Sweet 16

First Ever Land Speed Belly Tank

In August of 1949, Bill Burke and Don Francisco's flathead powered Streamliner made its mark in history and became nationally recognized. Named, "World's fastest Hot Rod," by Hot Rod Magazine in 1949, it was the first belly tank to set multiple land speed records at Bonneville. Co-built in 1947 by, Bill Burke and Don Francisco, Sweet 16 was the third belly tank car that raced in subsequent seasons utilizing an aircraft surplus P-38 belly tank vessel. 

This Streamliner comes to the Museum of American Speed on loan from the Bobby Green collection. 

​It would seem that every aspect of the belly tank was made for racing, built to glide through wind with as little resistance as possible. The belly tank was not actually intended for racing, they were used to allow fighter pilots a larger range of flight with more fuel supply in World War II. During the War, Bill Burke worked closely with these belly tanks and as a hot rod builder, he started developing ideas on how to adapt these tanks and use them for racing.

Originally powered by a 272c.i. flathead from a '42 Merc, it was equipped with Edelbrock heads and manifold, a Harman & Collins Super H cam and Potvin ignition. The engine is coupled directly to the differential through a clutch and short driveshaft with no transmission. It utilized 2.76:1 gears with specially cut straight-tooth teeth. 

Burke’s first belly tank streamliner was a lot smaller than the ones that succeeded it. He built it out of a 165 gallon tank of a P-51 Mustang. Since the car was so small it was built with a front engine configuration with just a bicycle seat welded in place for the driver to sit on.
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Bill Burke and Don Francisco built a second tank in 1947. They based the car on the Model T frame but with a larger P-38 tank that let the driver sit ahead of the engine. They crashed that car and built “Sweet 16” out of some of its parts within a week.

​"Sweet 16" set records from the start of its career, with 139.21 mph in 1947, 144.855 mph in early 1948, and 149.40 mph in August of 1948. In July 1949, Burke and Francisco ran 151.085 mph, making the car the first with a two-way average faster than 150.