Webb Automotive Golden Submarine

Replica of stunning streamline racer

US custom shop Webb Automotive Art has revealed this painstaking homage to the 1917 Golden Submarine racer, one of the pioneers of streamlining in the early years of motorsport.

The result of three years work by Dan Webb, the stunningly crafted machine was revealed for the first time in completed form at the Autorama rod and custom show in Detroit this month.

Powered by a Ford Racing Zetec ZX3 ‘crate engine’ delivering its 175bhp to a propshaft between the driver’s legs, the Webb Golden Submarine claims only to be inspired by the original racer, and is not meant as a replica. Other modern touches include a set of disc brakes pinched from the Buell motorcycle parts bin, but the rest of the car pure is pure nostalgia.

That hand-beaten, naked and super-smooth aluminium body sits on top of a hand crafted drilled for lightness frame, and all the controls and the majority of other components have been handmade by Webb Automotive. The original Golden Submarine’s enclosed bodywork was conceived as a safety improvement after it’s builder – the famed racing driver Barney Oldfield - lost a friend and rival in a racing accident in 1916. Thanks to jalopnik for the images.