Bill Burke bellytank re-creation under way

In today’s Hemmings e-Weekly Newsletter, you’ll read about the recently started effort by Geoff Hacker to re-create Bill Burke’s very first bellytank dry lakes racer, a front-engined junkyard-sourced P-51-bodied vehicle worth 131.96 MPH in 1946 (sitting on a bicycle seat welded to the torque tube, no less!). Bill would go on to build many more bellytankers, and his first was short-lived in his pursuit for greater speed, but it still remains significant in the hot rod world, so Geoff has decided to replicate it using the bellytank he picked up in California (the one on top of his Suburban in an earlier post here). To do so, he’s assembled a collection of historical images of the first Burke bellytanker.

Geoff also sent along some photos of his project, sitting on a modified Model T chassis with Model A axles and with a V-8-60 up front.

We’re looking forward to watching this project progress.