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By glrbird - 11 Years Ago
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By landspeedy - 11 Years Ago
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I think the 1st one is Doan Spencer.
Don't know any more than that, except I would love to have the 2nd one......................
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By MoonShadow - 11 Years Ago
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I went right for the "War Bird". Love the stance. They are all great examples of TBirds. Chuck
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By miker - 11 Years Ago
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Three years ago I had a line on a damaged, no drive train '57 bird, and thought about doing a Gasser. I've got several of those pictures, but no info. I missed the deal, and then a 55 with a straight axle and a BBC showed up locally, and p me off so bad I did another project.
Kirk White, who just sold the "clone" that Spencer built of his 'bird, list these pictures and info. The Bonneville times are included.
http://www.kirkfwhite.com/1st.html
The original body, with the 302, and all the racing parts that Spencer did later is here:
http://auctionsamerica.com/events/feature-lots.cfm?SaleCode=BB13&ID=r472&Order=alphabetical&feature=&collection=&grouping=&category=Cars
If I remember right, the clone with the Y block went for $102K, but the original with the 302 went for $92K.
Vic? See that, Vic?
Mike Richards
south and east of Seattle
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By glrbird - 11 Years Ago
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Thanks Miker, great info on the two Doane Spincer cars. I like the Y powered car the best. The other is to custom for my taste.
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By Hoosier Hurricane - 11 Years Ago
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The bottom picture shows Vic Micklich's blown 430 Lincoln powered Bird. He was service manager of the Kenz-Leslie Ford dealership in Denver. The car was featured in Dec '63 Hot Rod, and reprinted by Jerry Christenson in the May-June 2013 issue of Y Block Magazine.
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By glrbird - 11 Years Ago
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Thanks John, Kenz-Leslie were big in land speed racing, and i was wondering what the conection was to the Bird.
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By gekko13 - 11 Years Ago
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"427 B/SR" was owned by Joe Walden and prepared by Vern Houle. It was powered by a stock Mercury Marauder 427. It went over 200 mph at Bonneville in 1964 but didn't set a record.
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By glrbird - 11 Years Ago
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Thanks Gekko, The picture looked like mid 1960's. I guess that was too soon to get in the 200 club.
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By DryLakesRacer - 11 Years Ago
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The Bonneville 200 MPH club was going strong by 1964 starting in 1953. The SR was the class of "Sports Racing" This was a class for sports cars that hade been modified; today it's modified sports. Back then there were highly modified "cars" which were said to hold 2 passengers but were closer to streamliners; infact this class did become gas streamliners. Nolan White and Ak Miller both set many records when it was SR near 300 MPH.
In the begining (1949) most all classes did not direct fuel so rarely was gasoline used by the fast cars. Gasoline was still in it's infancy when Karol Miller came and used for production style cars; Karols Fords were designated as Gas Coupes. When I started in 1975 Streamliners, Lakesters, Modified Roadsters, and Competition Coupes were fuel classes only.
To give you an idea the record in B/Modified Sports today is 252.9 mph.
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By glrbird - 11 Years Ago
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Thanks for the history lesson, wonder how far they were off.
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By DryLakesRacer - 11 Years Ago
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After looking at a friends personal Bonneville memoribilia collection of entries and results I found 2 entries in 1964 for B/SR. Unbelievably they were both 427 powered T-Birds. Only the #427 Walden Welding entry from Sante Fe Springs had a time (speed) listed. It was for 200.78 mph and the other entry had a N.T. in the results. The record for that class was set in 1963 by Nolan White of San Diego at 210.474. Nolan was definatley a Chevrolet man and lost his life on the salt in a twin engine streamliner at well over 400 mph when his chutes failed on a return run. I found a pictue of a Ak Miller entry and it was running in C/SR and was a highly modified Corvette. Nolan and Ak ran these classes for years against each other and Knot Farington and like I previously said modifed cars so much they became gas stremliners.
A few more interesting finds in the rusults; Karol Miller was running 2 cars at the meet one being a fastback 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 with a 427 and a 1963 Falcon E/GC which I can only guess was also one of the little fastbacks since the big Ford had a Ford Dealership logo from Texas on the side. The Falcon was 289 cu.in. listed as the class at that time had a maximum of 290" and bumped up the recod from 148+ to 149+.
Knot Farington had the best known T-Bird and much is written about it. I don't know how it all started with him but after a few years he knew it would take a lot to go 200 and put in a blown Chrysler hemi to do it. The streamlined body changes are well documented as are his speeds. He entered the Bonneville 200 mph club in 1960 at 200.62 and later set the A/SR record at 241.78. According to reliable sources Knot still has the T-Bird in a garage in Louisiana...........JD
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By glrbird - 11 Years Ago
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Thanks again DLR
Mr. Miller ran the lakes more than I knew.
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By bird55 - 11 Years Ago
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[b]
Knot Farington had the best known T-Bird and much is written about it. I don't know how it all started with him but after a few years he knew it would take a lot to go 200 and put in a blown Chrysler hemi to do it. The streamlined body changes are well documented as are his speeds. He entered the Bonneville 200 mph club in 1960 at 200.62 and later set the A/SR record at 241.78. According to reliable sources Knot still has the T-Bird in a garage in Louisiana...........JD
wow, thanks for all the great info on these birds and recoreds.
I'd really like to see the tbird in Louisiana as it sits today. Having been a bird owner most of my life and reading and seeing all the variations of them, I am aware of that one just not of late. Sure would be cool to see it come out of hiding. Thanks again.
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By bird55 - 11 Years Ago
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Pic I had of the Knot Farrington Car.
I have posted this pic in the past but still wonder about this little Red Bird in the background.
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By DryLakesRacer - 11 Years Ago
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Knot's T-bird was a "show car" of it's time. It was a beautiful marron with gold leaf lettering and every nut and bolt was polished. I believe there are some color pictures of it on H.A.M.B. I think it also made the front cover of Hot Rod magazine or one of the others in 63 or 64. 990C was an Ardun powered streamliner out of Nebraska if I'm not misstaken (probably am) I'll give a look for the 277 B T-Bird. I'm guessing late 50's by the 55/56 Merc also in the photos.
I've seen thousands of photos and what is alway suprising is how many new/newer cars are on the salt as spectators or actually tow vehicles. Back then everyone had an open trailer, a lot of them were single axle, and towed with cars/stationwagons as well as pickups. Today a 20-40' enclosed trailer is the norm towed by diesel pickups. I'm guilty of this too even if I started on a open single axle in 1975. After the years I have learned and my 2013 F-150 will never see the salt. Too much electronics and aluminum. Used up a 1969 3/4 Chevrolet, 1976 3500 Crew cab, 1996 F-150 and a 2004 F-250 CC Diesel all with salt damage and I was a cleaning nut..........JD
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By bird55 - 11 Years Ago
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JD, thanks for the additional update. I had seen other pics of the Knott's car but was surprised to hear it's still around somewhere.
And that little bird in the background behind the streamliner has always peaked my imagination. I've always been a sucker for what it did, who owned it and where is it now?
thanks again.
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By glrbird - 11 Years Ago
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Found this interview with Knot this year,
http://beta.lpb.org/index.php?/swi/swi_episode/speed_racer
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By DryLakesRacer - 11 Years Ago
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What a great interview. A true backyard racer and inspiration too us all. . . . . JD
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By DryLakesRacer - 10 Years Ago
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Just returned from a Christmas in Florida. Went to the Louisiana Sports Museum on the way home to see Knots T-bird in all its glory...JD
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By paul2748 - 10 Years Ago
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Salty's Shaker is a NJ based Bird. The original owner has passed away and is now owned by another NJ resident who has restored the car. It ran a big block scrub.
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By glrbird - 10 Years Ago
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Thanks paul, I know a lot of the early birds wound up with gm engines.
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