In 1954 my father built a car

Posted By
C. Cramer, United States , My Father Who Built A Special Car in 1954

In 1954 my father built a car he called the "Comet". The engine was a Ellison" airplane engine. It could go 175 mph. With a few minor changes in the gear ratio it could go 275 mph. The horse power was about 1,550. The general at the time at SAC Air Base was General LeMay. He was a car buff & invited all the major auto makers to Bellevue, NE to view the car. My dad was offered $45,000.00 for the car. At the time of the showing, Gen. LaMay told my dad to patten the inventions on the car [ one was the new supension system], but my father built it out of need to create not for the money. So he chose to let them use whatever new inventions he developed, & they took them all. Mercury came out with the Comet, the weight distrubution, radiator in the back, elelctric windows etc. As a 10 year old, my dad was pretty much out of our lives for 10 months. My mother would take us on Sundays to his place of business so we could spend some time around him. "Hot Rod" & "Popular Mechanics" wrote an article in their magazines in 1954 &1955 on the "Comet". My dad didn't sell it for years. Not to many years before he died, he finally sold it. I have no idea who purchased it or what happened to it. Hope they know how much pleasure it brought my father to build it.