I'm looking for any info. It's rumored to have been built in 1949-50 near the Boeing plant in Wichita. It uses a dual-pinioned Ford rear end, likely powered by 2 Ford inline flathead sixes. Front wheels are Harley in tandem. Very advanced but poorly built (as most were). Any help would be appreciated. This picture likely from the early 80's. Thanks Dave
A quick search on Yahoo turned up: Brittendall Motor Co Address: 631 N Santa Fe Ave, Salina, KS, United States Map Phone: (785) 827-7962 SIC: Motor Vehicle Dealers (Used Only) Line of business: Ret Used Automobiles Ret Motorcycles I would probably start there if no one else chimes in.
Without a car number and nothing truly distinctive about the car ('cept maybe the winglets), identification of the history will be difficult. A friend of mine from Salina remembers that Brittendall "always had something weird on his lot".
https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Car-dealership/Brittendall-Motor-Co-1190528517636311/ ...The name on the racer and the info from @Ramblux yielded this in search and it seems they are on FB...AND possibly still in business...nothing at facebook reaches back to the Liner shared... Perhaps a visit to the shop might yield some info regarding the Liner pictured above...can you imagine if it was out back in a shed... Looks like it was perhaps a late 50s maybe early 60s Liner...pretty sharp looking bullet... 2 inline ford flatheads...cool...
......yeah I just found this in search and thought I'd dig into it but pretty dry run with few clues but a bit of connecting evidence... The pic on Google maps is 8 years old and the company was there then... ...the facebook site has posts no newer than 2017...the website link is dead... So it could still exist but that is unknown as far as I could find... I'm surprised this has no knowledge base in the LS community...it looked a serious contender...
I have never seen anything archival about this car. Could be that it was built and never made it to the salt......
Thanks @Tman with Twin ford flathead sixes this may have been a early to mid 50s build...but I know many pushed old technology for all it's worth just for the love of the vintage engines...it has that Spirit of America flavour in a smaller scale which is giving me a sense of its age... Brittendall was opened in 1960 and is I just found listed as permanently closed by google and I also found their shop truck at auction in 2021... Perhaps the LS contingent of the Hamb missed it 1st time around...
A vehicle # is a must for any research. It doesn’t look like none was ever on it. I’ve looked at 99% of the Bonneville results over the years and don’t recall the name. Only streamliners can run multiple engines.
Did it reference Brittendall?...I like to know the fellas behind it...this liner in the OP may have been just a part of a bigger picture of go fast in that Kansas operation...
Thanks @Tman and the others up on such things...you fellas know better than I would... Does the LSR cover Bonneville and El Mirage and any other applicable sites where LS happened?... How many are there?...I can think of a couple that come to mind...Muroc and that place where the late Jessie Combs, may she rest in peace, raced...
As @sodbuster said, I’m from the Salina area and luck would have it I was in Salina tonight. I can confirm that Brittendall has closed. When I was close to the driving age I remember his lot being a place where you’d see interesting cars, but most of them were WELL used, and not in great condition. what I mean by interesting cars is that there was a time when a Starbird car was here on the lot. I don’t remember which one but I want to say it was a bubble top. I remember Sam Brittendall racing the local dirt track for decades, usually in a modified or a late model. I took a photo of the lot tonight for everyone. I did call one friend in Wichita and he gave me a lead on who to talk to tomorrow so I’ll see if I can find out some more info for everyone. https://www.racingfromthepast.com/warren/kansaslatemodelslap10.html
@travisfromkansas thank you for the link and helping chase things down...I'm sure at a minimum some more history on the Liner would be of interest to many here...and if it still exists perhaps it may end up restored and raced again in some shape or form... Sam was a dirt track racer so that explains @sodbuster's sharing of that one on the trailer...
With what looks like a 3rd gen Accord in the background, the pic would have to date from at least 1985. Looking at Newspapers..com, there is no newspaper record of the dealership until 1965, when it was Corum & Brittendall Motor Co. The name changes to Brittendall Motor Co. between January 12 and June 21, 1970. The crossed flags logo doesn't appear until 1980. The paint under the logo on the car looks newer than the rest. I'm pretty sure you're looking at an abandoned LSR racer acquired as an attention getter. I did another search for "bonneville salt flats" from 1946 to 1960 and only found two prospects out of more than 130 returns. Unfortunately, I don't have "Publisher's Extra" to view them. Both are from the Wichita Eagle, one from page 5, June 4, 1952 and the other from page 1, September 6, 1953. Short of finding another picture of it or the car itself, you're unlikely to find out much more.
Yes, LSR is the catchall term for all the venues. there were/are several dry lakes that were run on. Elmo and Muroc are the most well known. There was even an event in Mexico but the track did not hold up. Lake Gairdner in Australia. Bolivia. South Africa. Pendine sands in England, Daytona Beach, Alvord in Oregon is where Jessi crashed.
I used to work a couple blocks from there ('07-'11), at what was once the Ford/Lincoln/Mercury dealership in the 1920s-50s (And then it was a Chevy dealership, where my '71 C-20 was sold new.) I would sometimes walk buy Brittendall Motors. They had a cool old neon sign. I never saw much activity there. I wonder if someone like @Jim Marlett or @povertyflats would know of anything?
Another friend said that Sam is on FB, I’ll see if I can add him. Looks like Sam bought this to set on his lot and draw attention to the lot. From the responses on my fb questioning the car either now is, or came from a place called Medora, KS on old KS Highway 61 My friend Gary says " I remember it sitting not far North of Hutchinson on Hwy 61 I stopped and talked to Him one time and it had two Ford 300s in it. That would have been in the early 80s when Hwy 61 was redone the place it sat at was removed and now, I don't remember just where it was at, He was not a young Man then. Brittendall bought it to use as a sign it was all black."
The Jalopy Journal
