McCulloch at Bonneville??

[Steve Vannatta]

Dennis Varni in San Jose has this streamliner in his collection that was McCulloch powered. No idead when it ran, or the speed it achieved, though I think I saw it in an old hot rod or karting magazine from the sixties- Dennis has quite collection of all types of automobilia, representing his very diverse interests. I was able to tour the collection last summer during a Goodguys car show in Pleasanton.

134.JPG

(1.53 MiB) Downloaded 103 times

[mcbob]

Would be nice to find out a little more about that streamliner Steve what sort of powerplants did it have were they Kart Engines ?

Mc Bob.

[ted johnson]

That looks a lot like the twin PP-81 powered streamliner that ran maybe in '60. Of course, I can't be sure it's the same kart. It was supposed to have some sort of converted bike engine, maybe an early Standun??, but it didn't work out well. There were pics in the kart mags as well as the rodding mags. The first time they brought it out, they were going to tow it to start, but the Timing Association said no, it must be pushed, so they added a T-bar. There was one photo of two guys lifting it off the ground to show it off. Neat machine! TJ

[mcbob]

Well Ted when i enlarged the pic on the fin is written McCulloch Powered ..............

Mc Bob

[Steve Vannatta]

I'm going to try to track down Dennis to get more info on the kart (streamliner). What caught my eye when I saw it was the fact that on the rear fin, it said "McCulloch powered". Among other things, Dennis is a long time Bonneville participant, so may have some insite into its history.

[ted johnson]

IF, and I emphasize if, this is the same rig run at B'Ville in the very early days, It wasn't Mac powered back then. My Pop and I both wondered why Power Products rather than Macs. Of course, that was nearly 50 years ago - lots of changes may have occurred to the machine since then! I'd like to have more info about the ill-fated single cylinder engine that was once in there - if, indeed this is the same rig. TJ

[Jeff Campbell]

When I was poking around the Internet looking for some info on McCulloch's Bonneville runs, I stumbled upon a movie from a few years ago that I never saw at the time, but wanted to see, it was "The World's Fastest Indian". I watched this movie the other night, it was much better than I had ever imagined. I would think that many vintage karters would find this to be an amazing must see movie. For those that aren't familiar with the movie, it's based on the true story of Burt Munro, a man from New Zealand with very little money and a whole lot of determination. Burt spent decades preparing to go to the Salt Lake Flats, at almost 70 years old and piloting his 47 year old Indian, he cracked 200mph.

I know this is getting off topic, so instead of posting more here, I have posted more over at vintagepowersport.com. I wrote up a piece and included three really great video clips of Burt Munro and the Hollywood movie....



Jeff

[mcbob]

I have watched this movie quite a few times and now i understand Burt's passion for speed and perserverance regardless of the setbacks .................

A bit of home made magic ...........................

Mc Bob.

[Mark Brubaker]

I love that movie. One of my all time favorites.....


Mark

[Steve Vannatta]

That streamliner appears on the cover of Kart Magazine, January 1961 issue- thanks to Louie for letting me know. Apparently, it got up to about 110 MPH on a 270cc "XM-84" kart engine at the Bonneville Salt Flats.