For as long as I can remember, Kent Fuller has been working steadily towards realizing a land speed dream. Hell, I can remember being in my early 20's and hanging out at Tardel's while the Fuller streamliner lurked in the background. Almost literally... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
Many years ago I have the good fortune to meet Kent. My brother-in-law was living in Woodland Hills and knew Kent and his wife from church. We all went to the Pomona Swap Meet with Kent. One of the highlights of my long love affair with hot rods. He is truly an icon and one of those folks I call "Renaissance" worthy, they can imagine and can build amazing things.
Maybe we could do some kind of auction in the name of the h.a.m.b. When the final tally comes in and we get one of the packages then all of the auction contributors could be put in a hat and ryan could pull a name out for the prize. Just a thought if it would come to pass i could donate some 60s hot rod magazines.
I was all ready to pledge until I was greeted with... I'll assume shipping is cost-prohibitive outside "the lower 48". I'm all-too-familiar with this. I'd be happy to pledge support and cover the extra shipping cost if possible.
I am always open to this when it comes to speed... When ever I see Fullers name I cant help but think of Buckminster Fuller. I hope Kents quest comes with better results....
I wonder what engine class it would run in? The record set by Flatfire would be a hard one to break. Rich
Carburated flathead is a X class engine. When we built Swamp Rat 33 for Garlits in 1988, both the gas and fuel records were well below 200, and we had no problem bumping them over 200...and put 2 different drivers in the 2-Club. Today both Gas and Fuel records are pretty stiff, and I doubt if the engine in the video would have the hp to push the car over 200. Remember it's all about frontal area and horsepower. Kent's front end looks way bigger than it needs to be, and that could kill his ability to fulfill his dream.
Having seen the car in person this January at the GNRS in Pomona I was impressed with the forward thinking in the design. However the SCTA tech people who were looking at the streamliner had a bunch of questions as to the design of various areas. The frontal area is actually rather small compared to the black and white picture's I don't think the frontal drag will be much. But there's still those tech issues to deal with. Plus getting the speed above the current record will take a whole lot of cash to make the flathead live for at least two all out runs. The horse power required to pull the required speed is well over 500 not a cheap thing to do with your flathead. But with a lot of help and maybe a borrowed motor it could happen one day. Good luck Kent and family. Ronnieroadster
I've been intrested in Kent's quest for a Bonneville record since Mike Bishop brought it to the HAMB's attention a few years ago. I was involved in drag racing during the time I consider the golden age.......when Greer,Black, Prudhomme (sp) ruled the 1320. Every year at Indy I would wander down to the wire wheel area just to see for myself the creations of Kent Fuller. His cars were head and shoulders the most beautiful dragsters bar none. The modern stuff looks like slicks on an overturned outhouse in comparison. Faster and quicker,granted,but ugly IMHO. Gotta figure out how I can make a donation to see this effort to fruition. Frank
I'm amazed more guys aren't jumping onboard with this. How often do you get a chance to participate in something legendary?
He is such a good dude. Check out the Kent Fuller story in the June Rod and Custom. It's a nice write up...
Maybe Rich, but I like to believe Kent's dream is just to scamper over the salt in that thing, period. A record would be a great bonus, but just getting the car there and running it would be a great satisfaction. I'll be there to cheer him on, if he makes his attempt at Speed Week. Thanks for the thread, Ryan. This is my favorite thing: Modern age grassroots hotrodding. Scotty
I e-mailed Kent's granddaughter, Jenna, and got a reply this morning. I paid a few extra bucks for shipping and all is good.
Hey Guys! My name's Ryan, I'm one of Kent's grandkids, and I'm trying to spread the word on what we're doing to get the streamliner up and running. The car itself is pretty much complete, just needs to be brought up to safety specs to run on the salt, and we're in the process of getting donations to do so. It's Fuller's last car, and once we can get some money, we'll be ready to run. Don't know how much info you guys have seen recently, but I have a link to the Kickstarter page where you can get caught up and if you are so inclined, help us to get the ball rolling. We're excited, and I hope you are too! Message me/reply for details, or check the Facebook page for the latest Fuller Streamliner news. As of today (4/9), we're at about $4,800 dollars, which is awesome! However, with a month and a half left, we are still a bit short of our $32,900 goal to get all the details ironed out. I saw some of you interested in an auction to raise some money; all of us would be excited to say the least! We'd love to see where this goes, and if anyone has items to donate to such a cause, PLEASE let us know! Feel free to message directly, and if I don't know the answer offhand, I'll be able to direct you to someone more knowledgeable on the subject. FULLER'S LAST CAR!! History in the making, and we want you guys to be a part of it. Get the live feed: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kent-Fuller-Streamliner/347036845407719?fref=ts Get involved: http://kck.st/streamliner
I could donate some metal artwork burned out on m CNC Machine that is HAMB friendly. Let me see if I can get some burned out this week! These are kind of generic but could be customized. I'll have to simplify these a bit to get optimum cut quality. I could burn it out of 16 guage steel or even stainless steel if you want.
Thanks Checkerwagon, we are excited to have you a part of the team. And to 51 Hemi J, those are awesome! I will pass that info along to some of the other Fuller Streamliner press team! I personally love stuff like that, and it's for a great cause! We'd be greatly appreciative if you could spread the word to any other Jalopy buddies that know about Fuller or would otherwise like to join in the fun.
The Jalopy Journal
