History Vintage Bonneville car pictures

Awesome don't come close,
So much History on The SALT.............Thanks to all who posted on this Thread.........Great !!
Great !
Great!

 

And the pieces keep falling into place (thanks, again!). It sure helps to know who/what to look for. Here's the press release for the McGrath/Lufkin engine reunited again with the engine photo after 40ish years...

 

this was about a year before i got to know jack.

he never spoke to me of bob driving his car... even after lattin bought the redhead.

i love being educated!

 

I thought I knew all the drivers who drove Lufkin's car. I did not know Mc Grath drove it. You learn something new everyday!

 

Photos of jet cars may not be as exciting as piston engine cars, but these pictures of the Spirit of America were too good to pass on ..............

 

Continued .........










Hmmmm .... there are always skeptics.

 

I seem to keep learning new connections every day, as well.

So then just to wrap up a few more loose ends on the McGrath-Lufkin connection, here's some more: The engine's press release says that the McGrath runs in Lufkin's modified sports car were part of a test program for the Olympian's attempt at the ultimate piston-powered record then held by Goldenrod. So here's a couple press releases on the Olympian from the end of 1969 and early 1970:





And Bob McGrath at Alex Tremulis' house with the scale model of the Olympian:



If Alex did indeed work on streamlining the canopy design for Lufkin's sports car, I'm sure he had a few suggestions for the Olympian as well. And this all finally makes sense, only because of you guys filling in the blanks...

So what ever happened to the Olympian effort???

 

There are actually two different Immerso streamliners shown in the photos. One is the original Thunderbird from the 1960's and '70's (I'm not so sure where this one is - but in Googling, it looks like the body at least has been found) and the other is the Thunderbird II from the 1980's (at the Fergusons). I've got a few pics of both.

Here's the Thunderbird II as it was in 1983. I'll try some better scans of it, but for now...

 

....pretty much sums up my attitude about the jet car efforts.

 

Back to our regularly scheduled program....

 

There was a car referred to as the "streetliner" that had an injected Hemi in it. Ran in 1961 I believe. It looked more like a sports racer (i.e. Scarab or Cunningham) than a hot rod. Absolutely GORGEOUS design. I've seen a picture of it being worked on at a Wendover hotel, but no pics or info on how it did on the salt. Anyone remember it?

 

correct me if i am wrong but that is a twin turbo charged motor isnt it?
anyways that is bad ass.

 

it is, indeed.

 

That's a "Kodak Moment", of a lifetime! Thanks for the good laugh Mr Finch.

D. Finch

 

MacAbee Sports Racing car from Texas as I remember Streetliner

 

I stole that from Toby he posted it first, but it really is funny.

 

That's Big Stan Johnson in the pith helmet. Stan passed away a few months ago. RIP old friend.

 

Ab Jenkins' Duesenberg Special at speed...



...and here's a first-hand account of what is was like to take a road trip with Ab Jenkins behind the wheel. This was written for the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Club newsletter many, many years ago.

Operation Ash Tray​

by Alex Tremulis​

Bert McInnis called me down to his office and told me that he didn't like any of the ashtrays we
had for the custom Berline that we were going to show at the 1937 auto show. He said that there
were 3 sources and that I should visit Chicago, Grand Rapids and Detroit and buy whatever
looked good. I told Bert that Augie and I were in the midst of a crash program building the 3 supercharged
show cars for the New York show and that such a trip would take at least 2 or 3 days.
Well don't worry about the supercharged jobs as we are not committed to them and probably
won't finish them in time anyway and that the Berline show car was a must. As far as time, he had
talked to Ab Jenkins who would chauffeur me and that we could get the job done in one day. Ab
chose a stock Cord for the trip.​

All told, I have ridden with Ab for at least 8 to 10 thousand miles, 6 to 7 hundred miles at the Indianapolis
Speedway. I've ridden at least 150 miles in which we blew out 8 or 9 tires with dynamite
caps at speeds of 100 to 110 MPH and get this - on narrow 2 lane highways without ever putting
the tires off the pavement. At this time Ab had driven over one million miles without an accident.
Ab told me it was safer to be going 90 MPH under the right conditions than 9 MPH under the
wrong conditions.​

In the next 20 hours we were to cover 1005 miles, visit four major cities looking and buying ashtrays,
at least 6 stops for fuel, three quick meals on the road at nice restaurants and maybe 2 coffee
breaks. Add a 10 minute stop for a left rear tire that started throwing rubber at 100 and then
blew itself apart at about 90. One complete light failure and a 15 minute pit stop to repair the shifting
linkage which had come apart.​

I have in my career ridden with some of the world's greatest race car drivers. I really don't know
how Ab would have fared as a race car driver in competition but this I do know - there has never
been a driver on the road that could cope with any emergency condition with Ab's precise skill. His
judgement in passing slower cars with oncoming traffic on two lane roads could only be equaled
with a sophisticated computerized space age guidance system. His reflexes were utterly instantaneous.
He was a part of the dynamics of any wheeled machine that he ever drove - be it the 65
MPH Allis Chalmers tractor he drove to a world's record as well as the mighty Mormon Meteor
whose long distance accomplishments are still legendary.​

We had left Connorsville at 3 o'clock in the morning. At about 3:30 that morning it happened.
Imagine the setting - a dark night, no moon in sight with only stars hanging from the heavens (B.
S. - before smog). Outside of Richmond on a three lane highway Ab had gone, into a nice long
sweeping curve at 90 when all of a sudden our headlights and instrument lights went out. Absolute
black, black, blackness. He started slowing gently. At about 85 I struck a match at least to light up
the interior. "Blow it out I can't see". The guy must be nuts, everything is jet black. Why doesn't he
at least slam on the brakes. It's better to get killed at 40 instead of 85. Well I guess there is nothing
to do except start singing I'm Coming Home to Jesus. 70 - 60 - 50 - 40 and we are still on the
road. At 10 he said he was going off the road. Our right wheels went Katunk, Katunk and then the
left wheels went Katunk, Katunk and we safely stopped on the soft shoulder.
Ab said let me have your cigarettes. Well la de da - the great Mormon had finally broken down
and in terror was going to smoke his first cigarette. He just simply had to be as terrified as I was.
As I lit matches he tore out a piece of silver foil from the cigarette package, pulled out the offending
fuse and wrapped it in foil and Voila, our lights went on again. As we accelerated away I asked
Ab, how on earth did you see where we were going? Very simple, Alex, celestial navigation. See
that bright star - it just happened that as the lights went out it was lined up perfectly with the
straight-away. Here, I'll show you – he flicked off the lights again at 75 to 80 and started counting
to 10. It was the longest 10 count ever. Everyone should know how to do this - it just might save
your life some dark night. However he cautioned start out at 50 and then work up to where you
know what you're doing. This was my first exposure as to the great man's capabilities under emergency
conditions.​

As dawn broke a couple of hours later he said: "Alex, one of these days you are going to hit a train
at a crossing in the country. Don't worry about the locomotive - nine times out of ten it will be a
string of box cars. If you get panicky and run into them you have had it. (1) The thing to do is
relax, assuming that you are going too fast to stop. (2) Determine the direction the box cars are
flying by. (3) Slam on the brakes and lock up all four wheels and keep them locked up and gently
turn your wheels in the direction of the flying box cars, as long as you are locked up you will be
sliding in a straight line. (4) At about 2 car lengths, or about 35 feet, release your brakes - the front
wheels will grab and the rear end will beautifully ricochet off the box cars instead of under the
wheels. It will bend up the car's rear end a bit but you will be able to tell your grandchildren about
it".​

On our 15 minute pit stop we had just passed a line of cars in that gorgeous 3:88 third gear. What
a passing gear - one more car to pass and it would be smooth sailing. Ab had pre-selected fourth
gear and as he hit the clutch the shifting pin let go and we stayed in neutral as we passed our car
on the wings of momentum. Imagine our embarrassment having to coast to a stop, holding down
to a snail's pace all the traffic that we had just passed. You know the ritual - remove the front
bumper so that you can remove the differential cover. Ab took a pair of pliers and went to a fence,
removed a long rusty nail and we were off again.​

Ab always said he liked round numbers and that is why he always cruised the Cords at 100 MPH.
Point A to point B, no matter how many little towns there were, always meant a 75 MPH average.
In town Ab would always respect the speed laws. The milk run - Connersville to Auburn - that
meant going through Fort Wayne, was always two hours flat. Three hundred miles was always 4
hours flat unless you encountered a big city like Toledo, Ohio. He drove every bit of that 1005
miles that day. I enjoyed the trip immensely, having had several cat naps. The hypnotic effect of
looking at a needle stuck at 100 MPH, hours on end, just simply put you to sleep no matter what
the road surface was.
About an hour out of Connersville the eyes of the eagle showed their first signs of strain after 19
hrs. Ab suddenly slammed on his brakes as we approached a well lit bridge. As he released his
brakes I asked Ab what happened. He said he thought it was a truck - it was just like the mirages
at Bonneville. That's another story I'll tell you about at a later date.​

Well we got home at 11:00 sharp that night, a motoring experience that I shall never forget or ever
see equaled. We had encountered two hours of rain and snow and about 15 minutes of sleet in
Toledo.
About operation ash tray - well I had purchased about a dozen of them. The next morning they all
looked horrible to me, they were all too ornate. I went to the Auburn parts bin, picked out a few
stock Auburn ash trays, had them sand blasted, painted them Desert Sand and on the Berline
show car they looked just beautiful.​

My regards to all Auburn, Cord and Duesenbergers.​

Alex Tremulis.​

 

I can't remember if this one has been posted before (i couldn't find where it was).
Chrisman Roadster & Coupe

 

Great story.
Thanks

 

Here's a couple more 1965 vs 2011 of Goldenrod's hangar:

 

I thought this was a cool photo that some of you might like to see.

 

Probably Miroc

 

This is such a bad ass thread!

 

Instead of making a new thread thought I would post here. Anyone have pictures of any interesting cars that pull the Bonneville hot rods? I know most are normal everyday 4 doors, but I figured a few guys had hand painted cars to match their Bonneville rods.

 

please, start a new thread!

i'm so tired of magazines that claim bonneville coverage on the cover and when you open it, 2/3 of the pics are cars that came for the cruise-in.