American Treasure - Summers Brothers' Goldenrod
Published in the Hot Rod Magazine
Written by: Rob Kinnan Photography: Randy Lorentzen

One of the most famous land speed record cars of all time, The Summers Brothers' Goldenrod, gets a new lease on life thanks to the U.S. government, The Henry Ford Museum, and some enthusiastic Hot Rodders.

This author was about seven months old on November 12, 1965, the day Americans Bob and Bill Summers took the piston-powered, wheel-driven land speed record from Englishman Donald Campbell’s Bluebird.

Bob drove the duo’s Goldenrod to a two-way average of 409.277 mph in the mile (and 409.685 in the kilometer) for an FIA record that still stands. Sure, Al Teague ran faster than that over a decade ago for his FIA and SCTA records (409.986 mph), but that was with a supercharged Hemi. Likewise, the Burklands’ 417.020 was also supercharged. The Summers Brothers did it naturally aspirated, albeit with four Chrysler Hemis.

The day after the record, the Goldenrod made another pass, that one at 425 mph, but for reasons unknown the brothers did not make a return run so it didn’t count for the record. That was the last known pass for the Goldenrod. In the years that followed, it was towed to various shows, including Goodwood in England where it was on display next to Campbell’s Bluebird. It then sat at the Wally Parks NHRA Museum for a number of years—outdoors as it had been since 1965. But about five years ago, the car was at the Meadow Brook Concours d’Elegance in Rochester, Michigan, where it was spotted by Bob Casey, curator of transportation at The Henry Ford, Michigan’s enormous history museum. Casey, a hot rodder and a fan of land speed racing (LSR), talked to Bill Summers about putting the car in the museum. One thing led to another and The Henry Ford bought the car. That’s where John Baechtel came in.

You probably recognize Baechtel’s name as a former HOT ROD Magazine staffer now at Westech Performance Group, where a lot of magazines conduct their dyno-testing. JB, as we call him, had written a number of automotive publications and wanted to do a technical book on LSR cars. The Goldenrod was down the street outside the NHRA museum, so he called Bill and asked if he could photograph it. Bill told him that he had already sold the car to the museum, so JB called Casey, who agreed to let him disassemble the car and take pictures. That helped the museum out, actually, because then it could find out what kind of shape the car was in.

As JB soon found, outdoor storage all those years had taken its toll on the historic race car to the point where it needed a total restoration—we’re talking every nut, bolt, and washer. Realizing the scope of the project, Casey did his research and applied for a Save America’s Treasures grant from the U.S. government, a grant normally issued to preserve historic buildings and such. Surprisingly, he got the grant.

“We weren’t sure we could convince people that a hot rod was an American treasure,” says Casey, “but we were persuasive and we got the grant to help fund the restoration.”

We will show you the restored vehicle in all its glory as soon as JB, Mike, and the boys bring it back to life. Until then, marvel at Randy Lorentzen’s photo-graphs of the unbelievable engineering talent and ingenuity that Bob and Bill Summers put into their signature car, the Goldenrod.

Goldenrod had four naturally aspirated 426 Hemis, two driving the front wheels and two driving the rears. The Jan. ’66 story in HOT ROD says they were “stock except for the injection,” and the total output of all four engines was 3,000 hp, so figure that out. The packaging is astounding even by today’s standards. Noticeable here are the unique, low-profile Hilborn mechanical fuel injection manifolds and some of the missing parts. “We’re searching for a manifold for the rear engine,” Baechtel says. “Stu Hilborn says he might be able to make another one, but we’d like to get an original one if we can.”

Looking back from the front of the car: The front transmission/transaxle is located ahead of the front tires. As reported in the original HOT ROD story, “The engines are coupled in pairs, back to back, with two of them installed in reverse in the frame. A transfer-gear case is provided between each pair of the engines, and the single driveline passes through the cases, the full length of the car, alongside the engines. Two transmissions are used, one front and the second at rear, controlled by a Hurst shifter which was designed by Hurst Performance Products, one of the car’s sponsors.”

Good thing Bob Summers was fit, because the driver’s compartment was the definition of tight. Reports say it took both hands to shift the car. Imagine taking your hands off the wheel at over 200 mph.

YOU CAN HELP
Hot rods, and especially race cars, historical or otherwise, are constantly undergoing various modifications, and updates, and over the years a lot of stuff just plain gets lost. Goldenrod is no exception. Though it only made a total of eight runs on the Salt, there were some modifications made to the car during that time, most notably the hoodscoops. On the record runs, the car had relatively un-aerodynamic mailbox scoops for the engines.

According to Chrysler’s original program manager, Peter Dawson, these scoops were more effective at lower engine speeds and were intended to help the car accelerate quicker. These were swapped for much more aero scoops for the 425-mph pass, and those are the same ones on the car today. Where are the originals?

Firestone was one of the sponsors and developed these tires specifically for the Goldenrod. Because of the low shape of the body, these were the smallest-diameter LSR tires of the day, meaning the car had extremely high wheel speeds. Truck hubs support split-rim wheels turned from forged billets by Hurst Performance, a company the Jan. ’66 HOT ROD called the car’s sugar daddy.

After some searching, the record scoops, along with the original wind-tunnel model and fiberglass parachute cover, were found in England. Bob Casey has already negotiated to buy these parts from the current owner, but he says there are some other small parts that people have obtained through the years, most likely as souvenirs, and they would really like them back. If anybody reading this has any of these parts, do the right thing and donate them to the project. John Baechtel is the point man on this, and you can contact him at westech@earthlink.net. JB says he is looking for four ’65 Prestolite electronic ignition boxes and four stock coils, five stock 426 Hemi oil pans, and 12 Hemi oil pumps at the moment. That’s right, 12.

Goldenrod’s dry-sump system was pretty innovative. Any photographs, memories, or other information you can provide that may help with the restoration would also be appreciated.

And if you live in Southern California and would like to lend a hand, feel free to drop JB an e-mail. He told us that there is only one full-time guy on the project, and federal grant funding is limited, so they need all the help they can get. If you can fabricate, paint, weld, or just clean parts, and you don’t mind doing it for free, they need you. And how cool would that be, to be involved in the restoration of such a historic car?