The 20 Best Hot Rods Of all Time

August 10, 2017

Tom Beatty’s Belly-Tank Lakester

The first belly tanker hot rod ever built, this car is insane. Made from the belly-tank of a fighter plane on a custom-built tube chassis that was inspired by aircraft construction, the car was originally powered by a 296ci Mercury V8 fitted with a GMC blower, the Lakester tore up to 188mph in 1951, which made it the fastest lakester in history. In 1952, Beatty took it even further, breaking the 200mph barrier and rounding out at 202.

It was later fitted with a 303 GMC-Oldsmobile V8 which had been destroked to 260ci, giving it an estimated 400bhp, which took the car to 239mph in 1959. The engine was mated to 1956 Oldsmobile hydra-matic transmission, and a Halibrand quick-change rear end. The final speed record was broken in 1963, at 252mph. Over 60 miles per hour added in just 12 years. Not a bad achievement, you could say. The car recently sold for $440,000. For a classic hot rod, we’d expect nothing less.

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