Lockhart Inspired Boattail Speedster

      This is the fifth in a series of speedster creations by TERRY COOK using his DECO RIDES body. Terry saw a scale model of a boattail streamliner by Mike Ball of VELOCITY ENGINEERING in Fort Wayne, IN. Ball was inspired by the famed Lockhart land speed record attempt car from 1929. Mike’s model, which inspired Terry to build this car, is distinguished by four pontoons cloaking the wheels.

       Built over several years by Gary and Dillon Brown at BROWNS METAL MODS in Indianapolis, the same town where the original Lockhart STUTZ BLACK HAWK was built in the late 1920’s. FAT MAN FABRICATIONS in Mint Hill, NC fashioned a 130-inch wheelbase frame with a “suicide” style tube front axle suspended by quarter elliptic springs, The goal was to enclose the Radiir  18 x 3 12-spoke front wheels and Hearst spot disc brakes within a pair of slim fiberglass streamlined wheel pants which DECO RIDES also manufactures. Not only do the front wheel pants swivel and turn with the car’s steering, the headlights turn with the steering as well. Denny Jamison built the aluminum rear pontoons that mount directly to the rear axle housing.

     Air shocks in the rear raise and lower the car as needed. When the car is moving, it appears to be mysteriously levitating or floating above the ground!

     The car debuted at the Louisville Street Rod Nationals, followed by appearances at the Quail: A Motorsports Gathering as a tow vehicle for the Bella Figura Type 57S, at the Rolex Laguna Seca Vinatge Races and the Plesanton Goodguys event. Wherever it appeared, it attracted a crowd and a bevy of photographers.

      The car is presently FOR SALE to make room in the garage for Terry Cook's next creation. The price is $150,000. Interested parties can call him at 201-400-5528 or email him at decorides at decorides@aol.com.

The engine in the House of Kolor Tangello orange pearl and black boattail is a 4.6 litre Mustang V8.
Because Cook likes to incorporate humor in his creations, a set of chrome plated Ferrari V-12 valve covers
sit atop the engine cloaking the Ford single overhead cam engine. Terry jokingly explains to people that it is
a rare “FORDRARRI” engine. The photo toward the bottom of the page shows twelve stainless exhaust pipes
peeking out from under the boattail in keeping with the V-12 joke.
The automatic transmission is a 41279W Ford overdrive.       
The interior of the car was done in black tuck n’ roll leather by Mike and Gary Griffey of Muncie, IN,
who also fashioned the black Hartz cloth top over a Dick Rodwell metal frame that was fabricated to
final shape by Gary Brown. The rear window is a LeBarron Bonney item.  Rodwell also supplied the
subtly curved Stanley Wanlass windshield, and Brown custom built the smooth A-posts that hold it
in place. The side spears were chrome plated by FINISHING TOUCH in Chicago and the front end  by
SHERM’S CUSTOM PLATING in Sacramento, CA.

The steel nose, hood and side panels were hand fabricated by Gary Brown. The side panels feature unique
reverse cut sweeping curved louvers by metalshaper Rex Rogers of CUSTOM AUTO in Loveland, CO.
Most people take the louvers for granted, but have you ever seen reverse cut louvers?
This was a masterful and complicated job artfully accomplished by Rex after a dozen or so e-mails
between Terry and Rex to determine the final louver layout.  The louvers were sprayed with chrome paint,
then the side panels were painted black. Thanks must go to illustrator/artist Darrell Mayabb of
Arvada, CO, Art Center grad John Caswell of Detroit and veteran custom painter Don “The Egyptian” Boeke
of Dayton, OH for their input advising and conferring with Cook on the design of this project.
Credit for the the final dorsal fin goes to “Gyp” Boeke. The custom taillights in the trailing edge of the
rear pontoons were hand hewn from red plexiglass stock. A small set of aluminum “pie plates”
with a screened mesh opening to cool the spot brakes were fashioned by panelbeater Denny Jamison
of AUTOMOTIVE HAMMER ART on Gasoline Alley in Indy. Each pontoon has its own pie plate.
The price is $150,000.
Interested parties can contact Terry Cook at 201-400-5528
or email him at decorides@aol.com.
A Tribute to Frank Lockhart
Frank Lockhart  (March 5, 1903 - April 25, 1928) was born in Dayton, Ohio, and is considered by many to be the greatest racing driver ever. In 1923 at the age of 20, he won regularly at local California “outlaw” tracks including the newly opened Ascot dirt track in his modified Model T Ford. His reputation earned him a ride in Harry Miller’s 3.0 litre dirt racer.

     At 23, he won the 1926 Indy 500 in his first year there and was on his way to a second straight win in 1927 after grabbing the pole position with a new record of 120 and leading the race through lap 110, when he broke a rod. In May of 1927 he set a qualifying record of 147.729 with his supercharged 1.5 litre Miller at the Atlantic City board track. (It wasn’t until 1960 that another American superspeedway driver would register a faster lap time.) That same year he set a world record of 164.28 mph on the Muroc dry lakes in a car powered by a tiny 91.5 cu. in. engine.

    By autumn he wanted the land speed record, and he convinced car manufacturer Harry Stutz to build a land speed record special with twin Miller straight eight powerplants. With twin superchargers, the 3 liter V-16 produced more than 550 HP at 8,300 rpm. Wind tunnel tests projected the 2,700 pound car could exceed 280 mph!

    

     Called the STUTZ BLACK HAWK, the elegant little silver and white streamliner was a fraction of the size of the giant multi airplane engine land speed cars of the era. During a trial run at Daytona Beach on Feb. 22, 1928 at a speed of 225, the tire struck an irregularity and catapulted the car into the sea. Lockhart was unhurt and the car was rebuilt in Indy and sent back to Daytona in April 1928 for another attempt on the 123 to 183 cubic inch record. On April 25, 1928 Lockhart shattered the record with a run of 198.29, a record that stood for 39 years.

     On the return run to break the 200 mph barrier, something cut a tire and the car crashed and killed the 25-year-old racing legend. Terry Cook was inspired to build this boattail with steering “pontoonlettes” on the front wheels as a tribute to Frank Lockhart.