“American cars of that day topped out at 130mph going downhill.”
We lost our “D” Roadster record at Bonneville in 1954 when Voight & Colb showed up the last day with a Desoto that they pulled out of a new car, put a cam and hilborn injectors on it, dropped it in their 32 roadster and went 176 average.
The early hemi went through many changes, that '54 was probably a 354", my mom had a '57 New Yorker conv with a 392 Hemi. That started my love affair with hemi's, still smitten.
A friend of mine has a '68 Hemi Dart SS/AH, held the Nat'l ET record briefly this year. He also has a Firebird he runs at Bonneville, holds at least one class record & has gone 300 with it, but missed "300 Club" by not making it on return run.
Lordy, he spends some big bucks on those cars, & he's not even much of a gearhead, just a rich guy with neat "braggin' toys".