Hi everyone,
sorry for being silent so long, model cars take most of my time.
Well, Paul, Howard Johansen twin tank may have been unusual, but
definitely not unique. In fact there have been at least 5 (five) twin
tank land speed vehicles!
The originator of the idea (or at least, the first to build a
successful such vehicle) was our own Piero Taruffi, of Ferrari fame,
who built his first Tarf in 1948, powered by Guzzi and later Gilera
motorcycle engines. Then in 1952 he built Tarf II, powered by a
Maserati 1.7 litre. He set a huge number of records over the years
with both cars. Incidentally, in taruffi's view, the second Tarf was
actually to be used as a sports road racing car, it even had proper
steering.
Johansen himself built two of these vehicles, one in 1949 (openly
admitting that the idea came from Taruffi's), first pushed by a
Mercury flathead, then by a De Soto. He raced it till 1953, ran as
fast as 189 mph, then he built a second one for 1954, slimmer and
nicer looking, with the driver on the right instead of left, Dodge
powered, but still not very successful.
The one Mark Dees owned is yeat another twin tank, originally built
for Fritz Offutt, who tried to run it in 1964 and ran it with lots of
troubles in 1965. Bigger and longer than Johansen's, sporting two
tail fins, it was Chevy V8 powered and ran 194,80 in class D.
The car reappeared in 1974, now owned and driven by Mark Dees and
running in class B, still Chevy-powered: after a troublesome week he
made a pass at 262, which at the time was believed to be the fastest
unblown run ever made.
Ok, just my little contribution to keeping the recordsa straight!
Now, back to the working bench to finish my model of The Phoenix diesl truck!
Cheers
Ugo Fadini
in Padova, Italy
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