Hot Rods FOUND Ted Frye's Belly Tank

Hemi's shared pics highlight 2 Bonneville excursions with 2 different Hemis a 301 and 392...

I suspect every meet changes are made...65 was apparently when it was shelved...

 

...I have a background in aviation structural assembly/repair and this is an old Aluminum Fuel Tank...note the oversize hole dead center hastily drilled no doubt during race duty...I notice someone knew to drill a small hole at the end of a stress crack developing from that hole to halt further migration of it...

Credit to Photographer, Owner
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Never heard of a 5 cycle cam before.

 

Isky came out with them in the 60's. The fifth cycle would be the overlap phase. I think Howards then came out with a 6 cycle cam as a joke.

 

Ted Frye was my go to machinist for almost anything for years. He had a well equipped shop behind his house and you had to go through the front garage or side gate to get back there. That belly tank was in pieces in the front garage for as long as I knew him. For a while there was a Desoto hemi sitting in there too that I always assumed was from/for the tank. He never seemed to be big on selling his personal stuff, I asked about buying his hemi powered F-100 several times. Maybe he just knew a wet-behind-the-ears kid like me couldn't afford it.
He was friends with my Dad as his son Eddie was on my baseball team and my dad was the coach. He helped us to properly rig up the Pontiac engine and drive line in our homemade family ski boat. He saw me messing with my coupe and offered advise, that's how I got to know him.
One Saturday I was preparing to install the aluminum heads I had purchased for the flathead in my '40 coupe. My Dad and Ted seemed to be very interested in my "new" heads. Ted asked if I thought they were going to work, I said why not, everybody runs them. (says the self-assured young punk) He asked if I thought they should be resurfaced. I said, the guy says they are fine. He says, you going to take his word for it? Sure, why not. So they watched me proudly install them and fill the radiator. There were a few small leaks. It turned over about a quarter turn and seized. They told me to pull the spark plugs. Out came a bunch of water. After I got it back apart, they showed me the corrosion damage that was allowing water to escape onto the floor and into some cylinders. Ted didn't think he could clean up the surfaces, the heads were pretty much junk. I wasn't happy that they let me do all that work and not tell me, but I learned the lessons. That's just how some of us have to learn.
He had a great smile and laugh and he seemed to brighten up my Dad's demeanor whenever he came around. Quite a few times he and his wife had cocktails with my Mom and Dad before going to Joe Petrelli's for steaks. I got a job at Hedman where I had access to welders, lathes and mills so I did my own work and didn't see Ted as much. Next thing you know many years have passed and I hear that he has passed away, I wish I had stayed in touch. He was one of the good guys.
I'm glad that his tank found a home with someone like Dave Simard, at least we will know it's still around and back in one piece.
On a similar note; does anyone know if Frank Oddo's tank is still around? Running? I just ran across some pictures of it from when it was at my house for custom headers years ago.

 

I’d drive that to work every day

 

In the article, Dave says it has a flathead in it right now, until he can reunite it with the original hemi.

Mick

 

@lurker mick The thing i find odd about this tank is, and maybe @bchctybob can shed light on this, in the Motor Trend article the un restored tank has only three holes in the side and the top is un cut for the hemi valve covers but in the picture from '62 you can see four header pipes and a cut out for the hemi valve cover Where here two different tanks maybe?

Unrestored car

'62

 

@Stogy I just caught that myself.

 

@Speed Gems being aluminum sheet the repairs and mods are fairly straightforward and typical for a structural Craftsman such as Marty...I can see the line of rivets where the hinged section resided.

Perhaps the panel where the pipes were was removed re-skinned and opened up for the later pipes used...the windshield was ditched and again the Rollbar is notably Higher...

 

For those that don't like to click on links:

all images by Wes Allison
from Tim Bernsau's "Belly Tank Racer Ran 240 MPH in the ’60s, Then Vanished for 30 Years"
August 17th 2021 post​

 

... continued:

all images by Wes Allison
from Tim Bernsau's "Belly Tank Racer Ran 240 MPH in the ’60s, Then Vanished for 30 Years"
August 17th 2021 post​

 

240mph...wowie that's crazy fast...

 

... continued:

all images by Chuck Vranas
from his "The Dave Simard Story…and it Goes Way Back!" article
that appeared in the February 2021 issue of
​

 

Paging @SUHRsc …

 

In response to Speed Gems observations; when Ted showed me the tank (1965-67?) it was totally disassembled. Body parts in the rafters, frame leaning against the garage wall, quick change on the floor, etc. While I found Ted’s racing stories fascinating, at that age I was hooked on drag racing at Lions and not very interested in the lakes or Bonneville with the exception of the raging LSR race. It is very possible that he had two sets of body skins since they were more plentiful back then and Ted liked to “accumulate”. Careful examination of existing photos from back then might shed some light on the mystery.
I would love to see a Wes Allison quality photo from when Ted was actually racing his tank, his cars were always tasteful and clean. Photos of the way it looks now don’t do his workmanship justice. I am surprised at some of the early construction details that he apparently left as is. 240 mph in that little thing was gutsy.
Side note: I talked to my 92 year old Mom last night and we reminisced about that time and her friendship with Ted’s wife Nora. She thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them and told me the story of Nora trying to help her get a part time job with the company that Nora worked for.

 

@Stogy you are correct. I posted this link too a couple of land speed racing pages on Facebook and got back a reply that the tank had been repaired in Penn. and the panel with the cut out for Hemi headers was replaced and is still around. In my best Paul Harvey voice. And now you know the rest of the story.

 

Really great to see this racer and enjoy its history. Thanks for posting all the great info and pictures.

 

Enuf is enuf! It's a Belly Tank!

I don't know what a Belly Tanker is -- maybe a person who has or drives a belly tank bodied race car?

 

@Speed Gems -

FYI ...



These pics were posted on Facebook by (longtime HAMBer) Zach Suhr ... hence my "Paging @SUHRsc" post above.

 

I agree! ... calling them belly tankers has long been one of my many pet peeves ...

However ...

There is quite a lot of historical evidence that they were called "Belly Tankers" ... I'm thinking it was nothing more than the combination of the words "{Belly} Tank" and "Lakesters" or "Streamliners" (i.e., a portmanteau).

Here's a a late 1951 or early 1952 photo of Earl Evans' Belly Tank Lakester at a car show:

image from the @Jimmy B Collection​

... and a circa 1952 magazine article by Tom Beatty:

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@Stan Back I fixed the title.

Sorry I didn't finish reading the new posts before I posted that.

 

That shit pisses me off as well, started on here about 20 years ago.

 

Here are a couple of early tanks from San Bernardino . . . [

Scotty was a member of the Hornets and I believe this was opening day at the Colton Drag Strip (1954?). Scotty's car had beat 200 at Bonneville. Larry was a member of the San Berdoo Roadsters.

 

... and apparently 70 years ago at Bonneville (see my post above)

 

But it never stuck and most folks that use the term don't have the resource library that you and I do. The defintion is defined by those on the Salt and the lakes.

 

I think it kinda neat that the front crossmember has threads on the left end.

 

Everything I see is pretty much on how they all looked for steering , clutch actuation, and hand breaking. Most used 2nd and high and only shifted once. The single shock wold be proper for the time too. Most drivers were shorter guys and tall ones just stuck out farther.
I’m agreement with the word “tank” also as no matter what was written, “belly tank” was said. Some words are being adapted from other countries and I don’t acknowledge them as I am here and not there.

 

Stogy, if you look at other shots of the lower tank shell, you will see larger holes in various locations. The hole size in a P-38 tank is .200, for the original hardware, and by drilling some of the holes larger, they could use 1/4" bolts. And only a few are needed.

 

I was referring to the single Monster that looks around 1/2" right at the fwd nose...probably for a tow pin...the one with Near O edge distance...the crack is on the aft side flowing towards the radius were they drilled a smaller hole...

Yes a random set of bolts makes sense as it's got to be removable...after all it's no longer an airplane...that said at 200+mph there is still crack producing stress...especially in aluminum...

I'm pretty sure a great number of Racer/ Builders were acting or retired Aviation Folk...and the same rules were applicable to a lesser degree...