Over the years we've gotten used to the fact that, on any given day, Bring a Trailer will have a Peugeot station wagon, a Lancia model that's the only one of its kind in the country and a 1990s Range Rover that somehow still works. Add to that an Acura Integra with low miles, a Subaru Brat, a Moskvitch (for the giant Moskvitch fan base out there in the American heartland) and a VW Westfalia camper that's sure to get to $80,000 and you have a snapshot of a typical month on BaT.
But every once in a while a BaT listing will surprise even those who have been monitoring the site daily (often starting at 5:00 AM on their phone while still in bed).
At the moment, that listing is the Belly Tank Lakester. It's exactly what it sounds like, with "bodywork" sourced from a WWII-era Lockheed P-38 Lightning drop tank, four wheels, a V8 engine and not much else. (And frankly, what else does one truly need for personal happiness?)
Built in the late 1940s to run on the El Mirage dry lake in California, the Lakester — one example of a highly specialized subset of hopped-up record-hunters — was rediscovered about 15 years ago. This car features a reversed Ford Model T frame and is powered by a V8-60 flathead engine fed by two Stromberg 81 carburetors coupled with a three-speed manual transsmission, positioned in the rear two-thirds of the car. The front one-third features a very spartan cockpit, with the driver's helmet also serving as the windshield. Man and machine united, the Lakester presents as a kind of steampunk sketch brought to life, as it's just the driver's head, a metal body and four wheels going really fast.
"The single-seat cockpit is located beneath the front clamshell and features an aluminum seat with a lap belt, as well as a bomber-style yoke steering wheel," Bring a Trailer writes. "Stewart Warner instrumentation consists of an 8k-rpm tachometer and gauges for water temperature and oil pressure."
In hindsight, it's too bad that all cars today are not laid out like this — single-person cocoons with wheels and a V8 on board. But at least one can buy such a car today, even if it's not particularly commute-friendly. Built to run with plenty of room, the car has drum brakes from a Ford Model A controlled by a hand lever, so it's not particularly nuanced — like a lot of niche race cars from the 1940s it operates on the manner of an on-off switch. And despite being built out of a fuel tank, its actual fuel tank is pretty small, allowing it to run for only five to seven minutes at a time.
Luckily, there's a lavishly filmed "instructional video" for this car, which should have won an Oscar in the Best Short Film category.
This is actually the second time the Lakester was offered on BaT: The car originally sold on BaT a decade ago, earning the title of the People's Choice Best Feature of 2009, and is now offered by the 2009 listing's high bidder.
After you cash some equity out of your house, head on over to BaT to bid on this car. With climate change turning wet lakes into dry lakes, there will only be more demand for this type of vehicle in the future; think of it as investing in the future, or buying a future-proofed car.
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