History The Markley Bros BELLY TANK: A Pictorial History

Second generation Hoffman - Markley lakester. At World of Speed this week. Ford powered. I understand the Ford broke. Maybe they need a DeSoto.

 

Or a Chevy at least.

 

My new score of magizines i bought off fleabay came in the mail today. Among the 50-60 HOT ROD and CAR CRAFT magizines (mostly from the 80's) were 6 or 7 from the 60's one of them was a copy of Rod & Custom fron july '64. As i paged through it i came across this article.

 

Here's a bitchin' Peter Vincent image of the Varni~Barnett #909 Belly Tank on the salt:

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Here's yet another photo of the Markley Bros. #360 D Belly Tank on the salt in 1962:

original photo by Dave Silveira
©AHRF/Silveira Family Collection​

 

Did the rear wheels have discs' too?

 

John Swanson did own the 2nd tank buying it from Tony Baron. John brought it up to safety specs but never ran it. I believe Tony has repurchased from John. Personally I wish the 2nd one would have been run to its true potential. I do believe Tony set an SCTA record in it at one of the Muroc Reunions in the 90's with one of his flatheads. Tony is a pretty tall guy and I don't know how he ever fit in it. I'm 6' and barely crammed myself into it in Johns garage. When the Markley's tanks went into the Dry Lakes Hall of Fame, John brought it up. It was however painted red at that time.

 

In the background is the Edmunds, Cagle & Alpenfels Stude that took the comp coupe records away from Belmont Sanchez.

 

I was there in 63' when he put beauty in high, she spun the rears ' Priceless '

289 MPH with the little 255 hemi, also when it looked the best with the Hilborn scoop in plain view

BTW that is the way a tank should look, the real deal and beep - beep let the clutch out and rock & roll to the five

DND

 

How you doing Don.

 

I still don't know how Charlie drove that thing with his knees in his chest!

 

Here's a beautiful color photo of the #360 D Lakester by Gordon Keck ... c/o @LVSALT:

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Found yet another image in my archives that I somehow neglected to post here ... A circa 1963 photo of our hero posing with his #360 D Belly Tank Lakester:

image from the HRM archives​

 

Hero is right!

 

Ernie Pereira bought the first Markley Bros. tank and ran it with GMC power for some time. Ernie, I think had the first GMC in the 2 club. He is no kid, but here is what he is up to to these days.

 

When Ernie bought the tank he only got the frame and body. The tank was stripped of everything and the parts were put on the second tank. Ernie was working at Aero Development at the time and with the help of Gary Huback rebuilt the suspension to similar to what Charlie and Bones had.

 

Ernie passed today.

 

Sad to loose another racer, thoughts and prayers going out to his family and friends. Bob

 

@RichFox, @The37Kid, & @Dean Lowe -

D'oh! ... I just now saw your posts.

FYI ... I started a separate "tribute" thread for Ernie last night:

RIP ... Ernie Pereira
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I saw it. Very touching. Bob Dalton showed the very high regard every one who knew Ernie, had of him. As did your tribute. . God Speed.

 

Two salt veterans Charlie Markley and Garry Hubback talking about the finer points of going fast.

 

Just a bump of an old thread ... 'cuz I spent a couple hours fixing all my posts with images hosted on Photobucket ... and replaced them with higher rez versions of the images.

 

Thank you for doing that!

 

I had a chance to visit Charlie's shop with a friend. It was a treat to see they are in the process of restoring Markley Tank no.2. This was at one time the fastest open wheel car in the world. I was told the entire drivetrain from Tank no.1 was used in this car. The Markley brothers were known for building very fast race cars. In the picture left to right are Gary Hubback, Craig Hoffman, and Charlie Markley. I can't wait to see this car restored back to it's glory.

 

Della Pierce (@jpierce’s mother) shot these two photos at the Bonneville National Speed Trials in 1965:

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Loved this post. Thanks! Charlie is a friend and hero!

 

Here's a couple of circa 1966 color photos of the #360 Belly Tank on the salt:

images from the ©AHRF/Michael Eliasohn Collection
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Here's a circa 1964 color photo of the #360 Belly Tank on the salt:

image from the Craig Eldridge Collection​

 

btt

 

again