Foster presents themed car shows (Cobras, Porsches, and so on) in the summer for the museum and wanted to know if Green would consider doing a hot rod show at the facility. Green got the idea for the War Surplus on Wheels Show after a phone call from Mark Foster, the president of Lyon Air Museum. ( The Race Of Gentlemen) that has produced vintage hot rod racing events on the beaches of New Jersey and California in the past few years. Green’s passion for the ’40s and ’50s exemplifies itself in many ways, from his restoration of vintage bars, bowling alleys, and eateries in the Los Angeles area to his eclectic collection of cars, motorcycles, and race cars-some of which are patina’d survivors while others were recently built to look that way. This display of historic belly tanks (made from the empty external fuel tanks that would drop away from the World War II bomber’s wings or fuselage they had been attached to) was curated by Old Crow Speed Shop and its 50-year-old owner Bobby Green.

The display at the museum shows the top half of the racer removed so folks could see just how much stuff can be crammed into such a tight little space. Read More: Period Correct Style For An Overlooked Classic Coupe After passing through several hands Ed Godshalk now owns the circa ’51 Fornaciari-Adams lakester, which ran at El Mirage in the early ’50s. So, it is perhaps fitting that a once-in-a-lifetime gathering of war-era dry lakes and Bonneville Salt Flats belly tank racers would be held on the grounds. Currently, on the west side of the facility is the Lyon Air Museum, named for its founder Major General Michael Lyon, and its contents includes a special collection of World War II airplanes and war machinery. The land the dragstrip occupied sat on the southern section of Orange County Airport, renamed John Wayne Airport (SNA) in 1979. This racer is currently owned by The Justice Private Automotive Collection. Burke went on to build more than a dozen other belly tank racers-all of them with a rear engine layout. Burke built his original groundbreaking vehicle with a solid-mount suspension mounted to a modified Model T frame and was able to attain a speed record of 131.96 mph with it in 1946.

Overseeing this faithful recreation of the first belly tank was its initial creator, Bill Burke.

Military surplus drop tanks