There was a vintage go kart advertised locally about 30 miles from me so I went to check it out. Picture of car looked like a 1960's Formula 1 or rear engine Indy car. Guy has had it for 36 years and it was used then, got it from relatives in south Louisiana. The paint is bad but the fibergl*** is actually decent. They actually took the body off and hung it up and drove the go kart without the body. No engine in it, a vintage 5 HP Briggs or Te***seh would be perfect. It does not have a live rear axle. Can anybody identify it? While checking out the cart I noticed what looked like a aircraft belly tank in some bamboo nearby. I asked the guy if he wanted to sell it and after a little negotiating I got it as well. It looks like a 60's jet fighter tank, it has JP-4 (jet fuel) on it. It is 138" long with a 69" cir***frence by the middle seam and 22" wide. It is in decent shape, I will see how it looks afer some cleaning. Anybody have a good guess on what it came off of? I managed to get both loaded in my short bed pickup, the go kart was hanging over the side. Since you guys are picture hounds here you go.
I can't ID the go kart, but I think those are the brakes off my last rod. Hell, with brakes like those, forget the motor, just go Fred Flintstone.
There must have been over a thousand go cart companies back then. I have about 150 old rod and custom, custom rodder, car craft, and custom cars mags from the late 50's and early 60's and looked thru alot of them for something that looked close. None of them matched up but the one that looked the closest alike was a moss cart from 59.
I am pretty sure it's USAF, JP4 was the US Air Force fuel from 1951 until 1995. The US Navy usually uses JP5 for carrier based aircraft. Other countries had there own "mix". All the lettering and wording appears to be standard US english.
I think I have it identified, F-86 Sabre, some of them have that same fin setup in back. From the pictures I have seen Sabre's used a lot of different tanks, this may still have been used on a different airplane as well.
With the help of the magnifying gl*** I have deciphered the tag on the back as best as I can. Looks like I was right, F-86, made in 1959. AERONCA MANUFACTURING CO LONGREN CALIFORNIA DIVISION TORRANCE CALIFORNIA PART NAME TANK JETTISONABLE FUEL CAPACITY US GALS / POUNDS 120 / 805 MATERIAL / MODEL NO ALUM ALLOY / F-86 PART NO / DATE 172-4B 152 / 5-27-59 WEIGHT EMPTY / SPEC # 103 / MIL-T-7679 CONTRACT NO / SERIAL NO AR04 (606) 7130 / 496 INSPECTORS (Inspector initials scratched in small box)
Yup, that is a Sabre tank right there. We had 4 of them at the museum I worked at, very distinctive, you lucky SOB!
My buddy EJ Kowalski has a tank like yours, and will be running it at Maxton this weekend for it'd first shot at a record. I'll add photos on Monday.
Go for a cart and find a tank-You really need to rush out and buy a lotto ticket-Your time is here! Great score!
I would love to see pictures, this tank is a might narrow for a LSR car, I am not that thin anymore LOL!
Nice find! I like the fact that it is made by Aeronca (AERONatical Corporation of America) they made my first airplane an 11AC. They stoped making aircraft in 1952 and just did parts and sub***emblies for other companies after that.
That tank..................Steel or aluminum???????.................We made our "Sock Rocket" downhill racer out of one like that........Ours is steel...........
I got some basic cleanup done on the tank today, just car wash soap and water and a green scotchbrite. Still don't know what I am going to do with it but for now just clean it up and hang it in the shop. It has aluminum paint and a light greenish yellow primer under that, I can get it down to the bare aluminum with the scotchbrite but it will take a while! I think it looks better upside down, the top is flatter than the bottom. Here's a few more pics.
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