History Summers Bros. Goldenrod-Two Way 409 with Unblown Hemis

As a companion to the M/T entry...the Goldenrod, a another machine I really like.

Hot Rod's piece on the car:
http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/113_0505_summers_brothers_goldenrod/index.html

 

Filthy Frank, here on the HAMB, is a former owner of the Summers Bros. We need to get him involved in this story. I will send him a PM. Thanks for the post.

 

filthy frank where are u?

 

If I recall, DC Water Jet, in Las Vegas and it's owners had a hand in the restoration of this vehicle. They are on the HAMB, but I don't think they log in much.

Wild for sure!

 

Who was the crew chief? I stumbled upon his old record breaking jacket.

 

I remember when they brought it out to the Hot Rod Reunion a few years back before the resto, that thing is Awesome!

Glad to see it got properly restored and in a great museum.

 

That is such a famous car and that record stood for so long (still?), I would have loved to seen the car in its' un-restored state.

 

Record is still current.

Here are a few before and after shots...

Before


After


Before


After


Before


After

 

1965 Goldenrod record of 409.277MPH 2 way average still stands as fastest without supercharger. Al Teague in the Spirit of 76 broke that record with a 2 way average 409.978MPH in............1991.
Still the fastest single engine with supercharger.

 

1965 and 409mph.... Thats amazing....and a record still standing....what a testament to the builders.

 

Jeez, I wet my pants just looking at that beautiful machine. Too much....

 

nice pics guys,and thanks,a lot of other guys need to be reconized also for the rebuilding of this streamliner. alot of credit should go to garcia from cook motor sports, also i have 6x9 black and white pics of the goldenrod to anybody that wants one.theres other streamliners that need reconition as well.thanks,filthy frank.

 

filthy frank,
Could you enlighten us on some of the difficulties on the restoration? Any major stumbling blocks?

 

give us a list frank, we can do any leg work to get threads up...love to see those b&w pics. Cheers, Miller91

 

i can remember that,they were trying figuire out how the oil pan to oil tank hoses went becuase,when john recieved the car,there were none,and the engine bulkheads were totally rotted,dc waterjet took care of that,(thanks scooter!)and there was a missing injection manifold assembly on one of the motors.look closely to the white hurst shift knob!i was told,that bob shifted with both hands on the shifter!.and i think there was a little problem getting tires.filthy frank.

 

This is great stuff! Thanks to you guys for sharing it.

 

The project was paid for by a Grant from the American Treasures if I remember correctly.
They were very insistant that as much of the hardware and parts be reused. What that ment was old bolts from the car were wire wheeled, other parts scrubed and painted. Vary little was remade except for the bulkheads (due to corrision) because that was the way the Grant worked.

If you look closely at the picture of the finished car you can see the original bulkheads back by the wall. Don Enriquez at Hilborn scrounged up the injector manifold I believe. Firestone took the tires and referbished them, not sure how but it's the original tires.

I've heard Bob did indeed use two hands to shift. How'd you like to do that at 350 mph and shift to 4th? I'm not sure thats true though as the clutch was hand opperated. I you look in the cockpit picture I posted there is no clutch or brake pedals & you can see the levers for the opperation of each.

 

Art Chrisman was there helping out and workin on the goldenrod when they made these runs.He told me that the sound of the goldenrod at 400mph going down the salt was nothing he has ever heard in his life. I first was asking him about the challenger cause he was also there when mickey ran that car,he said it sounded great but there was nothing like the Goldenrod at 400.

 

I love the goldenrod, It was featured in my exams in 74........

 

It toured the country right after it set the record stopping at all the Firestone stores. As a New York boy I never thought I'd ever get to see Bonneville, but I got to see it at the Mid-Valley mall Firestone store in Newburgh. It has always been one of the most impressive cars I've ever seen. Beng a Mopar guy is the icing on the cake.
Pure, functional beauty.

 

You really have to consider what was around in 1965 as for technology !

Now think of what we have today and their record still stand ! That is an amazing accomplishment that was done in 1965 ! I remember that when I was a small boy and would have loved to have seen the Goldenrod !
That was when you had to really use your head to make things to work as unlike today where you get a computer to do much of the work !
I still say the 1960's was the greatest time in motor sports !

Congratulations to the Summer Brothers for their accomplishment and record !

 

Right after the record, I saw it at a car show in Moline, IL. I talked to Bob who was very unassuming. Nice man.

Jeffsled, thanks for passing along Art's recollection of the runs. Little details like that make this forum.

 

I was fortunate to be able to obtain a little piece of that car.




BB

 

So that is where it went. Bob, they want it back! LOL

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Being an Old,old guy,I am very fortunate to have known Bob when he was touring the car after the record runs...In fact he kept the Goldenrod in my garage in Garland,Texas when he would fly back to Calif for a short break.Bob was a down to earth guy in all respects,,and yes the car was beautiful.........and awesome

 

There is a couple of other great detailed stories that Art has told me about the goldenrod,I cant remember all the details right now but I will talk to him this week coming up and get refreshed. I remember they did a run and ran something like 350mph on only 3 engines.All of the bigwigs for Chrysler were out there and Art discovered something wasnt hooked up on one of the engines and told everybody that it only ran on three motors and they didnt beleive him,so he pulled out a couple of sparkplugs and sure enough,they were brand new fresh plugs never used. So he proved to those guys that the Goldenrod ran that fast on three engines. (dont quote me to hard on the 350mph idont remember exactly what it was,it might be a little less or a little more.I will be at Arts shop this week and find out the exact #.

 

Here are some pictures of the car and other salt cars in germany in the spring of 83.
My belly tank was there. Our cars were invited by Bill and Bob to go along with the golden rod to europe for a 6 month tour. They all came back in very beat up condition. Ours had been droped and smashed up the belly. The golden rod had some one in boots walk all the way from the nose to the tail on top of the body leaving indents in the body.

 

What great pictures these are!!!

 

I'd love to drive that to the circle K for a fifth of Jack and a short-dog....

 

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