I stumbled upon this photo which was labled as Phil Hill 1953. Any one have info on this particular streamliner? It's probably one of the nicest forms I have ever laid my eyes on and I would love to know what's going on under the steel or aluminum. Let's see if we can get all the details.... .
Very slippery. And with the only badge saying "MG", I'd bet it was a factory effort. To nice for a backyard operation.
Also has the British Flags on the front which I am assuming because it's british powered. What kind of engines where in MG's?
I am trying to do different google searches to sniff out some answers. I believe that it was ran somewhere from 1957-1959 from what I can tell. Another pics showing Stirling Moss next to the streamliner and showing the other flag... There's a model!!! Some info from mgaguru.com EX-181 1957 - driven to land speed records at Bonneville. 23 Aug'57 - MG EX181- 1489cc producing c290 bhp @ 7000 rpm Supercharged MGA Twin cam engine. running on 86% methanol laced with nitrobenzene. acetone. and sulphuric ether. - British Driver: Stirling Moss 245.64mph - 395.31 km/h - Experimental project 1100-1500cc 3 Oct'59 - MG EX181 - Increased to 1506cc producing over 300 bhp @ 7300 rpm Supercharged MGA Twin cam engine, running on 86% methanol laced with nitrobenzene acetone and sulphuric ether. - American Driver: Phil Hill - 254.91 mph - 410.23 km/h - Experimental project 1500-2000cc - to this day still the fastest MG ever. Some more pics... Twin cam with large supercharger pumping out over 300 brake HP.
Thanks Rootie Kazoootie! <h2>BRITISH CAR'S GREAT FEAT! (aka MG RECORD CAR RUNS)</h2><iframe src="http://www.britishpathe.com/embed.php?archive=36034" name="pathe_flash_embed" width="352" height="264" scrolling="no" frameborder="1"><p>Your browser does not support iframes.</p></iframe>
You should check out the Nazi streamliners of Mercedes and Auto Union. Rosemeyer driving the Mercedes cars on the Autobahn...beautiful designed cars
Yeah, I have been into those streamliners for quite some time. Definitely some of the most beautiful cars built ever. And they're purposeful which is the best part.
Jeffrey, Digging. Slim In 1959, Phil Hill, who became America's first F1 world champion, drove an MG streamliner across the Bonneville salt flats in Utah to a class record 254.91 mph. Date, 3 0ct'59 Driver, Phil Hill Record Speed 254.91mph Car, MG EX181 cc Class,1500-2000 http://www.mgcars.org.uk/cambs.mgoc/EX-F.htm http://www.canadiandriver.com/2008/01/25/motoring-memories-mg-goes-to-the-salt-flats-1951-1957.htm http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/variants/vt104.htm http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...wEkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pGcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6791,7362729
JeffreyJames ... I'm 99.99% sure that the "Phil Hill 1953" pic is labeled incorrectly ... as you (& others) have already noted, Phil broke the under 2 litre record in the MG EX181 in October of 1959. The MG Bonneville 'liners were first run @ B'ville in 1951 by Lt. Col. A.T. "Goldie" Gardner ... then in 1957 by Sir Stirling C. Moss ... and finally in 1959 with Mr. Hill in the cockpit: Be sure to checkout Ryan's MG at Bonneville - 1951 Blog & thread ... Coincidentally, you were the first to reply to that thread ... and just yesterday, I added a 1952 video of the MG Streamliner @ Bonneville.
For a second when I found this pic I searched because I thought I might have seen it somewhere. The 1951 Video that Ryan posted was an exceptional car and it's cool to see where the aerodynamics of design went after that car for MG all the way up to this Car in 1957. Jusst a few short years and the engine placement changed, the driver became encapsulated and the speed grew dramatically. Awesome Video!
The Streamliner's - there's 3 different ones - are located at the Gaydon Motor Heritage museum, Warwickshire, UK . I used to see them there every week - but I never took any pics, & I always regret it. I believe the 1937 Streamliner had a supercharged K3 engine, which was the same type used by Tazio Nuvolari when he won the 1933 GP.
My elementary school class assembly was shown a film about the MG streamliner. This HAD to be somewhere between 1951 to 1953. I remember the film mentioning that the factory left the body bare metal because they didn't want the weight of the primer and paint added to the car. I do not recall the driver, but believe it was Sir Stirling Moss. Memory banks go belly up at this point. A super interesting thread!! Thank you JefferyJames for starting it!!
Yes the car still exists, and as you say it's in the Heritage motor museum, http://www.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk/ here's a shot of one of the MG's they have, you can just see the streamliner on the right. I have some more shots somewhere i will have to go digging. . .
Just another reason to visit the UK!!! I am really glad I stumbled upon it because i might be one of my favorite designs ever!!!!
Could somebody post a pix of the Wee Eel now in the Speedway Museum. I think that there's a lot of similarities. Thanks
Found another pic of the EX-181: May 29, 1957: Stirling Moss in his custom-built MG EX-181, shortly before a record-setting run of 246 mph.
Cool! Glad to see this come back around. I like British sports cars almost as much as American V8s. And I love anything on the "Salt"!