the fastest car on earth (info request)

Auto Union Streamliner

Built to cleave the air at never-before-witnessed road speeds, the Auto Union Streamliner is a thing of beauty. But this is a form of visual seduction with a killer twist: on January 28 1938, the car was ripped apart as it barrel-rolled off the Frankfurt-Darmstadt autobahn at 270mph, taking one of Germany's great racing heroes, Bernd Rosemeyer, to the grave with it.





voted number 63 on Top Gear's "sexiest cars of all time" list.

 

I found this. Not sure if it's the "Valkyrie" but probably is.

 

1939 Mercedes-Benz T80 Record Car
This winged wonder, designed by Ferdinand Porsche and powered by a 3000-hp T80 aero engine was expected to become the fastest vehicle on (six) wheels, reaching an estimated top speed of 373 mph on a stretch of autobahn near Dessau in early 1940, but the outbreak of WWII prevented its completion and it never ran.

 

Ever since first reading about these acheivments several years ago it has always made me wonder; What could they acheive now? If a modern day Silver Arrows rivalry started, how fast could they go. That thought seriously blows my mind. Or if the development had never ceased...

 

Great pics

 

this 1937 Mercedes W125 looks dead on like the one in the photo.

 

for sure. that was over 60 years ago... with todays technology and research, you would think they could blow it out of the water.

carbon fiber, racing fuels, modern jet propulsion, the list goes on.

at some point you gotta figure what the threshold is though. i bet that may be the deciding factor on why it has not been broken. too much faster and you catch air, or catch on fire, or die from the g-force.

lots of questions i would like to see answered.

 

That's why a series like the CanAm could never exist now. It would just be more than a human being could endure. Much less control. Not to mention the spectators would have to be about a mile away from the track. Technology sucks!

 

You must be like, the Indiana Jones of rare cars. I'm thinking that the skills to pry into the past without ruffling feathers in the present must take a while to develop.

I doubt that I could do your job; even if I was hardcore enough to learn the details of the cars and the way things are done in various European countries, I still wouldn't have the subtlety necessary to meet people, gain their trust and negotiate for the cars. Got a few stories to tell?

 

I've read about the search for the Mercedes-Benz Aktion P armoured car, and I thoroughly believe you.
Were you involved in that search??
Great story, fascinating car.
Cosmo

 

Cool story Bluto......got any more??? Pretty please

Love reading about that point in time.....and the cars.

Good stuff....

 

was it the same honda you got ur seats out of jk

 

Most folks in the former USSR are not going to take your check. The danger isn't about the car it's about millions in cash. Think that's bullshit? Ask the family of the 7/11 guy killed for $50 For some life's not worth anything! Yes that's far more than dumb, it's the truth.

I never have that trouble cause I don't get in those situations. I am not Indiana Jones. I am a guy that finds things.

There is an Mercedes Autobahn Coupe in Iran. You want to go get it. Not me! Even if you get it out the lawsuits will never end.

And no that's not my photo I was joking But I do have the spotlight of Tommy Lee's Mercedes .... no shit. It was on an SS100 race car I found many years ago.

 

i'd love to hear more about those cars myself... what, only 18 were made?

who's got info about the Aktion Panzers?

 

Reminds me of an article about ten years ago (Car & Driver?) about an expedition into Russia to find a bulletproof Horch hidden since WWII. Something about the car being cut up into pieces and hidden around a farm, the seller terrified that anyone knew about the car, and the sale dependent upon the buyer helping the seller's daughter attend college in the States. That article mentioned just how dangerous this activity was, and I think the tin hunters came very close to serious danger several times but did in fact get the car. Anyone remember that story?

Bluto, I bet you were there


.

 

No I stay away from Russia!

You can't even read the road signs.

 

Umm, yeah. That story was about the Aktion P car I referenced earlier. NOT a Horch. It WAS Car and Driver, however.
Cosmo
P.S. The story is in the book "The Hemi in the Barn" by Tom Cotter.

 

Burklands are awesome, but the Cobb car was pre-jet.
It had pistons, too.

 

Thanks Cosmo! I'll have to get that book.

 

The Burkland's is piston powered and wheel driven. Current LSR record holder for wheel driven. 4wd - 2 Donovan hemis.
It scares me when they fire it up. You'd swear someone was pounding on your chest.

 

Anything in Russia that might bring in $ from the outside world is surrounded by sharks, and the cars mentioned here are encrusted with 60 years of violent history as well:
Taken as war trophies from a collapsing dictatorship, then grabbed by whoever had the chance when THAT dictatorship collapsed. You are talking about 10,000 lawyers for 10,000 years right there!
At a MUCH MUCH lower level of value and historical violence, I heard the story of a Model-A related businessman about 10 years ago who actually located a Ford prize in the former USSR: A military warehouse with hundreds of oil drums containing new or rebuilt GAZ Model B Ford replacement engines for obsolete Russin jeep type GAZ's.
He eventually negotiated a price with whatever local hood had declared ownership when the army stopped coming around, and was IMMEDIATELY surrounded by extremely alarming and colorful locals who wanted THEIR rightful share in order to let Mr.Businessman and his engines leave town.
He was so impressed by his new business contacts that he paid a taxi to take him several cities away and got the hell out of the country.
Think about that story with something of epic monetary and historical value...

 

Some of the early race cars where sweet, here's a couple I took in the Audi museum in Ingolstadt, the last car is just there because I like it

 

I never realized the amount of historical information you can find in some of these forums and threads. I must say I've been thoroughly impressed with everyone on here...WOW

 

Bluto's ability to find the rarest, choicest automobiles is not appreciated by everyone ;-)

Especially those collectors who thought they had the holy grail of BMWs........

 

There is a fairly well known guy in Mercedes circles that I run into once in a while with my Dad. About 25 years ago he smuggled a Mercedes GP car out of Russia piece by piece in the back of his VW wagon. I forget how many trips it took to get it out.

I believe that Automobile Quarterly has the story of Stalin's 540K special roadster that was a given to him by Hitler. He hated it because it was ostentatious and never drove it once. Anyway, this dude from Sweden who worked in Moscow got wind of it sometime around 1970. At the time it was owned by a former general. He was eventually able to purchase it as long as it didn't leave the country. For some reason he was allowed to go back and forth across the border with it and eventually didn't make the return trip. That car was sold/resold a few times in the last 30 years. At auction right now I could see it bringing 10 million dollars.

 

the photos i posted are they reprints or have yall seen them before?

 

Somehwhat on topic, but interesting, if not just sad...

This letter to the editor was in an old Motor Trend Magazine I was looking at a few days ago......

 

Has anyone ever read the Hemi in the Barn? Tom Cotter lives near me and I think that in his book he talks about an expedition to recover an Auto Union car or perhaps it was Hitlers car. I have never read it I just overheard someone talking about it.

 

Got Any Pictures Of That Honda.....haha

 

He liked em so much he bought the company...

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