TOM #4, Lee Chapel's Tornado streamliner, 1949

TOM #1, Summers Brothers streamliner ("the pollywog"), Speed Week 1962
Fastest one-way speed for a piston engined car at 309 mph (with a peak speed of 327). Bill and Bob Summers' unconventional streamliner had already been the fastest piston engined car at 302 mph in 1961, the first year it was brought to the salt. The car ran for the last time in 1963, when, with Bob at the wheel as usual, it set a C class record at 308.941 mph. The Summers brothers then went on to build Goldenrod, which eventually set a new "wheel-driven" Land Speed Record.

TOM #2, "Knot" Farrington's Ford Thunderbird, Speed Week 1962
228.988 mph record in A Sports Racing class. Car first appeared at Bonneville in 1959, still looking pretty much like a Thunderbird, although the engine was in fact a supercharged Chrysler. In 1960 Farrington set his first record at 200.622 mph. In 1961 the car received a new body treatment making it look almost like a streamliner and improved the record tp 219.898, then in 1962 to 228.988 and again in 1963, when Farrington set his final record at 241.786 mph.

Detailed stories of the real cars will be added soon. Bookmark this page!

Future releases from TOM:

5 - Steen / Herbert streamliner