Goldenrod Race Car: 1965 Land Speed Record Setter
Vložit
- čas přidán 12. 09. 2024
- Fifty years ago at the Bonneville Salt Flats, brothers Bill and Bob Summers set a new land speed record for a wheel-driven automobile - 409.277 miles per hour - with Goldenrod, a bullet of a car powered by four Chrysler Hemi V-8 engines producing 600 horsepower each. Goldenrod simultaneously represented cutting-edge design and a throwback to traditional automotive power. This revolutionary race car can be found on the floor of the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Detroit, Michigan.
When that car was built, my great uncle, Charles Handschuh, was the man who hand painted the lettering and signage. He even did most of the Hemis under glass.
I got to work with Bill the last 8 years of his life, working on his 2 lakesters - one that he had sold to a USC professor, and a new one that was never finished. Both gents were very innovative, and I learned a lot from Bill.
Daniel Neuenschwander Didnt bill have a car appraisal company, if he did he was the one that appraised my 72 Corvette, he came down when my mom was home I was at work , when i found out that it was him, and I missed out on meeting him I was really disappointed , these guys are legends
@@jonalarcon8564 I don't believe so, but it could have been before I met him in January of 2003.
I worked for the brothers in the late 1970's. They were great employers and the shop atmosphere was alive! 👀
I've had an autographed black and white photo of Bill, Bob, and the Goldenrod standing on the 'Flats' for almost 50 years! It's rather faded now! These two guys were geniuses!
There Are NO Geniuses,
just people who have the guts and determination that most of us Do NOT !!!
I took a picture of every car there the last time i was there. I also attened a wedding in the museum. It was awesome.
I remember when the Goldenrod set that record. I was 13 years old. The Goldenrod was in all the automotive magazines. Then it disappeared for many years. But, the record stood for a long time. So good to know that it has been restored (many more magazine articles) and will be properly displayed and cared for.
I was 16 at the time and REALLY Hated Craig Breedlove and his Spirit Of America. I strongly felt that using a jet engine to break the LSR was Cheating !!! Even today at age 72, I somehow still don't feel that the so called "LSR's" of jet powered vehicles are legit. I wasn't the only one who felt that way in the 1960's because many people felt that calling a jet engine on wheels a "car" is Just ABSURD !!!
These early records in some ways are more impressive than the later ones.
Worked at their Ontario shop got to get in the golden rod and Bob started it up amazing will never forget
It would be nice to hear what he's saying over the darn guitar music.
TIM BRADLEY 100%: why do all the producers of anything to do with cars (especially american iron) think that the need the goddamned hairband metal playing ALL the damned time?
It would be nice to see pictures and video of the car...moving would be good. The camera work inside the museum is the worst...no excuse.
This "video" sucks. Nothing you can't read on Wikipedia.
When I was a kid I lived in Ontario, Ca. I would go by this house on the school bus. In the back yard parked against the fence that faced the street was a Semi truck trailer with the word Goldenrod land speed record holder, this was probably 67-68. So I got to see the trailer, but I didn't see the actual car until a couple years ago when my wife and I visited relatives in Michigan. We visited the Henry Ford museum and I got to stand next to the actual car. I took a pic with my phone but the phone died on that trip and I lost all pics. But I got to see the hauler and the car, 50 years apart. lol
Still the most aesthetically pleasing LSR car in my book. I’d bet that this car with modern tuning and engine knowledge, a tiny bit of nitrous, and computer controlled ignition etc could still retake the title from the current holder.
TrappenWeisseGuy I Agree👍
It has taken George Poteet's Speed Demon 50 years to approach the same level of aesthetics. Paint comes close as well.
@@TonyK3130 Challenger I and Challenger II, Carbonite, and a bunch of others are just as good looking.
There are people out there right now still trying.
Danny Thompson challenger 2 is amazing looking. 2 nitro turned hemis put it at 5000hp I think
One of my favorite salt racers ever.
I love the Henry Ford museum, I’ve been going there my whole life, me & mr T Edison were at the 1931 opening, it was raining like heck.
So that means that you're more than 100 years old, right ???
Either that or you're just a Big BS Artist !!!
When in my 20's friends of mine were using the Summer's Brothers old orange juice stand converted to a garage on Mission in Ontario to construct their 1955 Chevrolet salt flat car. We are still friends to this day. They hold a 200 mph and 300 mph record.
Amazing backyard engineering
Awesome car, the Summers brothers were definitely innovators!
Hot Rod Magazine back then said that GoldenRod had the frontal area of a large suitcase. That was a key element in their design, and an improvement over Mickey Thompson's Challenger. The tandem arrangement of 4 engines gave it a much smaller frontal exposure than the Challenger's mounting of 2 tandem engines side by side. Although the tandem engine arrangement of GoldenRod made it VERY Long, the Summers Bros realized that the frontal area of the car was the critical factor because that's where most of the wind drag was.
I saw it parked off Cherry ave. In Fontana in the early nineties in a yard with other clutter. I thought it was a shame it was just sitting there in the sun wasting away.
Beautiful car, and an amazing achievement. Fingers crossed for Bloodhound next year! 🤞🏻🇬🇧
I was at their shop almost everyday and went on many part's run's with Bill and my brother and I painted the car and the trailer try getting 66 ft of sheet metal in a 2 car garage at home and painted the trailer in a grocery store parking lot at 1 am but those were fun day's and 2 really nice guy's
I got to sit in that car at Mollie Sanders paint shop in La Habra - although I only weighed around 160 lbs. it was a tight squeeze !!
What an astonishing looking car; beautiful and such an achievement too!!
I remember this clearly from my high school days...
Man it would be awesome if they had made a documentary of this back in '65! Would love to see the car in action!
The LSR rules had changed by 1965 to include jet and rocket cars. Still a great achievement.
Bluebird CN7 was designed to reach 500 mph and was retired in 1964 as the last wheel driven car outright LSR holder.
Probably, a today's goldenrod with 4 modern hemis 2500+ hp each, could be the best layout ti easily hit wheel driven world record! That Is the Real Land Speed record.;)
Thanks for the post
Khaki dockers, plum colored long sleeved button down shirt, brown shoes - I'm lovin' the look Matt!
Seems like this could be a movie
Be interesting to go a little deeper into the technology in another video. But WITHOUT the annoying music!!!
Yah, I'd like to have a rundown on those 4 engines. Like, dude, what's under the hood???
I spoke to Bill when he and Goldenrod came to the UK. He told me Bob had to change gear with both hands at around 370 mph. They had to give the engines back to Chrysler straight after the run.
The external shape of Goldenrod was refined using the wind tunnel at The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. I think that Goldenrod fell into a state of decay before it moved to the Henry Ford Museum, where it was restored.
I met the Summers Brothers shortly after the record was set. It was at my father's Rotary Club meeting. They showed a short 16mm silent film of the record-setting run, and they provided the live narration. I remember seeing Bill crying in the film. Until that time, It never occurred to me that a man could cry because he was happy.
But why don't it have a drop like shape? Bullets are shaped that way because they have to go through a barrel. P-51 Mustang showed that laminar flow is important. You could easily house taller wheels => less drag. I guess it is kind of okay when the driver sits in the vertical stabilizer. With an overall drop like shape the air is already aimed at closing the wake.
I loved this car when I was a kid. I remember reading that when the record was broken he had it in 3 rd gear
because the shifter wouldn't let hem shift into 4th.I kept hoping they would bring the car back and try it again
in 4th gear to see what the real top speed was.
My dad worked with the Summers Brothers on Tony Capanna's Torrance Dyno to fix head gasket problems and came up with a proper torque sequence and torque specs for the big hemi's...
Amazing car!
Just wondering why anyone would thumb down this video? Bizarre world we live in.
Still one of the 2 coolest Bonneville streamliners EVER BUILT. The other was "The RedHead">
Great video!I'd love to see video of the car actually running on the salt or with the brothers Summer, talking about it. Would add a level of humanity to these true geniuses.
Film. There is at least one 16mm film. I've seen it.
My mom met one of the summers brothers in Anaheim at her house when he came and appraised my 72 Corvette that's what he was doing for work he owned the appraisal company , I was so pissed off that I couldn't meet him he talked to my mom about what he and his brother used to do on the salt. I'm still pissed off to this day even as I write this that I couldn't meet him.
I have pictures sitting in the Goldenrod. I went to the LA Roadster Show with my Dad in the early 90's. I was maybe 11. Met the owners of the Goldenrod and they said "you wanna set in it". I said "sure". I could barely get in it 😆. I'm 6'5" now 265 pounds. I was a lot smaller back then. There was a mission behind this trip. We tracked down Kong Jackson who I met and hung out in his shop all day. He was up in years. My Dad has since passed as well but i recently was cleaning and found letters of correspondence between Jon and my Dad. My Dad convinced him to machine the distributor, heads, intake for a 1951 MERC. This motor was never finished if anyone has any information or knowledge on old Kong Flathead set ups similar to the SoCal belly tank lmk and we'll exchange info.
i was able to talk with bob summers in 1966 at a car show in Kabsas, city, ks. standing next to the Goldenrod. he told me that to air going into the engine made so much pressure he had to have a damper to close off the air. at 409.277 MPH.
Never bean two Kabsas, city, ks. Where tf is that? Never hurt off it. Near Kabull, TX?
Does anybody know of video of Goldenrod with sound, please?
Maybe the reason the wheel-driven record stood for so long is that folks like Craig Breedlove and Art Arfons got all the corporate interest with their jet-powered cars?
Maybe jet power is just cheap and interest=money was gone after Apollo?
in 1966 i think. i saw that car in Kansas City car show. and talked to Bob Summers.
Chrysler engines ?In a Ford museum?!
No, it is a transportation museum with exhibits from many brands.
plan pitz are you stupid?
Gee - they even have Chevy stuff in there. Give your tiny brain a rest, dude.
It's not a :Ford" museum. How do describe it? Well, if you were incredibly wealthy, and bought every cool thing that caught your eye... that'd be close. From farm machinery, motorcycles, cars... all the way to steam trains, diners, drive in theaters..... and the actual CHAIR Lincoln was seated on when he was killed! (complete with his blood stains.)
@Brisdad53 - It's just The Henry Ford. Look it up.
So this is the car on that 35007 album cover!
My mom said he was a very polite man
Anybody happen to notice the Malco Gasser sitting behind that guy?! Who da... What da...!
I always wondered how much you can cheat on supercharge if weight is not as much of a concern as in quarter mile or racing around turns. Especially with big cylinders one should be able to find a spot for a microphone to tune the sound waves in intake and exhaust. With race fuel and no supercharger this engine probably has a high compression ( 1:12 ) ? Still one could try to suck air through the combustion chamber while intake and exhaust valves are both open. Wind pushes the mixture through the combustion chamber, as does careful tuning of intake and exhaust. Both need to be at minimum pressure at this point in time to transfer maximal energy to the "suck" side. With multiple engines I would even propose to keep one engine exactly on this tune and combine the RPMs via Toyota synergy drive (most power from the large tuned engine). For tuning we need a V12 or flat crankshaft V8.
Intake is further tuned for max charge: So pressure rises towards bottom dead center and is then captured within the cylinder.
I propose a single RAM air intake. Then place a thin aerodynamic fuel injector in front of it. I propose to accelerate the fuel to transonic speed of the fuel and also to have a small Venturri in the intake and a long diffusor to manifold.
We need high RPM and 4 valves. Take the engine from a P51 Mustang please ( for the open class above the single HEMI ). I think I now understand why Aarden ( or so ) uses 3 valves: Two even larger intake valves for the natural aspirated engine and more distance to the exhaust valve for the valve-overlap such through. Dilemma: I love large exhaust valves where the exhaust pipes choke already at BDC.
It's staggering that they were able to make that speed with so little power.
The Railton Special had about the same hp and was the first car passed 400mph.
This thing was 1965?! I thought it did the record in more recent years!
I have the hemi valve covers off this car and they are for sale. Going on eBay tonight
Really cool
Well,my dear museum folks, you need to do a little better job on your historical facts. Please know that "by the late 1960's" it was a rocket car that pushed speeds past 600MPH. That was the Blue flame, the last all-American designed and built world record setting car at 622MPH driven by the late Gary Gabelich.
The image you used superimposed on the Bonneville sign is the Flying Caduceus, driven by the late Dr. Nathan Ostich, which was beset by technical problem and never set a record.
It was the early 1960's when jest "arrived" on the land speed racing scene and when the sports was forever divided into "thrust" and "wheel-driven" speed machines.
There is a reverence attached to Bill and Bob Summers becasue they lived their dream in front of God and the world and thankfully George stepped in to guide the boys. Too bad Chrysler engineers were so small and refused to acknowledge that Bob's inlet ducts were superior the Chrysler staff. Racer Bob Herda helped Bob Summers craft those ducts that allowed Goldenrod to achieve a speed in excess of 420MPH.
That The Henry Ford uses Bob's ducts are on the car now is poignant tribute to those SoCal brothers. Alamost makes up for you folks screwing up the jet car details.
As a member of TEAMVesco that currently holds the World Wheel-driven record at 458MPH, I am working daily to raise consciousness about the salt crust loss at Bonneville so that someone can better our record. It 's about time that happened. . . .
The Blue Flame was a fantastic vehicle. But it wasn't wheel-driven, basically an earth-bound rocket. The Goldenrod Special was a wheel-drive car - a true car.
LeopoldUlysees Some people just do not listen.🤔😂🤣🤐
Louise Noeth listen to this again. Maybe you wont be so quick with a response.
"Save The Salt" member of team HerbertLiner here ;)
Graig Breedlove went over 600 mph in the jet car Spirit of America 2 in the mid sixties, the blue flame was later.
Originally, the turn-around time was 30 minutes. Malcolm Campbell successfully lobbied for the increase to one hour.
And 50 years later the Bugatti Cheron clocks a record 304.77 miles per hour making it the fastest street production car.....with ac, radio and a comfortable ride. With 50 years of technology, how fast could Goldenrod run now?
No supercharge allowed the cc said.
I saw this car exhibited in Denmark, in 1966.
Thats a frickin train
I think ambient epic synth music would have worked alot better at a lower volume as well
I met the Brothers in 1966, just after they set the record.
The Summers brothers' parents lived just up the road from me, when I was in high school. Once, in 1969, they parked the Goldenrod out in front of the Chevron station I worked at. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera at the time.
Great video, fascinating car & builders.
Can we kill the music please, ruins the video....
...is it me or the fin is crooked to port?...
Come to the Henry Ford Museum to see a Chrysler powered land speed record car. Ahahahahahaha !
Too bad this isn't in Speedways museum, there are things at Speedway though that I'm sure Ford would want too.
This is an informative video, but I'm still looking for a video which shows the Goldenrod moving across the Bonneville Salt Flats when it set it's speed record.
czcams.com/video/WFrWhictqqA/video.html I saw some 8mm put to VHS tape back in the 90's but don't know who owned it.
I'm still waiting to hear the sound of four Hemi's. Or did I miss something? 🤔
Go to a tractor pull if you want to hear the sound of four Hemis at once. Supercharged, even.
Some tractors have 5.
Nothing will ever sound like it again
I'm old enough to remember reading about Craig Breedlove and his jet engined car Spirit Of America also feeling at the time that as wonderful as it was it was not a car. Then along the Summers Brothers and Goldenrod.
I'm old enough I was there [as a kid] watching Bob Summers set that record, and also watch the Spirit of America run. My dad was on the 'pit' for the Goldenrod, and Bob Summers worked in his shop [Quincy's Auto Parts] as a young man.
I seen Fred Stone there
Why, why must you add the music, do you think we will get bored with script and need 'something' else.....
By gawd, that record was really something and was finally broken by Charles Nearburg driving Spirit of Rett in 2010.
1) I agree with the argument that cars with jet engines are too different to be compared with cars powered by classic engines
2) Although all very impressive, interesting test beds for tires etc., in fact, the practical added value of such record breaking machines are zero, nul, nada... I have very mixed feelings about them: without any doubt impressive, but at the same time.... well.... Couldn't the money have been used for something with more added value for the society as a whole, like the fight against cancer ? Just a thought, and I never can resist to put a clotches peg in the lion's tale, while roaming around in the lion's cage :)
why did they not try another year?
Money.
As long as you have the record, why run against yourself? It's a good way to get poor, or dead.
2400 hp out of 4 hemis? Now you can get that out of a single turbo and a stout small block..
Will it go over 400 MPH?
@@Pro1er No, but it'll run a 3 second 1/8 mile..lol!
Having two narrators taking turns doesn't work for me. It's a distraction.
I really don't understand the connection to Ford.. It's a dodge hemi....
The Henry Ford has all types of important artifacts. Not just Ford manufactured items.
🖒🤠
This is the style of doco I like the least. Mr Personality narrates, constant monster-truck rock and roll underneath everything, and no sound of the actual car and no footage worth talking about. Beautiful car though.
You didn't show it running .
Fuel a race car with nitro methane and it will go even faster
...shame the Brits "put a lid" on all that...
Unwatchable unless on mute, and I don’t do that.
I apologize I really wanted to watch it and it sound like a fantastic documentary but the music just ruined it I couldn't stand to watch
No comments, hahaha...
This was an extremely disappointing video about a fantastic vehicle . No footage of the car in action . Boring presentation , no decent photography of the car at all . . Imagine making such an uninspiring video on such an exciting subject !
Get rid of music
And deep pockets .
These constant scene cuts are irritating. Nothing is held long enough to get a good look at the car. Pulling focus in and out constantly is an over-used gimmick. I stopped it at 16 seconds.
This was absolute rubbish!While he was talking you couldn't hear because of the crap music,and the camera showed a flathead dragster in the background.I would have thought we could have seen much more of the car and heard some of the technical attributes eg how did they synchronise the 4 engines and what about the transmission?Very disappointing.
An interesting subject and decent video ruined by a crap narrative and commentary and that awful music, yuk a shame!
Did I hear correctly, it's in the Henry Ford Museum, with Chrysler engines?