Goldie Gardner's MG at Bonneville (1952)

Ryan's Challenger I post got me all fired up about Bonneville and record-setting streamliners of the golden age. I was starting to write about another car when I stumbled on this AMAZING silent 8mm fo... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.

 

JB. Killer indeed. I knew it looked familiar. Cant get enough of this stuff. Thanks again. Slim
Found these threads.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=463154&highlight=goldie+gardner
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=431556&highlight=goldie+gardner

 

Awesome video. I just love the MG TD as a tow vehicle.

 

Helmet? We don't need no stinking helmet. MG set up a 10 mile cir***ference track on the salt to do endurance runs on. Set numerous 12 and 24 hour records as well.

 

Jive-Bomber Jay -

AWESOME 8mm footage indeed! ... Thanks for sharing it with the HAMB!

As Slim Pickens already noted, I posted this same video in Ryan's (December '09) MG at Bonneville - 1951 Blog/thread ... but my (April '10) posting of the video got very few views (& zero replies) ... and the thread quickly fell back into obscurity ... hopefully this thread will generate the interest & response that Goldie Gardner and this cool video clip deserve.

Thanks again!

 

Jay...a Voisin, Delahaye, and now an MG...is there something you need to tell us?

good thread:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=210662&highlight=mg+td+biscuit

 

That's a beautiful car. Especially with those spoke wheels on there.

 

Can't let this thread p*** without putting in a plug for the Austin-Healey:

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And here's the 2010 return to Bonneville by the Healey streamliner:

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Did anyone else notice the sign that said
"BONNEVILLE SALT BEDS" ?

 

Great stuff Ryan and JB. Love those old MG`s. ho would have known they ran at Bonneville?

 

Yep, That sign:



... caught my eye too! ... as did the logo on the back of this crew member's coveralls:



... it reminded me of the old joke:

Q: Why do the Brits drink warm beer?
A: Because Lucas makes their refrigerators!

 

Thanks for the positive responses, guys... Its hard to come up with new stuff to post every week, and variety is the ****e of hot rodding! I figured if any of it is inspirational in the least, its worth posting.

 

Do a bit on the Magic Midget. Then the following week do a bit on a track...Brooklands, Jebeke, the Autobahn. Or maybe look into the historic tracks around the Bay, there are dozens. Hard to find pics, but maybe enough to put a few words together.

 

Twenty five years ago (more or less) I had the opportunity to visit Don Furgeson's Sr. shop. At that time he still had the So-Cal belly tank, the Eddie Meyer lakester, Carl Orr's sprinter and several dozen other great cars.
Hanging from the rafters was a small streamliner with the MG logo. As it was up in the air, and MG's were not in my area of interest, I didn't check it out at all.
Does anyone know the relationship of what I saw and the car discussed here?

In respect to Don no wanting the world to know what was in that building, I took no photos.

 

JB. When it history like this, its like picking up your favorite book. I cant get enough of this stuff. Check out Goldie, more.

http://www.austinworks.com/minutes.html

http://www.landspeedrecordcards.com/Goldie_Gardner.htm

Alfred Thomas Gardner (1890&#8211;1958) was better known as Goldie Gardner (Goldie was his mother's maiden name). Gardner had a distinguished World War I military career. He suffered severe injuries to his right leg when his reconnaissance plane was shot down in 1917. After the war, despite his disability, he took up motor racing, but suffered a crash during the 1932 RAC Tourist Trophy race that further damaged his leg. After accompanying Sir Malcolm Campbell&#8217;s expedition to Daytona Beach in 1935 for the World Land Speed Record attempt, he returned to England and concentrated on speed racing records. In the years between 1936 and 1952 he set over 100 international and national speed records throughout England, Europe and the USA, mainly in MG cars. He was awarded the Segrave Trophy in 1938 for his Flying Kilometre and Flying Mile records in an MG. In 1952 he retired from motor sport after a cerebral haemorrage. He died in 1958 aged 68.

 

And it's the proper color; British racing green.

 

Took these a few weeks ago at the Museum, beautifully shaped cars......











.

.

 

Gardner was pretty tough for a Brit.He was severely injured in WWI,had 20+ operations,retired,came back and re-upped for service at age 50.He raced for 30 some years before his cerebral hemorage.Being a TD and MGA owner,I knew who he was,but I never knew that he set any land speed records.

 

Thanks for the link to the Healey films - I saw and took a bunch of pics of the 2009 streamlined car at the USFRA meet last year, but never saw it run. I wondered how it went.
Here's a couple of pics of it mill:

 

Nice line drawing K.


****y shots i know .............but the car now has clear panels so you can see the ch***is work etc........










.

.

 

I was lucky enough to scan some original photos from a local's collection and have some of Goldie Gardner that i thought you all would like to see. These haven't been published before other than being posted on my Flickr page (www.flickr.com/photos/farmerjohn), this may be the first time anyones seen them. Note: all pics were taken at Bonneville. Dates unknown...the originals were not marked. enjoy!

 

i think i have more pics...i'll look some more

 

This is a great museum, well worth a visit, this is my favourite display, You really notice how small these cars really are in the flesh. Last time I visited the JCB World Land Speed Record Holder Diesel Streamliner was also on display,


I believe the same engine powers the support vehicle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!