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Automotive Lifestyle
AUTOS: Flying Low In A Lakester
Hand-build creation by hot rodder/pilot built from an aircraft wing tank for sale at Barrett-Jackson auction.
The Crow Lakester has tandem seating for two so the driver/pilot can take a passenger for a dry-lake speed run. (Photo: Barrett-Jackson)
When Ed Pettus found a 700-gallon wing tank from Lockheed Super Constellation aircraft, he knew exactly what he wanted to do with it.
Why, build a gigantic lakester speed-trial car, of course.
“I’ve been a hot rodder all my life,” said Pettus, a Cedar Rapid, Iowa, auto-shop owner who’s also a licensed pilot. “And this is the most fun car I’ve ever built.”
What he came up with is a vintage-looking, tandem-seat roadster (with the driver’s seat in the back, aircraft style) that combines his love for classic speed-trial cars with his enthusiasm for vintage aircraft.
The Crow Lakester runs and drives, and he’s had it out to the famous El Mirage dry-lake speed course where he not only ran it but gave rides to his family and friends.
“How fun is it to ride in a (Bonneville) Salt Flats car?” Pettus said. “How many people actually get to ride in one?
Pettus, who built the lakester with the help of his professional car-restorer son, Ed Jr., said it is time to hand it over to a new owner, so he’s brought it to sell at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Scottsdale auction (Lot #1236).
The Lakester recalls the hot little roadsters that were built out of surplus wing tanks after World War II during the early days of hot rodding, and then used to run for speed records at the Salt Flats and California dry lakes. They were small and aerodynamic and it didn’t take a ton of horsepower to push them through the air. Just add wheels and go.
Pettus’ huge Lakester – fully 17-and-a-half feet long – is a cool piece of work, maintaining the patina of a vintage race car and incorporating old-style aircraft technology, mostly from Lockheed parts. In the double cockpit are a pair of genuine 1948 Lockheed Neptune steel gunner seats with real military web-strap seatbelts. The steering “wheel” is from a classic 1948 Rockwell Aero Commander.
The stark gauges are all Lockheed, and just to drive home the point, it has an air-speed indicator instead of a speedometer.
“It’s a Lockheed lakester,” Pettus said proudly.
The gleaming aluminum body carries on the theme, polished but left with its original patina, rough welds and all; it was being used as a hot-water tank when Pettus discovered it. He’s added an aerodynamic headrest built from an aircraft fuselage, and a group of side scoops were hand-cast in aluminum out of parts from an old La Salle.
Pettus showed off the front end, the axle taken from an antique truck and the long radius arms once part of a 1944 farm tractor.
Why, build a gigantic lakester speed-trial car, of course.
“I’ve been a hot rodder all my life,” said Pettus, a Cedar Rapid, Iowa, auto-shop owner who’s also a licensed pilot. “And this is the most fun car I’ve ever built.”
What he came up with is a vintage-looking, tandem-seat roadster (with the driver’s seat in the back, aircraft style) that combines his love for classic speed-trial cars with his enthusiasm for vintage aircraft.
The Crow Lakester runs and drives, and he’s had it out to the famous El Mirage dry-lake speed course where he not only ran it but gave rides to his family and friends.
“How fun is it to ride in a (Bonneville) Salt Flats car?” Pettus said. “How many people actually get to ride in one?
Pettus, who built the lakester with the help of his professional car-restorer son, Ed Jr., said it is time to hand it over to a new owner, so he’s brought it to sell at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Scottsdale auction (Lot #1236).
The Lakester recalls the hot little roadsters that were built out of surplus wing tanks after World War II during the early days of hot rodding, and then used to run for speed records at the Salt Flats and California dry lakes. They were small and aerodynamic and it didn’t take a ton of horsepower to push them through the air. Just add wheels and go.
Pettus’ huge Lakester – fully 17-and-a-half feet long – is a cool piece of work, maintaining the patina of a vintage race car and incorporating old-style aircraft technology, mostly from Lockheed parts. In the double cockpit are a pair of genuine 1948 Lockheed Neptune steel gunner seats with real military web-strap seatbelts. The steering “wheel” is from a classic 1948 Rockwell Aero Commander.
The stark gauges are all Lockheed, and just to drive home the point, it has an air-speed indicator instead of a speedometer.
“It’s a Lockheed lakester,” Pettus said proudly.
The gleaming aluminum body carries on the theme, polished but left with its original patina, rough welds and all; it was being used as a hot-water tank when Pettus discovered it. He’s added an aerodynamic headrest built from an aircraft fuselage, and a group of side scoops were hand-cast in aluminum out of parts from an old La Salle.
Pettus showed off the front end, the axle taken from an antique truck and the long radius arms once part of a 1944 farm tractor.
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