Omaha isn't a particularly big city..less than a million people, counting Lincoln and Omaha's surrounding bedroom communities. We have at least two small groups of guys trying to reach 200 mph going flat out in Bonneville's in the vintage classes. One gang of old farts called themselves the South Omaha Boys....the S.O.B.'s. For a few years these guys ran an old 40 ford sedan with a small block chev....I don't think they made their goal with that car because it wasn't too long before they had changed to a small block powered 40 Stude coupe. Not real sure if the coupe went 200 or not...I haven't seen the coupe for a few years The cast-off 40 ford sedan went to a small group of guys, friends of the first group, that thought they could make it go 200 if they had enough power to push it through the air. They brought the unloved 40 to Joe's home garage a few blocks from my house and began thrashing on it in their free time. They've been hammering on this old sedan for a few years now...even towed it to Bonneville last year but B'ville gor rained out. Joe and Phil showed me some snapshots of them playing in the Bonneville surf. The guys went with early chrysler hemi power, namely 354 engines because Phil is a diehard Chrysler fanatic! He eats and breathes MoPar. They've got several engines for the car, one between the rails, one on a stand and one still in pieces, being built. I'd seen the car through the years with different owners and it was always a old sedan....nothing fancy with chipped paint and a little rust here and there but these guys have taken the body to a level of detail few Bonneville cars reach.....hell, it's even one color now! Phil said they took a few gallons of Omaha Orange in a five gallon bucket and began adding yellow to it until they got the perfect orange.....in high school we called this color Competition Orange. They're running a 350 turbo behind the hemi and a winters big ol Champ quick change on parallel leafs behind that. There are a lot of details I'm leaving out but I clicked a few photos with my cell phone after a Saturday morning breakfast with gear head buddies.....hope Joe and Phil make 200 next year.. BTW, yes, the car runs non fendered.
Very cool, Rocky. Kinda like trying to push a breadbox through the air. Hope they can make the 200 barrier. Hope the conditions are better this year.
Very cool, Rocky. Thanks for sharing this! The S.O.B.'s '40 Stude coupe got sold to a guy out East a couple years ago. I don't recall the guy's name right now, but his son is a Nascar driver. Malcolm
Wow !... Not sure whats in the motor , but I wonder how that thing will react with air movement after about 160mph!?
Not real sure how fast the car went with the chevy motor but I believe it was north of 160. But I agree, a 40 sedan is not very aerodynamic. My brother [Janglehead here on the HAMB] ran his 406 SBC powered Morris Minor at Bonneville one year and I was there. Even with 3" holes drilled across at the base of the back glass, the car would still spin-out at 140 on the salt. I've seen it pass me at 120 at about 155-160 on asphalt [2.76 rear gear] but limited traction had it going around at 140 every time on the salt. Aero is tricky at those speeds. My kid's '86 Porsche 944 turbo with a spoiler above the decklid and one below the rear facia got light at 150 but stayed stuck down to the salt.
Needs more weight - LOL. I couldn't believe what the #974 Studebaker weighed when we had the 249.945 mph record for B/BGCC - somewhere around 6000 pounds if my memory serves, bu tmy memory tends to make our feats of yore much faster and more exciting.
i like this car. May find 200 hard to do. But it's the journey, not the destination that counts. And I pretty much like anything on the salt. Current noise I hear is about pumping brine onto the race course all summer. This would rule out any runs in 2016. But might make for a great 2017.
Holy shit Dean! You wadded that Stude up bigtime! Glad you're here to post about it. Aero problem, mechanical failure, details...?
Probably more aero than anything else. The meet should not have started. When I started down the course, cross winds were 5-10 mph. What the officials didn't know was right about where I would be going into 4th gear, the winds were over 30mph. I got loose right after going into 4th. I looked at the tach, and it indicated right at 150. Last thing I remember was getting off the throttle, then the lights went out. Burke Lesage was pushing back up the return road in Don Alderson's roadster. He had a ring side seat. Burke told me he counted 9 hits before the car came to rest. They were hurrying to get back to tell them not to send anymore cars. SCTA didn't have any of todays high tech communication equipment in 1962. The start to finish communicated over wire laid on the lake bed. I guess the wind had raised hell with connections that morning. A morning that lead to 3 weeks in the hospital, 6 months in a body cast, and a monster spinal fusion in 2011.
One of the SOB guys ran something like 172, I am pretty sure it was in that car. That is when the switched to go faster. But I heard they sold the second car too. I have not not talked to George in well over a year. Most of the SOB guys were in the 70-75 year old range too. Seems like one of those guys sons ran the second car and got really close - like maybe they could only get 200 one direction.
I would think a manual transmission would rob less horsepower than the auto, and net some more speed. Looking forward to seeing it run.
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