video is cool and funny (unintentionally) due to the total stiffness of the people involved. These aren’t actors. They are engineers, they are mechanics, and they are timers. No one will be mistaken for Clark Gable during this production. There’s obviously a lot of triumphant claims from Pierce-Arrow but Pennzoil gets some love here as well as some of the other supporting cast members involved in the adventure. It is amazing to think about Jenkins’ endurance and ability to drive virtually hammer down for 25 hours straight….going in giant 10-mile circles. As is reported in the movie, Jenkins was telling people that he started having hallucinations during the wee hours of the night and was essentially running down the visions his exhausted mind was falsely showing him.

The temperature was over 120 degrees at points, his only source of guidance at night were some flaming oil pots, and his main form os sustenance during the entire stretch was chewing gum. Yes, we said chewing gum. He is shown climbing out of the car when he’s done but we’re not 100% sure that the clip of him exiting the machine wasn’t perhaps a second take or something of that nature. The man almost springs out of the car and we expected him to be virtually crippled for what he had just put himself through.

18 years before this accomplishment, the first wheels were turned on the salt flats with the intention of setting a speed record and no one has looked back since.  He’s the iron man of the salt.

PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE PERIOD VIDEO FROM 1932 SHOWING AB JENKINS HAULING AROUND THE BONNEVILLE SALTS FLATS IN A PIERCE ARROW V12 –