Part Mad Max, part Steampunk and all rolling sculpture, this 1952 Buick Super Riviera, christened Bombshell Betty by her creator and driver Jeff Brock, looks best screaming over the packed surface of the high-desert at 165mph.
Real-life sculptor Brock drew inspiration from the movie “The World’s Fastest Indian” starring Anthony Hopkins, and spent just three months building this beauty back in 2008. She was entered in engine class XO (reserved for pre-1960 overhead-valve inline engines, as well as non-Ford flatheads) and body class GCC (for Gas-powered Competition Coupe). At first, she was only capable of 130.838 mph, but after quite a few well-conceived aerodynamic improvements, this rolling icon of big American thunder became a six-time class champion, raising the record ultimately to 165.735 mph in 2013.
Bombshell Betty boasts a classic bored-out straight-eight engine, laden with plenty of tricked out fuel and air enhancing go-fast bits. Her aero alterations include a top chopped eight inches, no windshield glass, covered wheels, a bomb-shaped air scoop and 1930 headlight covers fitted backwards for better flow. In short, Betty is a streamliner built solely for speed and is now possessed by a lucky soul who paid just USD$36,300 at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Las Vegas last weekend.
