Geoffrey Hacker's Recreation of Bill Burke's P-51 Belly Tank

Geoffrey Hacker's Belly Tank is a re-creation of Bill Burke's P-51 Belly Tank. Burke's Belly Tank is known as the first Belly Tank Streamliner racer. Bill was racing on the dry lakes long before the war started. While stationed in the South Pacific during WWII he saw potential in using a Belly Tank as the body for a dry lakes car. Shortly after returning home from the war he built his first Belly Tank Streamliner. In 1946 he raced his brand new car. Burke was the first to run a belly tank in the "Streamliner" class and ran at both El Mirage and Harper Dry Lake. Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Hacker.

A photo of the original Bill Burke's P-51 Belly Tank. The first Bill Burke Streamliner used a small 165-gallon steel wing tank from a P-51 Mustang. The car was a front engine design, and a bicycle seat was welded to the torque tube for driving. Photo from The Howard Gribble Collection.

Hacker found the P-51 Belly Tank in Temacula, California in August 2008. In this photo, he has loaded it on the roof of his Suburban in order to bring it with him to Florida. Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Hacker.

A photo of the Belly Tank taken during the construction. When this photo was taken, it had been placed on top of the Model T chassis. During the build, Geoff consulted frequently with Bill Burke. Because everybody moved quickly to the larger tanks, there wasn't a lot of information available about how the early smaller tanks were built. Rather than build a tube frame, Geoff purchased a Model T frame that was narrowed and shortened to fit the tank's profile, just as Bill did it back in the 1940s. Photo courtesy of Hemmings.

Since Bill ran a full-size Ford Flathead V-8 in a front-engine configuration, Ted and Tom had to reconfigure Geoff's tank which had already been cut for a rear-engine setup. Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Hacker.

The V8 60 was replaced by a larger 8BA flathead V-8 with Fenton heads and intake. Both block and heads are technically incorrect since Bill used Edelbrock and Thickstun speed parts on his Belly Tank. Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Hacker.

The flathead was hooked to a 1937 Lincoln three-speed. A shortened torque tube backed the flathead. Geoff used Model A axles, Model A springs, and 1934 Ford 17-inch wire wheels for the rest of the chassis. Bill kept the mechanical rear brakes and ditched the front brakes, so Geoff decided to do the same for his recreation. Bill welded a bicycle seat to the torque tube of his racer, so Geoff researched which seat he likely used and sourced another. Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Hacker.

A photo of the Belly Tank taken at Creative Motion Concepts. Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Hacker.

Jon Phillips and Tim Masters built the engine for Geoffrey. Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Hacker.

Both block and heads are technically incorrect since Bill used Edelbrock and Thickstun speed parts on his Belly Tank. Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Hacker.

Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Hacker.

The Belly Tank as it sat before it returned to the West Coast and its 2009 Bonneville Speed Week debut. Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Hacker.

Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Hacker.

Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Hacker.

Off to Bonneville! Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Hacker.

A photo of the Belly Tank taken at the 2009 Bonneville Speed Week. Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Hacker.

Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Hacker.

Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Hacker.

Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Hacker.

Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Hacker.

Bill Burke admiring the recreation of his first Belly Tank. After Bonneville the trip went on to Bill's Shop. Bill was very excited about the build and couldn't stop looking at the re-creation. Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Hacker.

Geoffrey's Belly Tank at the NHRA Museum in 2009. From Bill's Shop the Belly Tank was taken to the NHRA Museum where it was exhibited along with two other Bill Burke built cars.

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Featured Story - Bill Burke - Belly Tanks

Geoffrey Hacker's Belly Tank is a re-creation of Bill Burke's P-51 Belly Tank. Burke's Belly Tank is known as the first Belly Tank Streamliner racer. Bill was racing on the dry lakes long before the war started. While stationed in the South Pacific during WWII he saw potential in using a Belly Tank as the body for a dry lakes car. Shortly after returning home from the war he built his first Belly Tank Streamliner. In 1946 he raced his brand new car. Burke was the first to run a belly tank in the "Streamliner" class and ran at both El Mirage and Harper Dry Lake. The first Bill Burke streamliner used a small 165-gallon steel wing tank from a P-51 Mustang. The car was a front engine design, and a bicycle seat was welded to the torque tube for driving.

Recreated by Creative Motion Concepts

In 2009 Geoffrey Hacker of Tampa, Florida commissioned Creative Motion Concepts to build him a re-creation of the first Bill Burke Bellytank. Hacker found the P-51 Belly Tank in Temacula, California in August 2008. It had already been equipped with Model A axles and a Ford V8 60 flathead by a local hot rodder. After buying the Belly Tank he showed Bill Burke some photos of his new project. Bill noticed how much the Belly Tank resembled his first Belly Tank, and told Geoff he should replicate that one. Geoff had other plans in mind for the Belly Tank and it took a while before Bill's suggestion gained traction with him. After bringing his Belly Tank to Ted Kempgens and Tom Bambard of Creative Motion Concepts Geoff realized that Bill was famous for many cars, but his first Belly Tank was the one he was most famous for and building a replica of that car would be a great way to honor him. Geoff researched Bill's original Belly Tank, which ran three times in 1946. Before he sold it in order to build larger and faster Belly Tanks he reached speeds of 131.96 mph.

Guidance from Bill Burke

Since Bill ran a full-size Ford Flathead V-8 in a front-engine configuration, Ted and Tom had to reconfigure Geoff's tank which had already been cut for a rear-engine setup. During the build, Geoff consulted frequently with Bill. Because everybody moved quickly to the larger tanks, there wasn't a lot of information available about how the early smaller tanks were built. Rather than build a tube frame, Geoff purchased a Model T frame that was narrowed and shortened to fit the tank's profile, just as Bill did it back in the 1940s. The V8 60 was replaced by a larger 8BA flathead V-8 with Fenton heads and intake. Both block and heads are technically incorrect since Bill used Edelbrock and Thickstun speed parts on his Belly Tank. Jon Phillips and Tim Masters built the engine for Geoffrey. The flathead was hooked to a 1937 Lincoln three-speed. A shortened torque tube backed the flathead. Geoff used Model A axles, Model A springs, and 1934 Ford 17-inch wire wheels for the rest of the chassis. Bill kept the mechanical rear brakes and ditched the front brakes, so Geoff decided to do the same for his recreation. Bill welded a bicycle seat to the torque tube of his racer, so Geoff researched which seat he likely used and sourced another.

The 2009 Bonneville Speed Week Debut

In May 2009 Geoff, Ted, and Tom decided to finish the Belly Tank in time for the 2009 Bonneville Speed Week. They accomplished their goal and the recreation made its debut at the Speed Week. After Bonneville the trip went on to Bill's Shop. Bill was very excited about the build and couldn't stop looking at the re-creation. From Bill's Shop the Belly Tank was taken to the NHRA Museum where it was exhibited along with two other Bill Burke built cars.

Concours Recognition

March 14th, 2010 Geoff's recreation was shown at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, making it the first Belly Tank to appear at a world-class Concours event.

Magazine Features and Appearances

Hemmings November 2009