Streamliner

Bill Burke's P-51 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. Photo from The Howard Gribble Collection.

The LeBlanc Special is a twin-Hemi streamliner designed by Eugene LeBlanc of Cupertino, California. The build was completed in 1953, and Gene ran it on Bonneville in 1953, 1954 and 1955.

Arnold Birner's Lakes Modified

Bill Burke and Don Francisco's P-38 Bellytank

Bill Burke's First Streamliner - The Hot Rod Special

Bill Kenz' Streamliner

Chet Herbert's Streamliner

Chet Herbert's Beast III

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City of Burbank-Bob Estes Special

Ed Pardue's Streamliner - The Apache

Geoffrey Hacker's Belly Tank

Lee Chapel Tornado Special Streamliner

Norman Timbs' Buick Special

The Post Special Streamliner

Ralph Schenck's Streamliner

Stuart Hilborn's Lakester

The Lady Bug

Valley Drifters' Streamliner

Geoffrey Hacker's Recreation of Bill Burke's P-51 Belly Tank of Tampa, Florida. Bill Burke's P-51 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. In 2009 Geoffrey Hacker commissioned Creative Motion Concepts to build him a recreation of Bill's groundbreaking belly tank. The recreation made its debut at the 2009 Bonneville Speed Week.

Bill Burke and the First Belly Tank Streamliner

Bill Burke's P-51 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.

Streamliners

Arnold Birner's Lakes Modified
Bill Burke and Don Francisco's P-38 Bellytank
Bill Burke's P-51 Belly Tank
Bill Burke's First Streamliner - The Hot Rod Special
Bill Kenz' Streamliner
Burke and Laster's Golden Commode
Bob Chaney's Streamliner
The Bristol-Woodside Streamliner
The Challenger Streamliner
Chet Herbert's Streamliner
Chet Herbert's Beast III
City of Burbank-Bob Estes Special
Ed Pardue's Streamliner - The Apache
Geoffrey Hacker's Recreation of Bill Burke's P-51 Belly Tank
Hill-Davis' Streamliner
Larsen & Cummins Bonneville Streamliner
Lee Chapel Tornado Special Streamliner
Lee Wise and George Wise's Streamliner
Norman Timbs' Buick Special
The LeBlanc Special
The Post Special Streamliner
Ralph Schenck's Streamliner
Silhouette II Space Coupe
Stuart Hilborn's Lakester
The Lady Bug
Valley Drifters' Streamliner