Eric Minoff
Vice President, Head of Department - US
LOT 80 ¤
1973 Battery Box Electric Streamliner Motor No. 796C624-1
Sold for US$47,040 inc. premiumLot to be sold without reserve
Lot 80¤
FIA Land Speed Record Setter
1973 Battery Box Electric Streamliner
1973 Battery Box Electric Streamliner
1973 Battery Box Electric Streamliner
Motor No. 796C624-1
Motor No. 796C624-1
General Electric Motor
25bhp
Chain Direct Drive
Fixed Suspension
Rear Axle Disc Brakes
* FIA Category A Group VIII, Class 2 Record Setter
* FIA record holder from 1974 to 2013
* Original and as driven to the record of 174.981mph in 1974
* An example of creativity, imagination and simplicity to achieve an epic goal
THE CAR OFFERED
The car offered here is the very same Battery Box built in 1973 and as it was after returning from setting its record on the Salt. It is the essence of a rational record car: Simple and straightforward. Built on a welded tubing structure of 4130 steel Battery Box has no suspension. The axles are rigidly attached to the frame structure. It has rack and pinion steering.
Designed to run thirty-two 12-volt batteries wired in series for 384 volts to the motor, four of the batteries failed with the record run powered by the remaining twenty-eight giving 336 volts to the motor which is positioned under the driver's seat. Even with a car heater fan blowing on the motor, it must have been a hot seat. Drive to the rear wheels went through a single chain drive to a transverse layshaft with changeable sprockets on each end to adjust the final drive ratio. Two more chains with intermediate sprockets took the power to each rear wheel.
How much power could be generated by a 36-volt 25hp electric motor being impelled by 336 volts? Theoretically, 233hp, an output well beyond any commercial motor's design limitations. But it was worth a chance.
Battery Box is a pointed nose, 135" wheelbase, toothpick-thin streamliner bodied by Jack Hagemann. The front tread is 48" for stability with spindly but aerodynamically efficient 2.75 x 18 tires but the350/525 x 18 rear wheels are only 28" apart to fit under the tightly wrapped aerodynamic body. With its design complement of batteries, it weighs 1,820 pounds and has disc brakes on only the rear wheels.
Battery Box was donated to the Harrah's Automobile Collection in 1976. It is still in its original Mother of Pearl White and is, aside from having no batteries, original and as it set the FIA record in 1974.
It is a fascinating example of finding a record-setting niche, researching how to accomplish it and then following through with a record that stands for almost four decades. Simple and effective, Battery Box is a marvelous example of ingenuity, imagination and frugality.
Footnotes
Sold on a Bill of Sale
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