Bonneville Speed Week 2017, as Shot on a 1926 Kodak Camera
Flathead Fords aren't the only antiques still getting results on the salt flats.
Since the Dawn of Time-Distance
Cars and cameras go together even better than cars and coffee. Once humans had invented the car, the first thing we did was try to see how fast it would go, the second thing we did was photograph it, or at least get someone with one of those magical cameras to do it. Humans have been testing their machines on the Bonneville Salt Flats since 1912, and the Kodak Brownie camera was more than a decade old at the time and already a best seller, so it's probably safe to assume a few Brownies went along for the ride. Writer-photographer Murilee Martin brought his 1926 Brownie No. 2 to this year's Bonneville Speed Week and the results are these eerily antique photos of the already dreamlike salt flats. (And you will notice, quite a few Fords out there racing, and pushing.)
A Helping Hand
Trying to set a Land Speed Record (which also happens to be the name of the first Husker Du album) is largely a battle between power and the air you have to push out of the way, but getting to record-setting speeds necessitates some pretty tall gearing. The gearing is so tall, in fact, that it would be next to impossible to get the cars rolling by themselves, so many competitors need a little push to get going a speed where they can let their gearing take over. A Ford truck is just what the doctor ordered to help push you off the line. The Flathead powered 1932 Ford Roadster you see here is being given a little help from a friendly F-350 Super Duty.
Bonneville Moonscape
The Brownie lens gives an angle of view that's pretty close to what the human eye sees, which adds a bit of familiarity to the layer of murk the vintage Kodak lens provides. The Brownie No. 2 shoots 120 film, which you can still get today, though not at your local drug store. It's the same size film NASA took to the moon, though the astronauts used specially constructed, top of the line Hasselblad cameras. You can hear original NASA recordings of the moon men chatting with Mission Control about lens selection and camera settings, ingeniously mixed with ambient electronic music here. Martin says the shutter speed of the Brownie is roughly 1/50th of a second, making it perfect for capturing motion blur of a speeding car out on the salt. The "Slippery Stude" you see above hides a Ford Flathead V-8 underneath that modified Studebaker Starliner body.
Trucks Tow
Hauling your car/bike/rocket to the flats isn't the only time you'll pull it around Bonneville. After making a run, race vehicles, even if they could, are prohibited from driving back down the return lane under their own power. Trucks to the rescue again. The Renault diesel-powered 1947 Crosley above patiently awaits a tow.
Fords Aplenty
According to Martin, who also shot modern digital photos of the goings on, the overwhelming majority of pre-war vehicles on the flats this year were Fords. More than just a place to set records, Bonneville is like a huge week long car show; up to 200 cars can be lined up in the staging lanes, waiting for their turn to run. Some racers bring hot rods (like the one above) just to shuttle back and forth between the campgrounds and the timing area. It's like an automotive Burning Man, but with more rules, and way fewer drugs.
Clean Your Flatheads
Those of us who have spent any time in the Midwest know what road salt can do to cars, and the salt at Bonneville can be just as destructive; it's more than just the wind we're at war with. Reportedly, as the image above shows, the salt was extra sticky this year during Speed Week. Driving home with all that salt sweetly embracing your car or truck must be like walking home with a pebble in your shoe; only maybe you don't notice it if you just saw the world run away from you at over 300 mph.
Check out the entire galley of Martin's Speed Week 2017 Brownie photos over at Autoweek.
For help with service of your truck, check out the how to section of Ford-Trucks.com