B and S Garage Lakester

The B&S Garage Lakester at the 1952 Bonneville Nationals. The Class B Lakester was entered as the "Piston Injection Special." It ran a 1932 Ford fourbanger with a Riley 4 Port Head. The block was 216.7 cid, and it ran 146.87 mph for 6th in class.

Baldy working on the car at the B&S Garage.

A photo of the tank at the 1953 Bonneville Nationals. Isky at the far right. Baldy with the hat on.

Another photo from the 1953 Bonneville Nationals. The tow truck belonged to Ike Williams.

1953 Bonneville Nationals. From left to right in the photo; Isky, Baldy, an unknown fellow, Gus, and another unknown fellow.

Bonneville Nationals 1953. Gus is working on the engine while Isky is watching.

A photo of the engine taken at the 1953 Bonneville Nationals. Could this be the first Ram Air Induction?

1953 Bonneville Nationals.

A close-up shot of the engine in the lakester.

A photo of the engine taken at Gus and Baldy's Hollywood garage. The engine featured home made fuel injection and WWII surplus tanks.

A photo of the tank from the 1956 Bonneville Nationals.

The Baldwin, Sommerfeld and Willams lakester at the 1957 Bonneville Nationals. They carried #1 because they were the 1956 SCTA champions qualifying first in class at 164.23 mph.

Another photo from the 1957 Bonneville Nationals.

A photo of the lakester photographed May 7, 1961 at El Mirage dry lake.

Another photo from El Mirage dry lake. The team ran 121.62 mph at the May 7, 1961 event.

A photo of the tank taken at Wendover, Utah in 1968. Ike Williams' truck can be seen in the background.Richie Grows tank 141 ran a 260 Dodge V8. Both were going for a new record in Class E Lakester. It was a bad trip, with rain on and off.

Baldy, Gus and Ike at the 1969 Bonneville Nationals.

Another photo from the 1969 Bonneville Nationals.

Another photo from the 1969 Bonneville Nationals.

A photo of the tank taken at the 1974 Bonneville Nationals.

The lakester as it appeared after Jim Latt bought it.

The B&S Garage Lakester is a bellytank lakester owned, built and raced by Bungholers of Hollywood member August "Gus" Sommerfeld and Robert "Baldy" Baldwin. Gus and Baldy ran Baldwin & Sommerfeld Automotive Service. The tank was built in 1952, and it featured a tubular frame chassis within the body. The body was made from a P-38 Belly Tank, and it had a Cook Machine swing-axle convserion rear suspension. It ran 18-inch Kelsey Hayes accessory wheels.

1952 Bonneville Nationals

The tank ran from 1952 - 1964 with a four-port Riley on a Model B engine. In 1952 the car ran 146 mph.

1953 Bonneville Nationals 

In 1953 the car ran 150 mph, good enough for 5th in class.

In 1956 and 1958 they were top-points championship for SCTA. In 1964 they installed a Tempest four-cylinder. Arnold Birner was a partner in the car and he and Leo Goosen made a dual-overhead camshaft head for it. With the Riley the tank reached 170 mph. With the Tempest it reached 214 mph.

Ike Williams originally worked as a mechanic at Baldwin & Sommerfeld Automotive Service. By the mid-1950s he had taken over the shop.

1969 Bonneville Nationals

Baldy, Gus, and Ike entered the E Class lakester at the 1969 Bonneville Nationals. Baldy managed a 200.44 mph run, that was good enough for first in class, but it was under the record held by Tim Rochlitzer in his True Radius Bending Special at 221.98 mph.

The Last Run

In 1975 Ike ran the B&S Garage Lakester at Bonneville for the last time. Gus and Baldy had long since moved to Modesto and left the bellytank in the shop with Ike. In 2018 Ike's daughter, Andria Williams, told Kustomrama that her dad decided in 1975 that he was going to drive the tank and take full control; " It ran great through all his licensing passes, and I believe his highest pass was 197 mph. Baldy talked him into letting him make a pass & threw a rod. That was its last pass on the Salt. Dad got the #1 in class trophy at the SCTA banquet in January 1976. We all went to an after-party at Burke LeSage's.I beat my parents home at 7: am, they got home about 8:30 am. Dad passed away one week later. No downtime at all." Gus and Baldy were done with the bellytank after that, and it was put into the tobacco barn at Gus' place.

Julian Doty

Julian Doty worked at Baldwin & Sommerfeld Automotive Service as well. Julian wanted the engine, and Jim Lattin wanted the car, so Julian made a deal; he pulled the engine and delivered the car to Jim the same day. Lattin kept the tank as it was, he only washed it.