Bonneville Footage 1953: In COLOR!!

Maybe I’m getting too excited here, but I think it’s pretty darn amazing we are still finding good hot rod footage from over 60 years ago, let alone stuff shot in color. Today I present to you over 7 minutes of well-filmed 8mm taken by Ron Sommer at the Bonneville’s Speed Trials for 1953. What a year, it was too! You’ll see the Chrisman Coupe, the Bean Bandits, the debut run of the Shadoff Special streamliner, and many more great cars taking runs on the salt. I love the shots taken from the push vehicle and running along side as competitors left the line. Watching this film makes me wish I could have been there so badly, and makes me hope the salt comes back even more!