72 years ago this week: Campbell shatters 300 MPH speed barrier!

Think about that for a second. It's 1935. A car that can blaze down the highway at 60 MPH is something special. The fastest mass-production automobile that year was the Jaguar SS90, so named because it could go 90 MPH. Here it is, the Bluebird:

Click the image to see the story.

What powered this feat? A 36.7-liter V-12 Rolls-Royce aero-racing engine that made more than 2,500 horsepower.

Here's the Jaguar SS90 with its dainty 2.6-liter straight-6 engine. It was considered the first true sports car. I'd trade my Crossfire for this:


An interesting bit of trivia from the same year: The record for fastest car on a public road was set in 1935 by a Mercedes-Benz race car on the newly built autobahn. That car had a three-liter supercharged V-12 engine, and the record was 270 MPH. Wow - and the record still stands! Hitler, who had demanded the engine's development, used the engine for the Meschersmitt fighter-planes. Here's that car on the track:


Best,
Chris