1929 Irving Napier "Golden Arrow" LSR

[Terry Jessee]

Here's a shot of the completed Scalekraft "Golden Arrow." This car ran at Daytona Beach in 1929 with Henry Seagrave at the wheel and set the land speed record at 231 mph.

The kit is from a now-defunct South African company called Scalekraft. It's a real challenge. This is a nice four-foot model. Get any closer and you'll see lots of flaws. But it's done. I figure I filled more than 200 pinholes in the resin, and some of them came back! Oh, well....

Here's a shot with a contemporary. The little car is the Etzel Speed Classics 1928 Stutz Blackhawk. I've always thought it was one of the prettiest cars ever designed. Driver Frank Lockhart was killed attempting to set the land speed record at Daytona in 1928.

Now to get to work on the '63 Spirit of America.....

Terry

[Foxer]

It looks just fine from here......

[RodBurNeR]

looks good to me, really neat piece of history!

[Crazy Ed]

Terry

What a great and unusual pair of subjects. Thanks for sharing'em.

Ed

[Zoom Zoom]

Looks fantastic

I'm sure the real car is a 20 footer

[randx0]

Great job Terry.Those guys were crazy and brilliant.I think you said it had an aircraft engine ,it looks big but man that thing must have sounded mean going top speed. does the real car still exist?

[Terry Jessee]

Great job Terry.Those guys were crazy and brilliant.I think you said it had an aircraft engine ,it looks big but man that thing must have sounded mean going top speed. does the real car still exist?

Yes, it does. Seagrave ran it at Daytona Beach in, I think, August of 1929. The day after he set his record an American driver named Lee Bible was killed trying to beat it. Seagrave decided that trying to push the record would be insensitive, so they loaded up and headed home to England. The car and Seagrave were toured all over England and Europe, then the car was put into storage. In 1958, it was donated to the English National Motor Museum at Beaulieu where it has been displayed since. For all intents, it never ran again. They say it has less than 30 miles on it.

The engine was the same Napier Lion used in the Supermarine S-4 air racer. Malcolm Campbell also used the Lion in a couple of his Bluebird cars.

Here's a link:

http://jalopnik.com/photogallery/irvingnapier/1000556781

Terry

[LDO]

Where on Earth did you get a '63 Spirit of America kit...and how can I get one?

Edited April 27, 2009 by LDO