Event Coverage ***Chet Herbert's "Beast 3" @ Pebble Beach***

WAY Over-restored, but still......a great part of land speed history.

 

Beautiful streamliner restored by Dave Crouse's Custom Auto of Loveland, CO and the hemi engine came from Poverty Flats and Hamber Prototypedesgnflauz from Kansas. Of course it didn't look that pretty when it was here....

 

I have mixed feelings regarding Pebble Beach. Why are some of hot roddings, most respected, trying so hard to be recognized by a bunch of stuffed shirts. Its my understanding they had to beg just to be accepted for a one time showing, with the hopes of maybe being asked back in later years. Does hot rodding really need their recognition?

The pics are great...Thanks for posting.

 

I was fortunate enough to be involved in the restoration of the Beast III, and i will have to admit that yes it is over restored to a point but we try to stay with in the the parameters that this is what Chet Herbert would have wanted for the car. It is hard when you are restoring these cars not to over restore them, we would have loved to put some sort of fender skirts in the car so your legs are not mere inches form the tire. The overall fit and finish of the car has been completed to finer degree than when the car was built but the main reason for restoring these cars is to preserve the racing history and the men who built them.

Before we put the body on the car Dave Crouse test drove the ch***is up and down the street a few times and he admitted that the ride was pretty intense, imagine going over 200 in this car with the limited safety equipment that they had available to them at the time.

No matter what the event is or who is in attendance i am just gratefully that they are people and shop that are willing to take on and restore, preserve these pieces of our automotive history.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olYvJW04AFY

A shot of the car going over the ramp

 

This is an outstanding restoration, thanks to the guys who did it, and to Jimmy for posting these detailed shots of the interior...

The history of the Beast series is sort of confusing (at least to me!!) Think that Beast I was Chet's drag bike, and Beast II was the first streamliner.. Wasn't Chet trying to put a flat 6 into it first until it blew up on the Wilcap dyno? Then they went to a Chrysler and a quickly-laid fibergl*** body, then Barris built a metal body for it...I am guessing that Beast III was the follow-on, but the body on the restored car seems to be fibergl*** as well............Jimmy, do you have the whole story?

 

fantastic photos of a car I have always wanted to see more detail shots of. Thanks.

 

Thanks for the pics, I have a poster on my wall of this Beast from Boneville 1955 in tutone blue, with the top off. I just recently figured oout this was the streamliner, but the engine in the poster is too hard to figure out. These pics make it all so clear.
This and the "Redhead" are my favorite 'liners.

 

Here's a great link that pretty well fills in the details on the Chet Herbert Beast III.

http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?***le=Chet_Herbert's_Beast_III

 

Interesting article. I see from it that this car took SECOND in it's cl*** at Pebble Beach. If this took second, I WOULD really like to see what took first.

 

Would also be interested to see who OWNS the car that took first.

 

By the way, as stated in the article, the car ran in '53 or '54 with a "425-cid. GMC diesel engine and set the record for diesel streamliners." The engine was actually a 426-cid. GMC (now Detroit Diesel) 6V-71, 2-stroke diesel. (6-cylinders, 71-cid per cylinder = 426-cid.)

A very common engine used in many applications including trucks and transit busses.

Here's a picture of one, and a link showing one running:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YayPoRyQfNU

Detroit, much later (maybe early'70's), made a turbocharged version of this engine called the 6V-71T, but I doubt that a turbo was used in '53 - '54. ALL 2-stroke GMC - Detroit Diesels used the famous roots-type blowers. The turbo versions use the blower AND a turbocharger.

JG

 

By the way, AGAIN!

Here's a link I found of a similar, but smaller version of a 2-stroke GMC-Detroit Diesel called a 6V-53. (6-cyl, 53-cid per cylinder = 318-cid) running with what is OBVIOUSLY a much HOTTER fuel setting(!) to give you an idea of what a hopped-up 2-stroke GMC-Detroit Diesel can sound like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbDY3GwjrO0&feature=related

Enjoy!

;o)

JG

 

Don Ferguson Jnr won with the Eddie Miller lakester

Eddie Miller Lakester

 

It's about time the Eddie Miller Lakes wins something!!! That car is far to rad not too and since I heard it was slower then dog **** (maybe not that slow but...) at least it can win Pebble Beach!!!!

 

The GMC diesel that powered this wasn't a V series it was the earlier 671. If you have a copy of Dean Batchelor's "The American Hot Rod" There is a colour picture on pg 109 you can see it in all its chrome and polished glory it looked incredible. The engine was still with the streamliner when it was stored. Fuller Diesel Streamliner #671 "Big Mamoo"

 

The problem was it took too long to construct. It was started in 1947 if it had debut it '48-'49 it would have been compe***ive. I read that Snr didn't want Jnr to get hurt so kept wanting to change things to drag the build out.

 

awesome car!!!

 

I stand corrected! Thanks!

6-71 inline and 6V-71 use many identical components and produce the same HP.

I wonder how they got it it there for length in place of the Chrysler V-8 hemi. Did they eliminate the transmission?

JG

 

The 666 is owned by a doctor in Houston Tx.

 

Yes, they eliminated the transmission and the GMC engine was hooked up directly to the diff.

Dr Mark Brinker

 

QUOTE: All Chet's streamliners had the #666. Yes salt sprayed up in the drivers compartment covering the driver. George Bentley & Art Chrisman both drove the streamliner. This is the car that got Art in the 200mph club.


Wasn't Art the first or second person in the 200 MPH club with this car, or am I way off ?

 

Art was the 2nd person inducted into the 200mph club, Willie Young was the first having gone 210 mph in 1950 in the Kenz & Leslie streamliner

 

Jamie

You should have the ***le of "HAMB Land Speed Historian"

Thanks for all the great information and pictures you've shared with us over the years

 

Thanks Mark! I do prefer "vintage dry lake racing enthusiast". Historian implies I know it all, I'm still learning. Historians as a whole don't like being corrected when wrong.

 

The Beast 3 is currently on display in the lobby of the Petersen. Looks gorgeous.

 

December 1952 Hot Rod Feature

 

Mysterious thing about the Beast streamliner is that it was geared for 200 mph requiring a push start and no transmission, yet the official video shows the doctor driving it up the ramp pushing in the clutch and revving the engine.
The doctor loved to rev that baby up, cold or not/
Actually all the cars chosen for this cl*** are winners and my favorite, in my unbiased and bipartisan opinion is the Frank Morawski owned, Carillo roadster.

 

It is a honour and a win to have a car selected for Pebble Beach.
I thought the Carrillo car should have placed in the top 3. It was truly an outstanding restoration. The right car placed 1st, but I feel the Dean Batchelor award was a token win for the So-Cal tank.

 

oh btw hotrod1940, Beast 3 ran a ford gearbox as seen in the feature I posted above.