curt raitz Posted May 10, 2012 Posted May 10, 2012 (edited) Alex Xydias and his So-Cal Speed Shop built the fastest unblown flathead-powered car in the history of Bonneville… a 1951 record that still stands! The mustered-out Army Air Corps B-17 engineer was looking for a way to put his Burbank-based So-Cal Speed Shop on the map in the hot rod culture that was booming in Southern California at the end of World War II, and a record breaking racecar seemed to be a natural. The So-Cal Speed Shop belly tank was built using a 315 gallon surplus P-38 centerline fuel tank (belly tank) as its body. Using the streamlined belly tank was a natural to this Air Corps veteran who knew that Lockheed had spent lots of time in the wind tunnel with these tanks making them aerodynamically “slippery” and they were available as war surplus for $5! In August of 1948, Alex installed a “souped-up” Ford 156 cu. in. V8-60 that he and hot rod pioneer Vic Edelbrock Sr. built. He towed the car to El Mirage dry lake and set a class record of 130.155. Initially the car was run as a streamliner, but the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) created a special class for these fuel tank cars calling them “lakesters”. Later at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Alex and his So-Cal Speed Shop team used the V8-60 to set a class record at 145.395. They swapped out the V8-60 for a larger 259 inch Mercury flathead and set another class record at 181.085. They then put in a 296 inch Mercury flathead and set yet another class record at 195.77 setting a one-way speed of 198.34 mph. This last class record was broken again the next day by Mal Hoopster running 197.88 in a Chrysler Hemi powered lakester in the same class, but the one-way speed still stands as the fastest speed ever achieved by a normally-aspirated flathead-powered car. At the 1952 Bonneville Speedweek, this car was voted the “Most Honored Car in the History of Bonneville”. Starting with a vacuum form belly-tanker body and numerous parts from "Early Years Resins", flathead V8 from the parts box and parts from "Replicas & Miniatures of Maryland"...I ventured forth on recreating this car in 1/25th scale...Along with home-made decals, vacuum formed windscreen and a scratch-built chassis...this is how it came out The upper body panels changed shape as the paint cured, thus causing them not to fit flush on the lower body...which was not that big of a deal anyhow, because I'm not planning on having the panels in place when displaying the model. Kinda like this: thanx for lookin' Edited May 11, 2012 by curt raitz
camaroman Posted May 10, 2012 Posted May 10, 2012 Nice work Curt! Does the SoCal Justice !!! Thanks for posting it!
ronr Posted May 10, 2012 Posted May 10, 2012 Absolute Fantasic example of the Sc-Cal lakester! Beautiful build Curt!
W-409 Posted May 10, 2012 Posted May 10, 2012 Very cool build and thanks for the History too! Great build of interesting subject is always very nice to see, and I especially like this one. This turned out very nice, the paint job is great and finishing too. Great detail all over.
Dr. Cranky Posted May 10, 2012 Posted May 10, 2012 Spectacular build, Curt, and you've ended up with a great model to be proud of in your collection. Congrats.
Crazy Ed Posted May 10, 2012 Posted May 10, 2012 thanx for lookin' Heck Curt, Thanx for sharing. Another great build, and folks if you haven't wandered to Curt's Foltki page it's Well Worth the visit.
Draggon Posted May 10, 2012 Posted May 10, 2012 Fantastic job, Curt! With all the detail you put into in, and that great looking mill, this is awesome!
Raul_Perez Posted May 10, 2012 Posted May 10, 2012 Very nice build, my old friend!! Bring it when we go see Al in a couple of weeks... Later,
sjordan2 Posted May 10, 2012 Posted May 10, 2012 This is a superb piece of work. Looks simple, doesn't it? But clearly it's very complex. Photograph it on the proper background and you wouldn't be a be able to tell it's a model.
Joker Posted May 11, 2012 Posted May 11, 2012 Museum Piece ! ! Peterson Automotive should be calling soon.
Bernard Kron Posted May 11, 2012 Posted May 11, 2012 Nice write-up on a more than "nice" model. A knockout, in fact. Right up there with the Bugatti Tank. I really dig it when you strut your stuff like that!
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