Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: LIFE Images of Bonneville 1954 (PART II) Continue reading the Original Blog Post
Different cars, the Red Head is in the collection of Jim Latten, who ran it with Gillete (sp?) until it became out of class, it was used in World's Fastest Indian and shows up at the salt every so often for display. The 666 Chet Herbert Cams stream liner was 'found' and restored by a Doctor in Texas and was a winner at Pebble Beach, along with the Ferguson Miller lakester.
My dad (funny design shirt) and me (short guy) stare at Chet Herbert's car with blown-up clutch. Chet is in wheelchair looking very tired. He had been up with crew for three days straight to get to B'ville by Wednesday. First run on Wednesday, clutch blows up. They thrash all night and make car direct drive! His driver runs away during the night, afraid to drive it! Art Chrisman is 20 something and part of the team and says I'll try it; qualifies for record at 220 mph, sets 2 way record around 240 on Friday morning, whew!! BTW, the crew had received the fiberglass body on Monday of Speed Week. P.S., the roadster with a baby hemi in it for my avatar has a Herbert roller cam my dad purchased in 1953, ran 151 mph in 1955 and still running great today!!
You're thinking of Beast 3 that was at PB 2010 owned by Dr Mark Brinker and restored by Custom Auto in Co. The yellow 666 streamliner is Beast 4 it has an aluminium body built by Barris. Beast 4 has also been restored this time by Dan Webb and Cory Taulbert.
As usual, @Jimmy B beat me to it! ... but I would be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to correct a slight inaccuracy in my good friend Jamie's reply ... In 1953, Chet Herbert debuted his #666 "BEAST 4" streamliner with body by Barris Kustoms ... and a single Chrysler HEMI mounted behind the driver: Bonneville 1953: Chet Herbert's #666 BEAST 4 'liner In 1954, the #666 "BEAST 4" was reconfigured as the #666 "BEAST 5" 'liner ... with twin Dodge HEMIs (one in front of the driver & one behind): Bonneville 1954: Chet Herbert's #666 BEAST 5 'liner photo by JR Eyerman for LIFE magazine (i.e., same photo in this TJJ Blog / H.A.M.B. thread) Bonneville 1954: Chet Herbert's #666 BEAST 5 'liner photo from the David Selway collection In 1957, the "BEAST 5" was reconfigured as Herbert's #333 'liner ... with twin Chrysler HEMIs mounted in front of the driver (i.e., cockpit at the rear of the vehicle): Bonneville 1957: Chet Herbert's #333 'liner In 1958, Herbert's #333 'liner ran 272+ MPH (with 3 Chevy V8s mounted in front of the driver): Bonneville 1958: Chet Herbert's #333 'liner In 1959, Ermie Immerso showed up mid-week at the '59 Bonneville Nat's with the #333 "KRAFT AUTO Special" streamliner on his trailer ... which was actually Herbert's "Swain-Hermann-Walker" #333 streamliner with the cockpit relocated back to the center of the vehicle: Bonneville 1959: Ermie Immerso's #333 "KRAFT AUTO Special" 'liner NOTE: Immerso was an assistant to legendary race mechanic Clint Brauner of the "DEAN VAN LINES" Indy car stable ... and in 1961, the 'liner was run in that livery ... powered by a single (supercharged) Ford V8 mounted behind the driver, it qualified at 223.32 MPH ... but failed to set a new class record: Bonneville 1961: Immerso's Dean Van Lines 'liner In the early 1990s, the 'liner was campaigned by Bruce Johnston. I took this snapshot of the famous streamliner at the 43rd Annual Bonneville National Speed Trials: Bonneville 1991: Bruce Johnston #666 'liner In 2015 & 2016, Dan Webb and several others ... including daughter Ashley (@ash) & son-in-law Cory (@CTaulbert) Taulbert, Tracy Aitken, Wes Mishler, Craig Naff, Mike Curtis, Rod (@Hot Rod Tucker) Ida, and Darryl (@hollenbeck32) Hollenbeck ... restored the 'liner back to its circa 1953 #666 BEAST 4 configuration: Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum 2016: #666 BEAST 4 'liner ... RESTORED!
Not the same Chet Herbert streamliner, as the one shown by Mark Brinker at Pebble Beach. That was the Beast III, a fiberglass bodied car. The Chet Herbert streamliner in the photo above has a fabricated aluminum body by Barris. This streamliner bounced around Tujunga, Californa in the mid 1980s when it was owned by 200 mile an hour member Ted Worobief. He sold the lengthened streamliner to Ken Walkey in the late 80's, who gave up on trying prepare the old liner for Bonneville and built a new streamliner to set a record. After changing hands a few more times in the last 30 plus years, thankfully, this Chet Herbert streamliner has been properly restored and donated to the NHRA museum where it resides.
This is the definitive story of Beast III. This great article (https://kustomrama.com/wiki/Chet_Herbert's_Beast_III) was my source and I was off by a year for my incorrect Speedweek dates. Here a few pics of the 'liner during restoration. Imagine showing up to tech inspection now. This was definitely an "E ticket" ride, (ask somebody over 50 yrs old for explanation, ha, ha)
I believe one of those "Beast" cars went to Dana Fuller who ran it with a GMC 6:71 diesel engine. Not that long ago it was discovered in a San Francisco back yard and restored
Thanks for the correction, I get confused often. But it is great to have them restored and not rotting in a backyard or the back of a building. I should of asked Pgan here as he just was honored by the Land Speed Hall of Fame as the Historian of the year, and he would know more than I.
Oh So Very Cool...thanks for sharing those @Jive-Bomber...and thanks to all the others for the additional eye candy and information...
Rich - You are correct! ... the Beast III 'liner was campaigned in 1953 & 1954 by Fuller as the #671 ( GMC Diesel powered) "Big Mamoo" 'liner: The car was found in a San Francisco vacant lot in April of 1995. In 2002, the late Ed Hegarty (of Dozier~Hegarty Bonneville DeSoto Airflow & Streamliner fame and caretaker of the "Deucari" AMBR and the famous Bertolucci-Ohanesian '40 Merc) purchased the car from the Fuller family and planned to restore it. Here it is in Ed's Richmond, CA shop: In 2008 or 2009, Dr. Mark (@mrbhotrod) Brinker purchased the car from Hegarty and had Dave Crouse, Rex (@rexrogers) Rogers, & the crew at Custom Auto in Loveland, Colorado restore the 'liner back to its BEAST III configuration. The restored car placed 2nd in Class U (Hot Rods: Lakesters and Bonneville Racers) at the 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance:
Hemi32......in your pics there is one showing the Immerso 333 liner without the body and it shows a 6-71 mounted on its side .........do you have any other pics of this setup or can anyone explain how this arrangement worked........I'm just an inquisitive Aussie and love this thread..........thanks, Andy Douglas
I never knew George Barris built aluminum race car bodies, and that one looks good to my eye. Who were the people involved with the build, it just seams so different than the Barris cars that come to mind from that era. Bob
@andydodge - In a nutshell, each of the two side-mounted blowers were chain driven off the crank of each of the Chrysler HEMIs: ... and here's an excerpt from a circa 1962 article about Ermie's "DEAN VAN LINES" streamliner:
Bob - Although George worked sleepless nights getting the car finished for the '53 B'ville Nats, I'm pretty sure brother Sam Barris fabricated most of the aluminum body. I've already hi-jacked this "B'ville 1954" thread enough with my Chet Herbert Streamliner photos & info ... so just checkout the Chet Herbert Beast IV thread and my post in the "Top 5 Barris Kustoms of the early 50s" thread.
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